BISC-E Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe

Registration for the BISC-E extended until 30 November 2023

Join the Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge – Europe!

Are you ready to develop an innovative bio-based solution to help overcome hurdles standing in the way of a climate-neutral Europe? The Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge – Europe (BISC-E) invites students to design solutions in a multidisciplinary team and compete at national and international levels. Are you up to the challenge?

The German Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge (BISC-E) is organised by the University of Hohenheim as the national contact point. It is open for all Bachelor and Master students enrolled in a German university or university of applied sciences.

In a constantly evolving bioeconomy, we are looking for an innovative team to develop a new bio-based product or process to represent Germany in the challenge.

National Coordinators: Dr. Andreas Kiesel and Juliane Stoye
Department of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy

Email: bisc-e@uni-hohenheim.de, Phone: 0711 459 22852

What is the BISC-E

The BISC-E is a Europe-wide competition for Bachelor and Master students recognising excellence in the emerging bio-based sector. BISC-E seeks to raise awareness and involve students in the transition towards a bio-based economy. The Bio-based Industry Consortium (BIC) acts as a contact point for the BISC-E coordination and organises the European finals where the top student teams will compete against each other.

Choosing the winner team

All student teams will present their ideas to a jury from industry and science. The teams will have to support their presentation with evidence of sustainability, technical feasability and economic viability of the developed process or product. The jury will assess all applications and invite the preselected best teams to present their ideas in a 15 minutes live presentation. The winning team will receive personal coaching and will move on to compete in the EU finals in autumn 2024.

Registration

Timeline

30 November 2023	Registration deadline
8 December 2023	Kick-off with all participants
19 May 2024	Submission deadline for video presentations and supporting documents
End of May 2024	Jury chooses best teams for German final
14 June 2024	German final at University of Hohenheim
6 September 2024	First round of European final
27 September 2024	Final round of European final

Regulations

Please read all the provided rules and regulations carefully.

Next steps

If you would like to participate, please determine a team coordinator and register your team via the online registration form above.
You will receive an email from us shortly after registration where we will ask the other names of the team members.
You will be invited to the online kick-off meeting, where we will give you more information about the course of the challenge.
You will have to find a supervisor at the university who will advise and guide you during the challenge.
Until 19 May 2024 you'll have time to design a viable bio-based product or process and send us your idea as a max. 10 minute video presentation.
The jury will decide on the best three teams who will be invited to the German final.
On 14 June 2024 the German final will take place at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and the jury will choose the winner.
The winning team will receive coaching and training from BIC before participating in the European final in autumn.

Template supporting documents

Please download this template and use it for submitting your supporting documents.

Participation

Teams of 3 to 6 students are welcome to join the competition.
We highly advise interdisciplinary teams due to the multidisciplinary character of the challenge.
Mixed teams with students from both universities of applied sciences and universities or different institutions are encouraged.
All team members have to be enrolled in a German university or university of applied sciences.
Teams must find a supervisor e.g. a PhD student or a professor that will guide and support them throughout the challenge.
Students and supervisors can only be part of one team.
The developed innovative process or product will be judged on technical, sustainable and economic criteria.
Each team must appoint a team coordinator who is the person who applies and will be the contact point for further communication between organiser and team members.