What is BISC-E?

BISC-E encourages students to explore the emerging bio-based work field while developing a new bio-based product or process. Are you up for the challenge?

Aim
Aim

The Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe (BISC-E) is a Europe-wide student competition to stimulate entrepreneurship and award excellence. BISC-E seeks to raise awareness and involve students in the transition towards a bio-based economy.

Education
Who can participate?

Are you up to the challenge? Register with the National Coordinator in your country now!The countries that have announced their participation in BISC-E 2025 are shown below and there you can find the coordinates of the respective National Coordinators. New participating countries will appear soon. The national student team winners from the national BISC-Es will participate in the European final of BISC-E 2025 in Autumn 2025.

Our Role
Our role

BIC provides a central role in mobilising country participation, acting as contact point for the BISC-E coordinating organisation and organising and co-financing the European finals where the national winners compete. BIC also funds the prize awards and provides additional benefits to the winning team.

Award
Everybody wins!

BISC-E offers students opportunities to interact with actors in the bio-based industry throughout Europe. This can be done during preparation of business cases, in interaction with jury members at the national and the European finals and associated networking events. These interactions can possibly lead to further relationships between students and the industry, including employment.

Competition prizes

1st Place
€5000
2nd Place
€2500
3rd Place
€1000
Winner
The European winner will also benefit from...
  • 1 year free BIC membership as an industry member. This offers access to the full network of industry members, and involvement in the preparation of the Annual Work Programme 2026 of the partnership between BIC and the European Commission (Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking – CBE JU). 
  • 1 year free BIC ‘Associate Member’ membership for the supporting/host university of the winning student team. This offers networking opportunities with all universities, RTOs, and associations that are BIC members.
  • The winning team and its project will be 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 magazines that BIC works with. This will provide exposure to the broad bio-based sector and the European Commission.
  • Guided support by BIC staff during the 1 year membership.

Competition details

Our Role
Indicative dates
  • November 2024 – mid-January 2025: Student teams can submit ‘interest to register’ to the National Coordinator. 
  • Mid-January 2025 – mid-February 2025: Student teams to submit official registration to the National Coordinator.
  • Mid-February 2025 – end of June 2025: Run and complete National BISC-E competitions throughout Europe.
  • 15 July 2025 latest: Submit national winners and final dossiers (business cases and proposed solutions) to the the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC).
  • September 2025 – October 2025:  BISC-E 2025 European final (see below).

The national target dates will be set by the National Coordinator in each country.

Award
European Final

The European final will proceed in two rounds in September – October 2025. In the first round, all national winning student teams pitch their business case and solution to a panel of academia experts. The panel evaluates the proposals on innovativeness, sustainability impact, technical feasibility, and economic viability. The panel also values the team’s pitching skills and its interaction during the subsequent Q&A. The top-5 student teams proceed to the final round to pitch their case and solution to industry experts who judge the proposals on the same criteria, with a focus on scalability and business potential. The video pitch of the top -5 teams will be judged and scored online by all BIC industry members. The combined scores from the first and second rounds determine the European winners of BISC-E 2025.


All student teams going into the first round will receive professional training on making an effective pitch. The top-5 student teams proceeding to the final round will receive in addition professional training on making a video to present their innovative proposal. All videos will be uploaded on the BIC website.

Countries participating in BISC-E

Flag Austria
Austria
National Coordinator
Flag Belgium
Belgium
National Coordinator

University of Ghent

Flag Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia & Herzegovina
National Coordinator

University of Sarajevo

Flag Bulgaria
Bulgaria
National Coordinator

Agriculture University Plodiv

Flag Croatia
Croatia
National Coordinator

University of Osijek

Josip Juraj Strossmayer

Flag Czech Republic
Czech Republic
National Coordinator

Mendel University

Flag Estonia
Estonia
National Coordinator

Estonian University of Life Sciences

Flag France
France
Flag Germany
Germany
National Coordinator

University of Hohenheim

Flag Greee
Greece
National Coordinator

National Technical University of Athens

Flag Hungary
Hungary
National Coordinator

Debrecen University

Flag Iceland
Iceland
National Coordinator

The Agricultural University of Iceland

Flag Ireland
Ireland
National Coordinator

Munster Technology University

Flag Italy
Italy
National Coordinator

University of Pisa

Flag Latvia
Latvia
National Coordinator

Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry

Flag Lithuania
Lithuania
National Coordinator

Lithuanian Biotechnology Association

Flag The Netherlands
Netherlands
National Coordinator

CoE MNExT - WUR

Flag Poland
Poland
National Coordinator

Łukasiewicz – Automotive Industry Institute

Flag Portugal
Portugal
National Coordinator

University of Minho

Flag Romania
Romania
National Coordinator

University of Agricultural Sciences & Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca

Flag Serbia
Serbia
Flag Slovenia
Slovenia
National Coordinator

Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Štajerska with the University of Ljubljana

Flag Spain
Spain
National Coordinator

University of Almeria

Flag Sweden
Sweden
National Coordinator

University of Borås