Welcome to the International Blockchain Olympiad 2023 in Amsterdam!

Feel the winds of change at the heart of the European Union, where the digital revolution is led by AI and blockchain. Exchange ideas with your peers. Soak up sage advice from public and private sector professionals. Come to IBCOL Amsterdam 2023 for an experience of a lifetime!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam, known for its picturesque canals and vibrant culture, will be the host city for this prestigious event. Join us for an exciting journey where innovation and blockchain technology collide.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a global community of blockchain enthusiasts and make a lasting impact in the world of decentralized technology.

REPRESENTATION

Individuals and teams may represent recognized or unrecognized countries and territories in IBCOL 2023, or by default, do not represent any country or territory.

  1. Default: an individual or team is stateless unless proof of country/territory of representation is satisfied and does not represent any academic institution unless proof is provided.
  2. Proof: an individual’s country/territory of representation is determined by acceptable proof of the country/territory of their birth, citizenship, permanent residency, or educational institution.
  3. National Nomination: if a country has an organizing committee (”OC”) that is officially sanctioned by the International Blockchain Olympiad, a list of contestants shall be provided by the OC.
  4. Academic Nomination: if you are representing an academic institution, you must provide proof of nomination from that academic institution.
  5. Register Name: provide your name as follows:
    • First Name / Given Name / Forename
    • Middle Name (optional)
    • Last Name / Family Name / Surname
  6. Preferred Name Order: provide your name as follows:
    • First Name, Middle Name, LAST NAME
    • LAST NAME, First Name, Middle Name

Note: for IBCOL 2023, the following OC are officially sanctioned: Bangladesh (BCOLBD), Hong Kong (HKBCOL), and Mongolia (MNBCOL).

INDIVIDUAL ELIGIBILITY

Individuals must meet the following eligibility criteria for their team to be eligible to compete in the 2023 International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL 2023).

  1. Current secondary-level schooler (”schooler”): an individual of any age enrolled in a secondary-level academic institution (ISCED 2011 level 2-4).
  2. Current tertiary-level student (”student”): an individual of any age enrolled in a tertiary-level academic institution (ISCED 2011 level 5-8).
  3. Recent academic graduate (”professional”): an individual of any age that was either a schooler or student until the 15th of November 2020.
  4. Returning Participation: an individual who has previously participated in prior IBCOL competitions are eligible to participate.
  5. Register Name: provide your name as follows:
    • First Name / Given Name / Forename
    • Middle Name (optional)
    • Last Name / Family Name / Surname
  6. Preferred Name Order: provide your name as follows:
    • First Name, Middle Name, LAST NAME
    • LAST NAME, First Name, Middle Name

TEAM ELIGIBILITY

Teams must meet the following eligibility criteria for their projects to be eligible to compete in the 2023 International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL 2023).

  1. Team Size: minimum 1 individual; maximum 6 individuals.
  2. Team Representation: team represents the country/territory with the most individuals from that country/territory; if there is no majority, a team may represent a country/territory of any contestant from that team.
  3. Returning Participation: a team who has previously participated in prior IBCOL competitions are eligible to participate.
  4. Unique Composition: teams may not be be more than 50% identical to another team.

Note: no distinction between secondary, tertiary, and professional teams.

PROJECT ELIGIBILITY

Projects must meet the following eligibility criteria for their projects to be eligible to compete in the 2023 International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL 2023).

  1. Unique Submission: A team may submit only one project.
  2. Project Category: Select up to three categories that describe your project, according to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations (UN). The Organising Committee reserves the right to assign categories of the project.
  3. Returning Participation: Previous projects that have not won any awards from prior IBCOL competitions are eligible to compete in IBCOL.

Note: choice of category does not affect evaluation of your project.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Projects must have the following deliverable items for their projects to be eligible to compete in the 2023 International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL 2023).

