ICA is collaborating with the BioRural Project Consortium. The Project has organised a "European Bioeconomy Challenge" and ICA encourages all its members to participate.
ICA believes that this challenge is a fantastic opportunity to engage students from our network of universities in an enriching and collaborative innovation experience.
- Objective of the “European Bioeconomy Challenge” - to motivate citizens, start-ups, companies, researchers, and university students to imagine and propose innovative solutions for repurposing currently unused organic by-products, focusing on small to medium-scale applications in rural areas. The challenge encourages participants to develop practical solutions.
- The ideal participants are final-year undergraduates, master’s students, postgraduates, or young research groups, potentially supported by a senior researcher or PhD.
While there is no monetary prize, the application process itself provides participants with the opportunity to develop their ideas further, receive support to enhance their applicability, and connect with potential collaborators. For student groups, this could be an incredibly enriching experience, and possibly a launchpad for future ventures.
The challenge is organised into four geographic regions in Europe: Northeast Call, Northwest Call, Southeast Call and Southwest Call, each with its own Call for applications, closing in unison on July 28, 2024.
After this date, regional organizers will review the entries and conduct online interviews. In August 2024, the list of selected participants (10 to 15) for each region will be published. These participants will have the chance to refine their ideas until October-November and will be invited to attend a two-day regional final event with travel expenses covered. During this event, they will receive expert mentoring, refine their business model, and present their pitches to a jury.
The top three finalists from each regional event (12 in total) will receive monetary or advisory prizes and advance to the grand final in Brussels in March-April 2025.
ICA is supporting this challenge, because we believe that the process can be exceptionally beneficial and transformative for many students. Many innovators and start-ups began with an idea and participation in a challenge like this.
The Full online call can be found on BioRural website, as well as the Terms and Conditions and Applicants Guide.