About the International Blockchain Olympiad
The International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) is an annual global competition inviting current and recent students to propose solutions for real-world problems with blockchain technology. In a worldwide hunt for blockchain talent, IBCOL combines the practicality of case competitions with the open-ended problem-solving culture of hack-a-thons, where participants submit a whitepaper like an academic conference and implementations of capstone projects.
IBCOL embodies the characteristics of a business case competition, an academic whitepaper conference, and a "hackathon" — contestants of up to six current and recent students first write a whitepaper to describe a complete solution, and finalists are required to create a poster board and a pitch presentation. This competition design rewards the students who can think deeply about a problem and the solution, and explain it to others in a coherent manner.
The mission of the International Blockchain Olympiad is to support sustainability and maturity in blockchain by working with academic, industry, and government partners. Primarily working with secondary and tertiary students, IBCOL provides education and training on designing complete blockchain solutions.
Promoting Awareness on Blockchain Technology & Applications: students from around the world will benefit from the experience of participating in the IBCOL program of activities, which includes seminar series, specialised training and workshops, mentoring, and networking events besides the actual competitions. This will cultivate a genuine interest in the area of innovation, originality, creativity and cutting-edge technology. It will also instill the right ethical values in the younger generation to pave the way for their further exploration of blockchain in the future.
Enhancing Employability by Equipping Participants with helpful Skills: the prospective and actual participants will benefit tremendously from the IBCOL programme, as they learn practical skills and knowledge outside their disciplines and push the boundaries of their comfort zones. Students get a taste of the real world, and learn how to identify and overcome challenges in actually making something happen.
The IBCOL was founded in 2017 at the height of the cryptocurrency bubble. While most of the world was distracted by ill-conceived ideas or outright scams, the IBCOL was one of the few that dared to ignore short-term gain for long-term development of the blockchain ecosystem. In its third year, IBCOL 2020 will be held online in the GMT+8 timezone. Participating countries may send up to 12 projects in a three-day symposium this July.
The International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) creates value for the students, for their academic institutions, for their potential employers, for their country, and for the entire world.
Building a Talent Trust: The purpose of this event is to nurture the next generation of blockchain professionals around the world. Participants have the opportunity to learn about blockchain from nothing and apply their knowledge in a design competition to see where they stand with their peers worldwide. Historically, participants of IBCOL have been offered jobs, internships, and investments into their projects with great continual success.
Braving a Whole New World: The world is increasingly online, and this paradigm shift will be accelerated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data is the new oil and identity is the new money. The last decade saw lots of development on the information superhighway, but this decade will see a crackdown on bad drivers. Privacy is in the spotlight now, due to the Facebook scandal and the implementation of GDPR. The next frontier is data verifiability, where blockchain is a fundamental part of the ecosystem.
Addressing Humanity's Challenges: With the decentralization of training and organization to the national level worldwide this year, the first generations of certified and compliant blockchain professionals in many countries will trace their inception to IBCOL 2020. Many of these students will build the foundations of the trust economy in their countries. In due time, this community will catalyst the cross-border solutions to problems postulated by the UN SDG and other non-profit organizations.
The Time for Blockchain is NOW: As a technology of trust, blockchain will generate 3.1 billion USD in value across all industry verticals. Countries across the world are directly and implicitly forming national development strategies around blockchain. There is already a lack of qualified blockchain professionals around the world today. Just like how today’s big tech did not emerge at the start of the internet revolution, the most influential blockchain giants of tomorrow do not yet exist today.
The Time for Students to get into Blockchain is NOW: When students of today graduate a few years from now, there will be even more job opportunities in blockchain. As students and graduates seek the hottest jobs and employers fight over the best talent, the next ten years will resemble the internet boom in the 1990s.
The IBCOL family is a network of organizations, consisting of three levels: the core IBCOL, the Local Blockchain Olympiad Committees (X-BCOL), and the IBCOL School Chapters.
Local Blockchain Olympiad Committees: The X-BCOL is the highest authority representing IBCOL in their country or territory. These great powers come with the most important responsibility: nomination of national representatives for the Final Round of the International Blockchain Olympiad, or IBCOL Finals. To ensure travelling to-and-from and at the IBCOL Finals, the X-BCOL is advised to submit their nominees within a reasonable time to allot for due diligence of projects by the IBCOL Competitions Committee (within one week), the issuance of tourist visas if applicable (4-6 weeks), and making travel arrangements (flights, hotels, etc). The X-BCOL are only required to submit up to 12 projects to represent their country. An actual event — online or extravagant or otherwise — is not required, but recommended if budget permits. The X-BCOL should maintain close relationships with each School Chapter. The X-BCOL are encouraged to fundraise for their operations, but work closely with IBCOL to ensure the expectation of supporting organizations are managed well.
