EPCA Challenge rules

 

Future of Petrochemicals Challenge 2026

LAST EDIT DATE 2026/08/26

 

This Challenge is sponsored by The European Petrochemical Association - EPCA, registered at Rue Belliard 40 (box 4) – 1040 Brussels – Belgium (the “Sponsor”).

 

The aim of these Rules is to set out the terms and conditions governing your participation in the Challenge. By participating in this Challenge, you fully and unconditionally agree to comply with these Rules.

 

1. TERM

 

This Challenge begins on 7 September 2026 at 00:00 (CET/CEST) and ends during the live final when the Prizes will be awarded. The date of this final is yet to be defined, but will take place in early 2027.

 

All dates and times indicated in the Rules refer to Central European Time (CET/CEST).

 

2. AGREEING TO THE RULES

 

Any eligible person who is registered on the Challenge website and enrolls to participate in the Challenge (“Participant” or “You”), is required to review and accept these Rules. By accessing and accepting these Rules, You:

1. enter into a valid and enforceable contractual relationship with the Sponsor regarding participation in the Challenge. The registration and enrolment in the Challenge does not set up any subordination relationship between the Sponsor and the Participant, and

2.  fully and unconditionally agree to comply with these Rules. 

 

In case of non-respect of these Rules, the Participant will be immediately disqualified from the Challenge and no prize will be awarded.

 

3. REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE CHALLENGE

 

Registration to the Challenge and filing submissions to the Challenge will only be possible on the dedicated Challenge website operated by Agorize at Agorize - Future of Petrochemicals Challenge 2026  (“the Challenge website”), which will be accessible 24 hours a day, subject to possible IT maintenance operations

 

Registration to the Challenge is possible until 22 November 2026 at 00:00 (CET/CEST). To register, the Participant must first have created a user account on the Challenge website, and must have truthfully and accurately completed all required information, such as full name, email address, etc.

 

Any registration based on inaccurate, false or incomplete information will result in the Participant’s disqualification. The Participant is solely responsible for the information he/she provides when registering. Any intentional or unintentional mistake, anomaly or inconsistency, regarding this information, may result in the Participant’s disqualification. The Sponsor reserves the right to proceed with all necessary verifications regarding the Participant’s identity, postal and/or email address, as well as regarding any other information to be provided by the Participant.

 

Deletion of a Participant’s user account on the Challenge website will be deemed as a withdrawal from the Challenge. In this case, the Participant, regardless of whether the deletion results from the Participant’s personal action or not, will not participate in the Challenge, and will not obtain any compensation.

 

You must also have accepted the Rules as well as the Terms and Conditions of Use of the Website and the Privacy Policy, during the creation of your user account and your registration to the Challenge.

 

Registration for and participation in the Challenge is free.

 

All costs made by the Participants in relation with the Challenge (such as costs for drafting and sending submissions, 3rd party services, etc.) will exclusively be borne by the Participants.

 

4. ELIGIBILITY

 

This Challenge is open and offered solely to: 

 

• Students. Any individual aged between eighteen (18) and twenty-six (26) years and/or with full legal capacity, who is currently enrolled in a bachelor, master or post-master program at an education institution recognized by an official member state of the European Union, or any educational program of similar level accepted by EPCA with a student card as verification. Each Student may participate as many times as they like in the Challenge. 

 

All the documents that may confirm the Participant’s eligibility may be required prior to awarding any prizes (e.g. identity document, student card etc.).

 

This Challenge is not open to graduates, or employees and representatives of the Sponsor and Agorize and the members of their families.

 

5. PURPOSE OF THE CHALLENGE AND PARTICIPATION

 

Participation in the Challenge must be in teams of 3-5 Students.

 

• Teams. Individual Participants must form a team (“Team”) of 3-5 Students. Each Team member must accept these Rules by clicking a hyperlink on the Challenge website. The Sponsor may disqualify any Team (and all its members) if one member has not accepted or violates the Rules.