  1. Profiles: introduce your team!
    • Photo: for each teammate, provide a portrait- or passport-style photo (smiling is ok!) with a plain or minimally distracting background in PNG or JPEG format.
    • Description: for each teammate, provide two (2) to four (4) sentences describing them.
    • Profile: (optional) for each teammate, provide a curriculum vitae or résumé for them.
  2. Paper (6-point survey):introduce your project in detail!
    • Language: the paper may be written in any language(s), but least one of the languages is English.
    • Minimum Viable Project (”MVP”): answer the following six (6) questions:
      1. Challenges: What value or problem is your solution adding or solving?
      2. Design: How does your solution work?
      3. Competition: What differentiates your solution from competitors or alternatives?
      4. Results: What features, benefits, and impact does your solution have?
      5. Risks: What are potential risks and mitigations?
      6. Endgame: What are critical success factors?
    • Name & Title: create a name and a clear/concise title for your project.
    • Abstract: in no more than two-thousand and twenty-three (2023) characters, write a clear/concise summary of your project. For more information, see the Format samples.
    • Appendices: recommend keeping the main part of the paper clear and concise as possible, and move all supporting information to separate appendices.
    • Format I: using the IEEE format, complete at least the six questions for the MVP. Submit as PDF; maximum size 24.7 MB; use PDF compressor if necessary. SAMPLE (docx).
    • Format II: (optional) using Notion, complete at least the six questions for the MVP. Submit as URL. SAMPLE (Notion).
  3. Pictures (video): present your project for an impactful first-impression for the modern distracted human!
    • Language: the video may be presented in any language(s), but either the audio must be in English or the subtitles must be in English.
    • Length: the video may not be longer than three (3) minutes long
    • Style: the video may be of any style — deck presentation, talking heads, stock videos/photos, or some more creative production.
    • Format: 16:9 ratio, landscape (horizontal) orientation; upload as publicly-accessible, unlisted YouTube.
  4. Poster (board): present your project for an impactful first-impression at the exhibition floor!
    • Language: the poster may be multilingual, but English must be present.
    • Size: the poster length-to-height ratio is the Lichtenberg ratio (√2:1), i.e. designed for A0 or A1 page (ISO 216); design for a portrait (vertical) orientation; also recommend creating a landscape (horizontal) orientation for logistical reasons at the November exhibition in Amsterdam.
    • Style: the poster may take inspiration from the IEEE conference poster format, but there are no rules governing exactly what or how the poster is designed.
    • Format: PDF; maximum size 24.7 MB; use PDF compressor if necessary.
    • Supplementary material: (optional) prepare a digital pamphlet to assist your project during the finals in Amsterdam; example of tools for creating digital pamphlet: Canva or Gamma.

Note: for contestants from Bangladesh, Hongkong, and Mongolia, take note of material submission requirements of your local OC; they will submit a list of qualified teams to IBCOL 2023. You are still expected to submit your materials to Registrar III. For contestants of other countries/territories, submit directly to Registrar III.

Tip: submit early for progress and feedback. Partial submissions are allowed before a stated deadline but only complete submissions are evaluated after a stated deadline. If there are more than one copy of a material, the one with the latest version number shall be taken as the intended submission; if no version numbers were ever submitted, the material believed to be the latest version shall be considered the intended submission.

PROJECT EVALUATION CRITERIA

Projects shall be evaluated by a panel of adjudicators based on the following criteria:.

  1. Impact: Examples of [sustainable] impact include the relevance to the UN SDG that it was stated to supported, the features and benefits that would make an impact, the key performance indicators to measure impact, the conditions of success and failure to make impact, etc.
  2. Integrity: Examples of [trust and] integrity include the measures to how trust is established, preserved, and scaled within the proposed project design, how the design may self-correct in the face of the unexpected, whether blockchain is truly needed, how privacy and confidentiality is handled in relations to authenticity, etc.
  3. Viability: Examples of [commercial] viability include the stakeholder analysis, the risk profiling and mitigation strategies, the business model, etc.

Project materials are strongly advised to carry the following characteristics to reduce friction during evaluation:

  1. Completeness: The project solves the problem or adds value. The complete solution proposal should be able to articulate the problem statement, solution overview, implementation plan, and its potential impact.
  2. Cohesiveness: The presented materials make sense altogether. A cohesive solution proposal should provide a clear, integrated, and comprehensive overview of the proposed solution, such as the integration of technical and non-technical components. The proposal should have a logical flow, with each element building on the previous one and leading to a clear understanding of the proposed solution.
  3. Conciseness: The presented material is straight-to-the-point. The conciseness of a solution proposal refers to the extent to which the proposal is clear, precise, and to the point, with no unnecessary information or details. A concise proposal should provide all the necessary information about the proposed blockchain solution in a clear and succinct manner, without unnecessary elaboration or repetition.

