The award ceremony was preceded by a speech that highlighted Ougazzaden’s contributions in the creation of the Open Lab between Peugeot PSA, Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech-Lorraine, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ENSAM ParisTech, and the Research Centre Henri Tudor at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, and that recognized his leadership in the agreement signed between PSA and Institut Lafayette.

Ougazzaden serves as the director of Georgia Tech-Lorraine and is a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). He is also the director of the affiliated GT-CNRS research laboratory and co-president of the newly created Institut Lafayette, a platform for innovation and technology transfer.

With its three world-renowned brands, Peugeot, Citroën, and DS, PSA Peugeot Citroën is the second largest carmaker in Europe and has sales operations in 160 countries. It is also involved in financing activities (Banque PSA Finance) and automotive equipment (Faurecia). Five years ago, PSA Peugeot Citroën built a network of science and technology partnerships. This network, called StelLab, means "Science & Technology Lean Lab." In the framework of this network, PSA has created 15 Open labs since 2011 in France, China, Brazil, and in the United States with Georgia Tech, to bring innovations from all scientific and technological fields to the vehicles of the future.

Photo caption: Sylvain Allano (right) presented the first International StelLab PSA Award to Abdallah Ougazzaden at the France-Atlanta Symposium on October 28.