1) Is Mark Challenge a competition for me? Who can compose a team?
You should fall into one of these two categories:
- Bachelor students, Master students
- MBA, Executive MBA, Alumni, professionals with or without university degree
Team should be composed of 2-4 people. However, there is an exception for the second category, where from the 2022 edition, you can also compete as a mono entrepreneur. Members of the team can have different nationalities and come from different universities. The category of the team is defined by the highest level of expertise among its members.
If you belong to category 1, you would like to participate but you don’t have a team we suggest you to use professional social media to find at least 1 person to compete with you.
In case of any doubt write please on this email address: themark@monaco.edu.
2) How can I register for the competition/modify data/add participants?
Registration for the competition should be done in your account on the web-site of MC (pre-registration is required). Be sure that you are logged in while registering your team. Once you have registered the team you can modify any data/add or delete team members etc. New team members can be added until the Submission 1.
3) Who is a Program Director in the registration form?
Program Director is the Head of your Academic Program, not Professor who teaches the course.
4) Can I compete with different projects?
Yes, you can. In this eventuality every project has to be registered under a different name. Also you can compete with different teams and students from different schools.
5) What are requirements for the video?
Goal of the video is to present a concept of the project in a one-minute time. This video should be created by the team and not be taken from the Internet. We strongly recommend you not to make self-videos. It is not professional! You could rather use some attractive pictures, music, a voice over, a text, etc. NO SELF-VIDEOS!
In order to get some inspirational examples, you can refer to the 8th edition of The Mark Challenge (minutes: 9:39, 29:23, 2:05:41) at the following link: The Grand Finale of Mark Challenge – YouTube
6) What is the difference between Executive summary and presentation?
The PPT should be considered as a marketing tool, while the 1-page Executive summary should explain the technical information. Executive summary has to be included in the beginning of the PPT followed by the presentation of the project. Presentation must be 15 slides max, all included.
7) What is anonymity of the submission?
One of the main goals of Mark Challenge is to ensure the highest possible level of neutrality of the Jury members. Therefore, no project of any team can be evaluated by professors from the same establishment. For this very reason, we kindly ask our participants not to include neither into their PDF file not into their video some materials which could indicate to our Jury members universities the team members come from (logos, writings, student emails).
8) When are the submission deadlines ?
Submission 1: business concept 13th of March at 11.59 pm CET (for everyone)
Submission 2: business plan 11th of April at 11.59 pm CET (for teams which received an invitation to participate in the 2nd Round)
9) What is the price to apply for Mark Challenge ?
Participation in the competition is free of charge.
10) Do the organizers cover any travel or accommodation costs for the finalists ?
Due to the pandemic the Mark Challenge’s team envisages 2 possible scenarios:
- if travel restrictions permit teams will be more than welcome to come to Monaco. In this case, every team that reaches the final will receive an envelope of 300 EUR for travel expenses and a one-night stay in a hotel in Monaco.
- if on the 16th of May teams are unable to come to Monaco due to the geopolitical state, they will be able to join the Grand Final online through video conferencing means.
