One of Alpha's running projects is related to learning; there, we explore gaming as a way to assess and teach 21st century skills. Latest educational research focuses on how affective states can influence learning performance. One of the most promising fields is the relationship between affective states and level of task difficulty. Interestingly, confusion is an affective state that is beneficial for learning. If appropriately managed, an optimal level of confusion promotes learning at deeper levels. This can be achieved by influencing the level of task difficulty in order to keep the learner's affective state within an optimal zone.

Alpha challenges you to create a game with an agent that detects affective states and delivers adaptive content in real time.

Selected team

• Lucas Pena
• Marco Musto
• Lida Zacharopoulou
• Alayna Hughes
• Héctor López Carral

About the company

Alpha was created to address some of the biggest problems in society by delivering radical solutions and breakthrough technology. At Alpha, we bring together the very best minds in the world in order to tackle the world's greatest challenges, and create solutions that are truly unique.


Intellectual Property Policy of Telefónica Alpha

We see the Sónar+D Innovation Challenge as a great opportunity to meet like-minded people that are eager to generate an impact through technology. After this challenge, we hope that you'll become part of our knowledge hub and continue to collaborate on future projects. As a sponsor of the Sónar+D Innovation Challenge, we need to guarantee ownership of the IP coming out of the project, however as a company with a long term interested in young talent and innovation we would encourage all participants to continue working on this topic on a purely academic, non-commercial context and we will be considering potential opportunities for future collaboration, after completing the challenge.

Participants working in Alpha's challenge will need to adhere to the following IP clause

Any intellectual property rights developed wholly, or in part, by Party 2 during the course of its engagement with Party 1 as part of the Sonar Innovation Challenge 2018 shall vest in Party 1 and Party 2 shall take all reasonable steps that Party 1 may request to ensure such rights are accordingly assigned or registered to Party 1. In such an event, Party 1 will, in good faith, consider potential opportunities to continue to work with Party 2 post-completion of the Purpose. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Party 2 shall be entitled to use and develop their Party 2 contributions for any non-commercial purpose, whether scientific, academic or otherwise, including sharing with third parties provided such third parties are subject to confidentiality obligations no less strict that set out herein. ("Party 1" refers to Alpha, "Party 2" refers to the team of creators that participate in the challenge)