HKBCOL 2023 Tertiary Rules

Read me if you are competing in HKBCOL 2023

The International Blockchain Olympiad is an annual competition for all students. Please note that the Hong Kong Blockchain Olympiad has slightly different definitions from the International Blockchain Olympiad and slightly different eligibility for secondary- and tertiary-level contestants. Also please take note of the dates and requirements for submissions.

Eligibility

  1. Students* only: 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.
  2. No age limit: A current student is defined as a person of any age that is enrolled in a recognized secondary or post-secondary academic institution.
  3. Representation: 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.
  4. Returning Participation: Previous individuals are eligible to compete.
  5. Representation: An individual may be born in Hong Kong, attend educational institutions within Hong Kong, or hold Hong Kong citizenship.
  6. Team Composition: 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.
  7. Team Uniqueness: 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.
  8. Returning Participation: Previous teams are eligible to compete.
  9. One Team, One Project: A team may submit only one project. Note: a team submitting a project for the IBCOL competition may also submit another entry for our sister competition IDSOL.
  10. Returning Participation: Previous projects that have not won any awards from prior IBCOL competitions are eligible to compete in IBCOL.

Specification of Submissions

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

Content Format
Survey 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:

  1. Describe your solution in 1 sentence.
  2. Write an abstract of your solution in 2023 characters or less.
  3. What value or problem is your solution adding or solving?
  4. How does your solution work?
  5. What differentiates your solution from competitors or alternatives?
  6. What features, benefits, and impact does your solution have?
  7. What are potential risks and mitigations?
  8. What are critical success factors?
  • 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)
Video
  • 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.
 Youtube link of an unlisted video
Poster 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.
  • 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).
Team Profile
  • The team profile shall include 3-4 sentences and photo for each team member
  • Team member CV (recommended)
  • PDF files
Note:
  • If your country or territory has a Competition Committee, please refer to the submission timeline as outlined by the committee; the materials may be required in one submission or in separate submissions.
  • If your country or territory does not have a Competition Committee, please submit the survey, video and poster in one batch directly to the IBCOL Committee via the website.

Adjudication 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.

Criteria Guidelines Survey Video Poster
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%
10% 55%
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% 50% 35%
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% 40% 10%
Total 100% 100% 100%

Key Dates

KeyDates Hong Kong Blockchain Olympiad
Dates Description
Tuesday 23 May 2023 Briefing Session (Open Application)
Saturday 2 Sep 2023 Submission Deadline
Saturday 16 Sep 2023 Greater Bay Area Olympiads 2023 Exhibition
Note: Deadlines is the calendar date up to 23:59 (midnight minus one; GMT+8 Hong Kong Time).

Awards

    The prizes for the Hong Kong Blockchain Olympiad 2023 are as follows:

  1. Gold Medal (Project with 1st Highest Overall Score)
  2. Silver Medal (Project with 2nd Highest Overall Score)
  3. Bronze Medal (Project with 3rd Highest Overall Score)
  4. Award of Distinction (Project with the 4th to 10th Highest Overall Score)
  5. Award of Merit (Project with the 11th to 20th Highest Overall Score)
Top teams will be proceeded to Greater Bay Area Blockchain Olympiad 2023.
Selected top teams will be proceeded to International Blockchain Olympiad 2023 in Amsterdam.