SODA-2025 - Competition Rules

The participant team should consist of at least one person. There is no limitation to the age and nationality of the participants. Each participant is only allowed to take part in one team.
All the participant should form a team and submit all relevant materials as a team.
The employees and experts, directly involving in the planning, organization, technical support and works review for the event, are not allowed to participate in the event, neither for their direct relatives.
The quarter-final participant teams are required to provide the personal identity information and credentials of each team members (the participator under 18 years old should provide the identity information and credentials of her/his guardian). The participators should ensure the authenticity of their identity information. The event organizer promises that the personal participator information will be only for authorizing event data and distributing prize, and the involved privacy will be kept of high confidentiality and destroyed after the event.

During First Phase, teams of SODA is required to submit the innovative ideas. The solutions should be presented in the form of PowerPoint and submitted in the format of PDF. All the submitted materials should be in Chinese, including but not limited to words, pictures, and videos.
The works should be submitted in anonymity. The Slides and other relevant materials are not allowed to contain any information which can help the judges directly tell the identity of the participant teams, individuals or represented enterprises. If there are over two judges affirming that the works contain such kind of information, the participation qualification will be cancelled.
We advise you to include following information in your material:
1.Works Summary: Overall introduction of the work;

2.Demands: Description of applicable application context, problems to be solved and target consumers;

3.Data Utilization: Detailed enumeration of utilized event-granted data, open data, and self-owned data, and initial statement on the data integration;

4.Solution: Initial Statement on technical solution based on the specific demands;

5.Application Result: Statement on the anticipated application result;

6.Value-Oriented: Potential business and social values of the work.

During the second phase, teams of SODA is required to submit the prototype and its document. The form of the prototype includes but not limited to APP, website, and visualization, etc., which can be submitted by providing the links for download or test. The prototype document should be presented in PowerPoint and submitted in PDF. All the submitted materials should be all in Chinese, including but not limited to words, pictures, and videos.
The works no longer needs to be in anonymity
We advise you to include following information in your document:
1.Works Summary: Overall introduction of the work;

2.Demands: Description of applicable application context, problems to be solved and target consumers;

3.Data Utilization: Detailed enumeration of utilized event-granted data, open data, and self-owned data, and statement on how to integrate the different data;

4.Technical Architecture: Overall technical architecture of the work;

5.Technical Details: Introduction on the main technology, methods and procedures in data cleaning, cultivation, relevance, visualization and application;

6.Prototype Test: Detailed description on the prototype usage, test case and prototype limitation;

7.Application Result: Statement on the anticipated application result;

8.Value-Oriented: Potential business and social values of the work.

The business bootcamp is organized and managed by the EFC Foundation.
SODA will provide EFC the list of 10 teams. The EFC has right to refuse any team or individual to join the bootcamp
Neither SODA nor EFC is responsible for any costs of any team or individual coming to Shanghai for the bootcamp.

The participant works must be of originality, not in violation of relevant laws of People’s Republic of China, or not infringe on any third party’s intellectual property and other rights; the organizer can cancel the participation eligibility, once any violation is verified.
The participant works should be submitted in an anonymous way. The participation eligibility will be denied, once over two judges identify the information contained in the submitted works that can help to figure out the identity of the participant team, participant individuals or the represented enterprise.
The organizer can deny the participation qualification if any of the following circumstances happens:
1.Submit incomplete works, or works with fake information;

2.Violate relevant laws and regulations of People’s Republic of China;

3.Suspected of cheating, infringe on others’ intellectual property;

4.The submitted works include unhealthy, impure, pornographic, or defamatory contents;

5.The submitted works include contents inappropriate to the organizers of other events.
The participant teams own the intellectual property rights of their submitted works. The organizer is allowed to put the relevant information about the participant works and participators into the event’s propaganda material, publications, authorized media distribution, official website browsing and download, and exhibitions, etc.
The organizer has the priority to arrange investment talk and product incubation service for the participant works.

The works submitted by all the qualified participant teams before the deadline through all the event phrases will get the evaluation. The works submitted after the deadline will not be admitted. Meanwhile, the organizer takes no responsibility to any damage, missing, or delayed submission of works caused by failures of computer, internet and mobile network.
The organizer will arrange a judge panel to review the submitted works, based on the following but not limited to the aspects: problem-oriented, innovation, feasibility, technical content, interactivity, the degree of utilization on the open data, social benefit, business value, and team work, etc.
The judges will make preliminary examination (reexamination) to all the qualified submitted works to settle on the participant teams to be entered into the Quarter-final (Finals).
Once the judges make the evaluation result, it is final. And the judges will give no feedback to any participant works.

1. SODA has one Grand prize, three Outstanding prizes and six seed prizes.
The SODA Award is open to all participant teams, which can be brought into the award candidate review after the submission of the qualified works.
SODA will invite the participant teams on the award naming list to take part in the award ceremony and relevant investment talk. If the participant teams do not reply to the notice after it is sent within 7 days, the organizer will take it that the chance is waivered and give it to other teams.
All the winning teams in the Finals road show will get a prize bonus (RMB). The organizer can pay the individual income tax or tax in other forms regarding the prize bonus on behalf of the winning teams.
The winning teams get to allocate prize among the team members, and the organizer has no any liability to this.

Refuse any individual participant, participant organization, and entries.
Revise the event phase times, including but not limited to the submission deadline, offline activity date, and road show date, and suspend or terminate the event anytime.
Change the number of participant teams through all phases of the event (also the Finals) and adjust the award setting and amount of prize.
Retrieve awards or refuse to grant awards to some team.