Individual Eligibility

  1. Students only: Any current or recent student may register as a contestant.
  2. No age limit: An individual of any age may register as a contestant.
  3. Definition of Secondary Student: An individual is actively enrolled in a secondary academic institution (ISCED 2011 level 2-4).
  4. Definition of Tertiary Student: An individual may be attached to an academic institution (ISCED 2011 level 5-8) by being ever enrolled in it; a recognized institution is an accredited educational institution or an institution that may grant a degree or diploma.
  5. Definition of Recent Student: An individual who would have been a current student until 3 years ago as of the beginning of the 2022-2023 Season (5 July 2020 to 4 July 2023) — if a student had stopped school on or after 5 July 2020, the student is eligible to compete, otherwise, the student is ineligible to compete.
  6. Returning Participation: Previous individuals are eligible to compete.
  7. Representation: An individual may represent the country/territory of their birth, the country/territory of their educational institution, or the country/territory of their citizenship.
Register with Registrar I

Team Eligibility

  1. Team Composition (Secondary Tier): Projects are submitted by teams of one (1) to six (6) eligible individuals from same secondary schools (“school team”) or from different schools (“freelance team”); one participant can be part of more than one team; each team shall have a team lead, as the main contact person. Each team shall have one adult (18+) supervisor, as the auxiliary contact person. No limit to the number of teams per school.
  2. Team Composition (Tertiary Tier): Projects are submitted by teams of one (1) to six (6) eligible individuals; one participant can be part of more than one team; each team shall have a team lead, as the main contact person; teams may be composed of members from different countries/territories or academic institutions; each team must nominate one representative academic institution if any of the team members are from different academic institutions
  3. Team Composition (Mixed Tier): Teams with both secondary and tertiary students shall compete as a Tertiary Tier team.
  4. Team Uniqueness (Secondary/Tertiary Tier): Each team must be unique, i.e. a team may not share more than 50% of the same composition as any other team, round to the lower number if the team is an odd number; team leads must be unique, i.e. one person cannot be the team lead of multiple teams.
  5. Representation: A team represents the country/territory with the most contestants from that country/territory; if there is no majority, a team may represent a country/territory of any contestant from that team.
  6. Returning Participation: Previous teams are eligible to compete.
Register with Registrar II

Projecct Eligibility

  1. One Team, One Project: 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.
Submit to Registrar III

Submission Requirements

To compete in IBCOL 2023, registration is required for the individual, the team, and the project. To register, submit the information to the three Registrars.

Country/Territory with Competitions Committee
Additionally, if your country or territory has a National Blockchain Olympiad Committee, contestants shall submit their materials directly to the committee, which would adjudicate proposals submitted within that country or territory, and nominate teams for IBCOL 2023. The National Committee shall submit a list of nominations to IBCOL 2023 Organising Committee.

Country/Territory without Competitions Committee
Additionally, if your country or territory does not have a National Blockchain Olympiad Committee, contestants shall submit their materials directly to the IBCOL Committee for screening via the IBCOL website. The submission may attach official nomination letter from their academic institution if they wish to be an official representative of their academic institution.

Specification of Submissions

The material submission requires the following items: team profile, survey, video and poster.

1. TEAM PROFILE

Content
- The team profile shall include 3-4 sentences and photo for each team member
- Team member CV (recommended)

Format
- LinkedIn profile or PDF file
- Submit with Registrar II


2. SURVEY/PAPER

Content
The survey consists of 8 questions that guide the description of what the complete blockchain solution is. Answers may be multilingual but English must be present. If there are differences, the English version shall prevail. Below is the questionnaire:
- Describe your solution in 1 sentence.
- Write an abstract of your solution in 2023 characters or less.
- What value or problem is your solution adding or solving?
- How does your solution work?
- What differentiates your solution from competitors or alternatives?
- What features, benefits, and impact does your solution have?
- What are potential risks and mitigations?
- What are critical success factors?

Format
- The survey shall be submitted as a Notion page (use this template) and as a paper in IEEE format (use this paper sample). Optional proposals can be uploaded, such as deck, paper, etc.
- PDF only; max 25 MB (tip: use PDF compressor)
- Submit with Registrar III: Material Submission


3. VIDEO

Content
- The video shall be a 2-3 minutes presentation, and the content may be multilingual, but English must be one of the languages. Speech must be in English, or if an exception is granted, must be subtitled in English.
- Students may use these 3 minutes to present your project any way you like. For example, it could be a deck presentation or talking heads or a creative production.

Format
- Youtube link of an unlisted video
- Submit with Registrar III: Material Submission


4. POSTER BOARD

Content
- The poster board will be a research poster to showcase at the IBCOL Finals, and may be multilingual, but English must be present. If there are differences, the English version shall prevail.

Format
- PDF only; max 10MB
- Recommended IEEE style or US Science Fair style.
- Lichtenberg ratio (√2:1 ); recommend A0 or A1
- Prepare a portrait version (required) and a landscape version (recommended).
- Submit with Registrar III: Material Submission


Note:
- If your country/territory has a National Blockchain Olympiad Committee, take note of their submission timeline, as it would not be shown on this website. - If your country/territory has a National Blockchain Olympiad Committee, there may be additional materials required in one submission or in separate submissions.
- If your country or territory does not have a Competition Committee, submit directly to Registrar III of the IBCOL 2023 Organising Committee.
- 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.

Evaluation Criteria

    Adjudicators will be evaluating projects based on the completeness, cohesiveness and conciseness of the solution design. Evaluation Criteria is the same for all, but the weighting distribution will be different based on the medium / format.

    CRITERION GUIDELINES EVALUATION
    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.   35% (Survey) 10% (Video) 55% (Poster)
    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. 50% (Survey) 50% (Video) 35% (Poster)
    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. 15% (Survey) 40% (Video) 10% (Poster)

Key Dates

    For national-level nominations, please refer to the deadlines set by your national blockchain olympiad committee or national-level nominator.
    For self-nominations, the deadline to submit is Monday 18 September 2023 at 23:59 GMT+2.

    Category Dates Description
    Teams where visa application to EU is required Monday 4 September 2023 Confirmation of Delegates by Competition Committee  
    Monday 18 September 2023 Final Material Submission to IBCOL
    Monday 25 September 2023 Schengen Visa Application Deadline
    Teams where visa application to EU is not required Monday 18 September 2023 Confirmation of Delegates by Competition Committee  
    Monday 23 October 2023 Final Material Submission to IBCOL
    Teams without Country or Territory Competitions Committee (Self-Nominations) Monday 18 September 2023 Material Submission to IBCOL
    Monday 25 September 2023 Schengen Visa Application Deadline (Only for teams that require visa application)
    Tuesday 31 October 2023 IBCOL Confirmation of Delegates
    Monday 6 November 2023 Final Material Submission to IBCOL
    All Teams Tuesday 31 October 2023 IBCOL Announcement of Finalists
    Friday 16 November - Sunday 18 November 2023 IBCOL Finals in Amsterdam

    Note: Deadlines is the calendar date up to 23:59 (midnight minus one; GMT+2 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

    The prizes for the IBCOL 2023 in Amsterdam are as follows:

    - Gold Medal (Project with 1st Highest Overall Score)
    - Silver Medal (Project with 2nd Highest Overall Score)
    - Bronze Medal (Project with 3rd Highest Overall Score)
    - Award of Distinction (Project with the 4th to 10th Highest Overall Score)
    - Award of Merit (Project with the 11th to 20th Highest Overall Score)