The goal of the Challenge is for Teams to submit contributions (or projects) meeting the requirements set out by the Sponsor in the Challenge brief, and formalized by deliverables, addressing one of the Challenge's four categories: (i) Petrochemicals Power Modern Life; (ii) Building a Greener, Circular Industry; (iii) A Workplace Worth Joining; and (iv) Rewriting the Industry's Story. The brief includes information regarding various deadlines, details of the prizes, Sponsor requirements etc. (the “Brief”). The Brief is accessible through the Challenge website.

 

6. DELIVERABLES

 

During the Challenge, Participants will have to upload materials (such as texts, presentations, videos, etc.) relating to their project on the Challenge website in response and as a solution to the Sponsor’s Challenge (the “Deliverable”).

 

To be eligible, Deliverables must (i) address the specific issue set out in the Brief, (ii) be in a common digital format, such as, DOC, DOCX, PDF, PPT, PPTX, KEY, ODT, MP3, MPEG, MOV, MP4, and (iii) be in English, and comply with the Rules.

 

If a Deliverable cannot be downloaded, is not in a commonly used format or is incompatible, illegible, or unintelligible, the Deliverable will be disqualified.

 

When submitting a Deliverable, the following rules must  be respected:

 

• The Deliverable includes exclusive contributions from a Team;
• If content from a third party has been used in the development of the Deliverable, all rights, authorizations and agreements necessary to submit the Deliverable and grant the rights mentioned herein have been obtained.
• No other individual and/or entity is entitled to claim any rights on the use of the Deliverable; and
• The content of the Deliverable does not and will not infringe or violate any rights of any third party or entity, including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, privacy, competition law, confidentiality, or any contractual or extracontractual right. 

If the Sponsor has reasonable doubts about the fact that a Deliverable infringes one of these rules, it can request additional information from the team’s members and/or can decide sovereignly to exclude the Deliverable and disqualify the team from participation to the Challenge.

 

The Content of the Deliverables can be used by the Sponsor for the Challenge but also outside the Challenge, as foreseen in Sections 9, 10 and 11 of the Rules.  

 

Participants are responsible for and shall bear any costs or expenses associated with preparing and submitting Deliverables. Participants assume all risk for damaged, lost, late, incomplete, invalid, incorrect or misdirected Deliverables.

7. CHALLENGE PROCESS

 

1. Challenge Rounds. 

 

The Challenge consists of three rounds:

 

• Round One (application phase): Deliverables will be accepted from 7 September 2026 until 22 November 2026 (included), narrowed first by public vote and then by an internal eligibility and compliance check. 
• Round Two (mentoring phase): Each shortlisted Team is paired with a mentor appointed by the Sponsor, to help prepare their final submission according to the Challenge brief. These mentors will be industry leaders from EPCA member companies. 
• Final Round. Shortlisted teams will attend a live finale event, where they pitch their project live. A jury will evaluate the projects and select the final winners.

 

2. Absence of Deliverable. 

 

If a Team does not upload a Deliverable on the Challenge website before the deadline for Round One, this will be considered as a withdrawal from the Challenge. The Participant may not join the Challenge at a later stage.

 

3. Selection Criteria. 

 

Deliverables will be judged according to the Selection Criteria described below. The Challenge relies on creativity, capacity, ability, and ingenuity of the Participants to solve difficult problems. Under no circumstances are factors such as appearance, religion, membership in a trade union, political opinions or sexual orientation considered. 

 

4. Notification to Participants. 

 

Once selection has been completed, Participants will be notified by email, phone, or by other means of the results of each Round. The Sponsor will be free to alter the dates on which results are released should this become necessary due to the number of projects to be assessed. The ranking decided by the final jury will be announced on the day that presentations are made and will identify the Participants that are finalists.

 

5. Round One (application phase)

 

1. Round One Deliverables

 

All Round One Deliverables must be submitted before 22 November 2026, 23:59 (CET/CEST), and must include:

• a one-sentence description of the Team's project; and
• a 60–90 second video presenting the Team's idea, in English, uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo (or directly to the Challenge website, where available), so that it can be viewed by the public.

