Aim
The Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe (BISC-E) is a Europe-wide student competition 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.
BIC involvement
BIC provides a central role in mobilising country participation, acting as contact point for the BISC-E coordinating organisation and financing and co-organising the European finals where the top student teams compete. BIC also funds the prize awards and provides additional benefits to the winning team (see below).
Participation
The target countries for student team participation are the EU Member States (MS) and the Associated Countries (associated to the European framework programmes). Each participating country has a national contact person (NCP) who will select/appoint the entity (higher education institution or federation) to run the national Challenge. Teams of 3 - 6 students enrolled in a programme at an institute for higher education in Europe are welcome to participate.
Benefits to students
BISC-E will offer student opportunities to interact with actors in the bio-based industry throughout Europe. This can be done during preparation of business cases. This interaction can possibly lead to further relationships between students and the industry.
The five finalists in the 2022 BISC-E competition are:
- Valorised Carbon (University of Gent, Belgium) innovating the production of activated carbon from fruit waste
- LignoFUN (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) innovating lignin-based flocculants for wastewater remediation
- GENAB (University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy) innovating genetic engineering of non-pathogenic black yeast for natural rubber synthesis
- BioCity Cowboys (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania) innovating a smart network of biofermenters in cities for turning biodegradable organic waste into valuable compost
- PRYNT3D Mycelium (Wageningen University, the Netherlands) innovating customized orthotic insole 3D printed with mycelium
Below, you can see some videos made by the teams which provide more information about their projects.
BISC-E competition prizes:
First place:
5000 EUR prize award
- 1-year free BIC ‘Full Member’ membership. This includes access to the full network of industry members, and involvement in the content planning for the partnership between BIC and the European Commission (Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking)
- Winning team and its project taken up in BIC’s newsletter and on BIC’s website; this offers the opportunity to update progress of the project and attract further attention
- Articles on the winning team and its project in international media that BIC work with. This will provide exposure to the broad bio-based sector and the European Commission
- Guided support by BIC staff during membership
Second place:
- 2500 EUR prize award
Third place:
- 1000 EUR prize award
