The European Patent Office, on the occasion of its 40^th anniversary, has announced a contest for college or university students. 
The EPO Innovation Contest aims at offering universities and students in the Organisations’ Member States the possibility to explore the wealth of patent documentation and to suggest further areas of innovation, with a particular focus on green technology and sustainable development. The participants to the contest will be working in close contact withpatent experts from the EPO and the Member States. They will be supported by the European Patent Academy of the Organisation and national actors like the national patent offices and the PATLIB centres.

Who can apply?
The contest is open to students of all fields of studies, who are at least 18 years old, enrolled in a university, college or equivalent academia in one of the EPO Member States. These conditions apply equally to all team members. No participation fee is required. The participants commit to respect the terms and conditions detailed in the Annex.
Excluded from participation: Employees of the EPO and the national patent offices (NPOs) and their relatives.

What is expected from the participants?
Participants to the contest are asked to define a research project that could be of interest for further R&D, comprising the following elements:

A description of an existing technical problem in one of the five following categories:

• Sustainable food production
• Eco-friendly energy production and storage
• Waste management, recycling, urban mining
• Smart transport and traffic management systems
• Smart house techniques

Using in particular freely accessible patent databases, like espacenet, a presentation of the current state of the art surrounding the problem identified.

An identification in general terms of the market potential for developments relating to the problem.

Online registration starts on 14 January 2013 and must be completed by 15 March 2013. A dedicated Distance Learning programme will be offered between 18 March - 13 June 2013. The submission deadline for the final project papers is 13 July, 2013. The language of the submissions shall be one of the official languages of the EPO (English, French, or German).

Prizes and award ceremony
All participants who submit their final papers will be awarded a one-year subscription to the EPO’s professional search tools on PISE/GPI, starting from October 2013.

The Jury will decide on the winning papers in September 2013. The EPO will invite the winners to attend the award ceremony on 17 October 2013 in Munich. The cost of their travel and sojourn will be borne by the EPO. The winning students/teams in each of the five categories will be awarded a 5 000 € prize. During the award ceremony, the nominees will present their research project to the public.

Regulamento