These project presentation guidelines ensure that adjudicators may evaluate projects effectively within a short period. The following breakdown helps teams allocate efforts in preparation and presentation.

CRITERION PAPER
(Survey)		 PICTURES
(Video)		 POSTER
(Board)
Completeness 35% 10% 55%
Cohesiveness 50% 50% 35%
Conciseness 15% 40% 10%

EARLY BIRDS

Increase your chance of success by submitting something before Oct 24

  1. Between September 4th and October 24th ("rolling deadline"), teams may submit incomplete drafts for assessment via IBCOL 2023 Registrar III, so teams may use feedback to improve their projects or receive a conditional offer to attend Amsterdam 2023.
  2. It may take up to 2 days for feedback to come around, so take advantage and submit early!

FINAL DRAFT

Submit at least a paper by Oct 29 to get a chance to qualify for IBCOL'23

  1. Teams from countries without OC must submit their Paper final draft on October 29th ("qualification deadline"). Submission of Pictures (video) and Poster (board) are optional but recommended. Exceptions are granted on a case-by-case basis by the IBCOL 2023 Competitions Committee ("23CC") on damnum fatale (such as natural disasters) or force majeure (such as man-made disasters).
  2. Teams from countries that require a Schengen visa to travel to The Netherlands are advised to submit by October 25th to get ahead of the queue and get their official acceptance earlier, to apply for the Schengen visa.
  3. Between October 25th and October 30th, you will hear back from the 23CC on whether you have qualified or not. If you have not heard by October 31st, please contact [email protected] to enquire about the status with subject line IBCOL 2023 Qualification Round Status Request with your team name and identifier, as well as your team leader (and team members optionally).

RSVP

Let us know if you're coming to Amsterdam or not by Nov 5

  1. Teams are asked to RSVP (réspondez s'il vous plaît, "please respond") by November 5th to reserve a spot at the finals in Amsterdam.
  2. The 23CC may still help you after the 5th of November but the longer the wait, the less likely.

FINAL SUBMISSION (AMSTERDAM 2023)

Submit your video and portrait A3 poster by Nov 12

  1. Teams may submit the final revision of their Pictures (video), Poster (board), and any amendments to their Paper by November 12th for the Final competition.
  2. Each team will have a table, on which shall sit an A3-sized display board, a laptop, and a cardboard cube with the team's identifier and adjudication form printed on it.

Note: Deadlines is the calendar date up to 23:59 (midnight minus one; Central European Time). Late submissions shall not be considered unless exceptional circumstances, such as but not limited to war, civil unrest, natural disasters, and force majeures, as approved by the competitions committee on a case-by-case basis.

AWARDS & PRIZES

All finalists are awarded a IBCOL 2023 Finalists certificate in recognition of their achievement. Additionally, the following awards are available for contestants depending on adjudication results:

  1. Gold Medal Award: project ranked 1st out of all teams.
  2. Silver Medal Award: project ranked 2nd out of all teams.
  3. Bronze Medal Award: project ranked 3rd out of all teams.
  4. Award of High Distinction: for all teams that were in the Top 5 at the final competition.
  5. Award of Distinction: for all teams that were in the consideration for Top 5 at the final competition.
  6. Award of Merit: for all teams that demonstrated superior achievement during the final competition.
  7. Award of Recognition (Finals): for all teams that were considered for the final competition.
  8. Award of Recognition (Preliminary): for all teams that were considered for the final competition but did not finish the required material submissions.

All finalists are awarded a IBCOL 2023 Finalists certificate in recognition of their achievement. Additionally, the following awards are available for contestants depending on adjudication results:

  1. Gold: €2400 in coaching, development and network in realisation of project or startup.
  2. Silver: €1600 in coaching, development and network in realisation of project or startup.
  3. Bronze: €800 in coaching, development and network in realisation of project or startup.