2. Selection phase

 

When a Deliverable is submitted, it will be subject to the selection phase as follows:

 

Stage 1 — Public Vote ("Like" voting). From 5 October 2026 to 22 November 2026 (included), members of the general public ("Voters") may evaluate a Deliverable and vote by "liking" it. Voters may only cast one (1) like per Deliverable. Within each of the four Challenge categories, a maximum of five (5) Deliverables (the ones with the highest number of likes at the end of Stage 1 – Public Vote) will be shortlisted to proceed to Stage 2, for a maximum of twenty (20) shortlisted Deliverables across all categories.

Any attempt to cheat, use fake profiles, use third-party applications enabling false voting, or engage in duplicate voting, of which the Sponsor becomes aware, will result in the disqualification of the Deliverable that received these votes and of the Participants to that Deliverable. The Sponsor's decision on disqualification is final and may not be contested.

Stage 2 — Internal Eligibility and Compliance Review. From 23 November 2026 to 4 December 2026, the Sponsor's internal team will review the shortlisted Deliverables. This review does not re-assess or re-rank Deliverables on their merits — the ranking produced by the Public Vote determines the shortlist. Its purpose is limited to confirming that each shortlisted Deliverable, and the Participants and Team behind it, comply with the Rules, including that:

• no fraudulent, duplicate, or otherwise manipulated votes contributed materially to its ranking;
• all eligibility conditions under Section 4 are met; and
• the Deliverable and its content otherwise comply with the expected requirements.

If the Sponsor determines that a shortlisted entry fails this review, it may, at its sole discretion, either disqualify the entry — in which case the next-highest-ranked entry from the Public Vote in the same category takes its place — or reduce the overall number of Teams proceeding to the Mentoring Phase. The Sponsor's decisions under this Section are final and may not be contested.

Teams confirmed under Stage 2 will proceed to the Mentoring Phase.

Participants will be informed of the results of Round One by 4 December 2026.

 

6. Round Two (mentoring phase)

 

From 7 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, shortlisted Teams will be paired with mentors from the petrochemical industry to help refine their project ahead of the Final Round. Participation in the Mentoring Phase does not itself guarantee advancement to the Final Round, and does not affect the eligibility criteria set out in Section 4.

7. Final Round 

 

Teams who have been selected to participate in Round 2 will be directly notified by email to the address provided during registration. In the event a Participant does not confirm his/her attendance at the final event, the Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify this Participant. This disqualification shall not entitle the Participant to claim any kind of compensation from the Sponsor.

 

The Final Round consists of an oral presentation of the selected projects by the Participants.

 

At least one (1) member of each finalist Team must attend the Final Round in person; other Team members may join either in person or remotely, at the Team's choice. For the Team member(s) attending in person, EPCA will cover reasonable travel costs (economy class, for journeys originating within Europe) and one (1) night's hotel accommodation, subject to travel arrangements being pre-approved by EPCA and proof of expenses (receipts) being provided. Participants are solely responsible for obtaining any travel documents required for their journey, including a valid passport and any necessary visa, and for any related costs. EPCA accepts no liability if a Participant is unable to attend the Final Round as a result of failing to obtain such documents in time.

Ahead of the Final Round, Teams must prepare and submit a Deliverable meeting the specifications set out in Section 6, comprising:

• a one-sentence description of the project;
• a 2–3 minute video presenting the project, in English; and
• a slide deck presenting the project, in English.

This Deliverable will support the live presentation given by the Team.

At the end of the Final Round, an expert jury of industry professionals designated by the Sponsor (the "Jury") will judge the live pitches against the following criteria:

• Innovation & Originality — how fresh and creative is the idea?
• Relevance & Industry Impact — does it offer real value to the petrochemical industry?
• Feasibility — how realistic is it, and could it credibly be developed further?
• Alignment with Category — does it genuinely deliver on the chosen challenge category?
• Pitch Quality — how clearly and persuasively is it brought to life on stage?

Based on these criteria, the Jury will rank the Teams taking part to the final round.

 

8. PRIZES

 

The prizes are awarded to the winning teams of each category of the Challenge and are subject to compliance with the following cumulative conditions:

 

• The Deliverables comply with Section 6 (“Deliverables”);
• Each Participant of a winning team complies with Sections 9 and 11;
• It can be proven that the Participants of a winning team fulfil the conditions of eligibility of Section 4.

 

No prize will be awarded to winning teams who do not fulfill the above conditions.

 

Once confirmed by Sponsor, the winning teams of each category of the Challenge will receive the following:

• 1st Place: €500 per Team member.
• 2nd Place: €250 per Team member.
• 3rd Place: €100 per Team member.

 

No assignment or transfer of prizes is allowed. If a winning Team cannot be reached, is unable to accept the prize or any portion of the prize for any reason, Sponsor shall have no further obligation to such potential winner. Sponsor will not replace any lost or stolen prizes after being awarded to winners. Winners will accept the prize “as it is”. Sponsor disclaims any warranty regarding the Prizes.

 

In the event a Participant (a winner) cannot be reached, by email or by phone, for more than one week after the first attempt to reach them was made, he/she will be deemed as having waived their right to claim the prize and will not be entitled to any prize or any kind of compensation.

 

If the prize as initially planned is unavailable, the Sponsor will be free to substitute another prize of similar value. Any such decision is at Sponsor’s sole discretion.

 

Any Participant who does not fulfil the conditions of Participation as provided in the Rules during their registration and/or at any time during the Challenge will be summarily disqualified from the Challenge without prior notice and will not be entitled to any prize. In the event that a prize is awarded to a Participant who does not meet the conditions of Participation when registering or throughout the duration of the Challenge, Sponsor reserves the right to require the Participant to return the awarded prize.

 

9. COMMUNICATION AND USE OF DELIVERABLES

 

Each Participant acknowledges and consents that the Sponsor may, for the duration of the Challenge and for a period of three (3) years following the Final Round, use the Deliverables files by the Participant's team, and related materials (including personal data, where applicable) for publicity purposes, in the whole world, by any means and through any media now known or developed after agreement on these Rules, free of charge. Participants also agree on the use of their image, voice and likeliness in the same way. Participants may withdraw their consent to the use of their image, voice and likeliness at any time by contacting the Sponsor's Data Protection contact at [email protected]. Personal Data will otherwise be processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy available on the Challenge website, including in relation to services used in connection with the Challenge.

In particular, each Participant consents to the collection, use and/or disclosure by the Sponsor and/or Agorize of personal data provided by the Participant during registration and throughout the Challenge, including his/her: name and surname, city and region of residence, educational background, image, bank details (for prize payment and reimbursement purposes), and any other personal data included in Deliverables.

Such personal data may be processed for the purposes of (i) administering and operating the Challenge, including prize payment; (ii) communication, promotion and dissemination relating to the Challenge; and (iii) Internal Use, as described below — by the Sponsor and by Agorize.

Participants further authorize the Sponsor and/or Agorize to make audio and video recordings of the Challenge final round and to take photographs of it, and to disseminate such materials through any communication medium. Such use does not entitle a winner to any payment beyond the prize received. 

Participants have the right to access, rectify, or request the deletion of their Personal Data, and to exercise their other rights under applicable data protection law, as further described in Section 14 ("Personal Data Protection").

Internal use of Deliverables

Separately from the publicity use described above, the Participant acknowledges and agrees that the Sponsor may review, analyze, and draw on the content of Deliverables — including the ideas, themes and insights they contain — to nourish the Sponsor's own discussions, committee work, communications, and strategic activities relating to the petrochemical industry (the "Internal Use").

Internal Use may continue beyond the three (3) year period described above.

 

10. CONFIDENTIALITY

 

The Sponsor has no obligation to keep the information contained in the Deliverables confidential. In general terms, when submitting any Deliverables, the Participants understand, agree and accept that any information contained therein may be publicly disclosed by the Sponsor.

 

Furthermore, Participants acknowledge that the Sponsor may currently or in the future be developing information internally, or receiving information from other parties, that is similar to information contained in Deliverables. Accordingly, nothing herein shall prohibit the Sponsor from independently acquiring, developing, or having developed for it, products, concepts, systems, services, or techniques that are similar to or compete with the products, concepts, systems or techniques contemplated by or embodied in any Deliverable. 

 

The Participants recognize that other Participants, individuals or entities may have provided to the Sponsor or others, or made public, or may in the future submit, or make public, content that is the same or similar to any piece of information contained in any of the Deliverables. Hence, the Participants acknowledge, agree and accept that the Sponsor shall have the right to use such same or similar materials, and that the Participants will not be entitled to any compensation arising from the Sponsor’s use of such materials. 

11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

 

Definitions. For the purposes of this section, 

• "Intellectual Property Rights" refer to copyright, neighboring rights, trademark, design model, patent, database, and software rights, as well as, more generally, any other similar right (including trade secrets and knowhow) that may be protected by national and/or international laws or conventions on intellectual property (“Intellectual Property Rights”)

 

• “Previous Rights” refer to any Intellectual Property Rights and/or any associated know-how held by the Participants before the start date of the Challenge (“Previous Rights”) 

 

• “Creations” refer to any products protected by an Intellectual Property Right, including software (including source and object code software), database, technical specifications, text, presentations, designs, models, information, knowledge, method, process or product, as well as any resulting elements and/or processes, developed by any Participant as a part of any Deliverable throughout the Challenge.

 

Warranty of non-infringement. When submitting a Deliverable, at any stage of the Challenge, each Participant guarantees to the Sponsor that he/she is the co/owner and/or co/holder of the Intellectual Property Rights regarding the Creations  contained in that Deliverable, and that he/she has obtained all rights and permissions regarding all pre-existing Creations and any elements of the Deliverables for which he/she does not hold the relevant rights (in that latter case, such permission must include all rights necessary to license the Deliverable as to allow the Sponsor to use it in accordance with the provisions of Section 9 to 11).

 

Each Participant therefore guarantees (i) that his/her contribution to the Deliverable is original and unprecedented or that he has obtained the rights as indicated above; (ii) that it does not infringe upon the copyright or any Intellectual Property Rights of any third party; (iii) that all the elements and any information contained in its contribution to the Deliverable are accurate, reliable and complete; and (iv) that the submission of the relevant Deliverables does not constitute an act of unfair competition of any kind.

 

It is compulsory for Participants to indicate the source of any pre-existing Creations of whichever nature, which are included in any Deliverable. Any Deliverable involving several Participants constitutes a collaborative work and it should be treated as such in accordance with the applicable laws.

 

Liability. Sponsor cannot be held liable for any infringement of the above provisions by Participants. Each Participant shall indemnify the Sponsor against any disturbance, action, claim, opposition and demand or eviction attempt from any third party in connection with any Deliverable.

 

 

Ownership

Except as set out in Section 9 ("Communication"), by submitting a Deliverable and participating in this Challenge, the Participant does not grant Intellectual Property Right on the Deliverable to the Sponsor.

 

     Limited License for Communication Purposes

 

However, to give effect to Section 9, the Participant grants the Sponsor a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to analyze, reproduce, adapt (e.g. by subtitling, excerpting or translating), modify and communicate the Deliverable, in whole and in part, worldwide, for the duration described in Section 9, for publicity and for the Internal Use purposes described in that Section. This license does not affect the Participant's ownership of the Deliverable or of Intellectual Property Rights it contains.

 

12. MODIFICATION OF RULES, SUSPENSION AND CANCELLATION OF THE CHALLENGE

 

Update of the Rules. The Sponsor reserves the right to amend these Rules at any time, including the Challenge duration in case of operational imperatives, without prior notice to Participants regarding an indication of the date of the amendment. Participants are encouraged to consult these Rules regularly. Where an amendment materially affects the conditions of participation, Participants who have already registered can withdraw from the Challenge. 

 

Should any paragraph of these Rules be declared or judged illegal, unenforceable or void by a court decision, the paragraph in question will be considered null and void, but all other unaffected paragraphs will be enforced within the limits of the law.

 

Challenge Cancellation or Suspension. The Sponsor reserves the right in its discretion, to (i) cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Challenge and these Rules, and (ii) to limit or restrict participation in the Challenge, where reasonably necessary.

 

13. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

 

Participation in the Challenge implies acknowledgement and acceptance of the characteristics, limits and risks of the internet and related technologies, particularly with regards to performance, response time, security of software and computer equipment against various potential attacks, such as viruses, logic bombs or Trojans, and loss or misuse of data. As a result, the Sponsor will not be held liable in any way for any damage incurred by Participants arising from these characteristics, limits and risks, which Participants accept by registering and taking part in the Challenge.

 

The Sponsor will in no way be held liable in the event of breakdown or failure, regardless of the cause, of any telecommunications network used that causes Participants difficulty in or prevents Participants from identifying themselves on or gaining access to the Challenge website.

 

Participants agree that the Sponsor, its affiliates and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, representatives and agents (“released parties”) will have no liability whatsoever for, and will be released and held harmless by participants for any claims, liabilities, or causes of action of any kind or nature for any injury, loss or damages of any kind including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages to property, arising in relation with the Challenge, save for damages resulting from death, personal injury, fraud or willful misconduct of the Sponsor or of the released parties, for which liability cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. 

 

Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the Challenge website and in connection with the Challenge is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.  Some jurisdictions may not allow such limitation or exclusion of liability, in which case such limitations or exclusion shall apply only to the extent permitted by the applicable law. 

The Sponsor will not be held liable for damages resulting from faults with or delays in the submission of Deliverables by Participants, including refusal to accept these Deliverables as a consequence of their submission outside the deadlines set out in the Rules, from faults with or delays to the sending of any emails by the Participant sent as part of the Challenge, or from any alterations made to the deliverables independently of the Sponsor.

 

The Sponsor will not in any case be held liable for damages resulting from services provided by a third-party relating to the prizes.

 

The Sponsor will not be held liable for the consequences of a Participant’s disqualification from the Challenge as a result of their violation of these Rules.

 

14. PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

 

Participation in the Challenge requires the communication of the Participant's personal data ("Personal Data").

 

 

Participant’s personal data is subject to processing within the meaning of the regulations on the protection of personal data (The EU 2016/679 General Data Protection Regulation and the Council of 27 April 2016, known as GDPR) for which the Sponsor defines the purposes and means and is, as such, “Data controller” within the meaning of the GDPR.

 

The purposes of the processing are: 

• The organization of the Challenge, including the communication between the Participant and the Sponsor, to ensure identification, communication and preservation of the exchanges with the Participant;
• The consent of the Participant for the use of the Participant’s image, voice and likeness.

 

The personal data are kept for a period of ten years after the end of the Challenge (statute of limitation for contractual claims), and that period of time will be extended in case of litigation regarding the Challenge. By exception, the image, voice and likeness of the Participants in recordings will be kept as long as those recordings are made available.

 

In accordance with the provisions of the GDPR, the Sponsor undertakes to implement organizational and technical security measures in order to protect all Participant’s Personal Data. 

 

In the event of claim regarding the processing of its personal data, the Participant can file a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority: https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be.

15. CLAIMS

 

Any Participant’s claims arising from the Challenge, should be addressed no later than thirty (30) days following the Challenge end date to [email protected]. All claims must include: (i) the Participant’s complete contact details (name, address, email address and phone); (ii) the name of the Challenge; and (iii) a clear and detailed explanation for the claim.

 

16. APPLICABLE LAW AND DISPUTES RESOLUTION

 

The Challenge and any action related thereto shall be governed by Belgian law without references to provision of international private law.

 

In case of persistent litigation beyond a period of fifteen (15) days after the Participant has filed a claim, the Sponsor and the Participant undertake to submit their dispute to an amicable conciliation prior to any legal proceedings. The party wishing to initiate conciliation shall inform the other party by means of a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt in which it will inform of its intentions and will explain the cause. If no agreement is reached between the parties within thirty (30) days after receipt of the registered letter, the parties regain their freedom of action.

 

In case of persistent disagreement on the application or interpretation of the Rules, and in the absence of an amicable settlement, any dispute that may arise between the parties, will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Belgian courts competent for the siege of the Sponsor, to which the parties expressly grant exclusive jurisdiction, even in the case of multiple defendants, in summary proceedings, appeal by guarantee or by motion.