School Chapters: The IBCOL School Chapters are the official representatives of IBCOL and their X-BCOL in each academic institution. The primary objective of School Chapters is to create opportunities for like-minded students to participate and collaborate in the IBCOL programme.
About IBCOL 2021
The IBCOL family is a network of organizations, consisting of three levels: the core IBCOL, the Local Blockchain Olympiad Committees (X-BCOL), and the IBCOL School Chapters.
Local Blockchain Olympiad Committees: The X-BCOL is the highest authority representing IBCOL in their country or territory. These great powers come with the most important responsibility: nomination of national representatives for the Final Round of the International Blockchain Olympiad, or IBCOL Finals. To ensure travelling to-and-from and at the IBCOL Finals, the X-BCOL is advised to submit their nominees within a reasonable time to allot for due diligence of projects by the IBCOL Competitions Committee (within one week), the issuance of tourist visas if applicable (4-6 weeks), and making travel arrangements (flights, hotels, etc). The X-BCOL are only required to submit up to 12 projects to represent their country. An actual event — online or extravagant or otherwise — is not required, but recommended if budget permits. The X-BCOL should maintain close relationships with each School Chapter. The X-BCOL are encouraged to fundraise for their operations, but work closely with IBCOL to ensure the expectation of supporting organizations are managed well.
School Chapters: The IBCOL School Chapters are the official representatives of IBCOL and their X-BCOL in each academic institution. The primary objective of School Chapters is to create opportunities for like-minded students to participate and collaborate in the IBCOL programme.
There are three medal prizes, seven theme prizes and one technical prize (all denominations in US Dollars) with the criteria for determining the :
Individual Eligibility — Any current or recent student may register as a competitor.. A current student is defined as a person of any age that is enrolled in a recognized academic institution. A recent student would have been a current student until 3 years ago (July 5th, 2017). An individual may be attached to an academic institution by being ever enrolled in it. A recognized institution is an accredited educational institution or an institution that may grant a degree or diploma. All institutions and competitors must be registered with the IBCOL Registrar Office.
Team Eligibility — Projects are submitted by teams of one to six eligible competitors. Each team must nominate one representative academic institution, if any of the team members are from different academic institutions. This representative institution determines which country or territory the team and thus project will represent. Teams may be composed of members from different countries/territories or academic institutions.
Project Registration — Individuals must first register with the IBCOL Registrar Office. Next, a team is registered. Next, a project is registered. A team may submit more than one project. Each local Blockchain Olympiad committee has different schedules. Thus, pay attention to the criteria for the deadlines of each local Blockchain Olympiad committee.
Project Evaluation — The representative academic institution determines the country, and thus determines which local Blockchain Olympiad committee will evaluate your whitepaper. Thus, pay attention to the criteria for the requirements of each local Blockchain Olympiad committee.
Project Selection — Each local Blockchain Olympiad committee may select up to 12 teams to represent their locale. Some select only on the basis of whitepaper quality, some also evaluate posterboard presentations and even pitch presentations. Some have additional interviews. Some have national or regional competitions. Thus, pay attention to the criteria for the processes of each local Blockchain Olympiad committee.
Yes, the IBCOL is suitable for any discipline. Deep technical understanding of blockchain is not as important as knowing how blockchain can be used and what are the challenges of using it in a compliant and sustainable way. Deep thinking is more important.
Yes, the IBCOL is suitable for any discipline. Just like being technical can give you an edge, having business experience also gives one an edge in proposing a project that is compliant and sustainable. Deep thinking is more important.
Yes, the IBCOL is suitable for any discipline. Deep thinking is more important. Want to know more? Listen to materials at training.ibcol.org (remember to first register at IBCOL Registrar Office.
Yes. You may use anon@ibcol.org and +007 as your email and phone number; use REDACTED for other fields; for country, choose the most relevant one. To resubmit, please include the same or former project & team name, so it is not double counted.
First register at IBCOL Registrar Office, and then contact us at 2021@ibcol.org
FIrst register at IBCOL Registrar Office, then go here to select your desired position: IBCOL Volunteer Enrolment
About Postboard
Most types of research poster templates have similar components. There’s no standard when it comes to these types of posters. But when thinking of the layout, make sure that it’s both organized and logical. To help you out, here are some pointers to keep in mind.
Online Safety
Yes. The public consensus is that Zoom is not safe for secrets, but there are no secrets shared in our interactions. There are best practices that we have been following since we started using Zoom years ago, such as having password-protected sessions or registered accounts only. Furthermore, Zoom has already patched many of its security issues. For all intents and purposes, it is safe.
No, do not click on a bit.ly link unless you know where it is from.
Here is an official list of bit.ly links that are currently active: