Brussels, 17 October 2013 – The 8th Virtual Steelmaking Challenge will begin with the Round 1 Regional Championship on 12 November 2013 and will finish with the Round 2 World Championship in February 2013. There are two categories: ‘Student’ and ‘Industry’. Entrants in both categories will compete online from their own countries in the first round and the winners of the first round will come together in Belgium for the Grand Final.
The Regional Championship will take place online and will run for 24 hours starting from 12:00 GMT, 12 November 2013: The task is to produce a specific grade of steel at the lowest total cost using a continuous casting simulation at steeluniversity.org. Participants can choose to take part as individuals or in teams of a maximum of two people. They can make an unlimited number of attempts to achieve the specified steel grade or product.
At the end of this round, Regional Champions from the ‘Student’ and ‘Industry’ categories will be identified for each of the following regions: North America, Latin America, Europe-CIS, Middle East-India- Africa, and East Asia-Oceania. They will be invited to take part in the Grand Final in Brussels with expenses paid for their trip.
The regional champions from each of the categories will compete for the title of World Champion in Brussels in February 2014. Leaders of the global steel industry will be present to watch the live event unfold. World Champions in each category will be awarded certificates, cash prizes and trophies.
The 2012/2013 world champions in the student category Andraž Bradeško and Anže Tekavčič from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, said: “Our win drew a lot of attention from the media here in Slovenia and we even received a letter of congratulations from the Slovenian president. Because of that we had a few job offers from steel companies. In addition, being the world champion looks really good in my CV.”
The ‘Industry’ champions Manjunathan Mohan and Chandra Prakash Sankar, Tata Steel Ltd. India, said; “Winning the challenge has impacted a lot on our careers. It has given us a good platform and recognition in our company. We feel encouraged, at the beginning of our career, we have had the opportunity to improve ourselves and gain good exposure for the global steel industry.”
Round One: Regional Championship
For further information on the 8th Challenge, please go to steeluniversity.org
Note:
- The steeluniversity.org website is a free and innovative e-learning resource focused on all aspects of steel, including steelmaking technology and the multitude of steel applications. It provides highly interactive, game-like simulations of the major steelmaking processes in real-time. This award-winning, on-line initiative is developed and sponsored by the World Steel Association.
- steeluniversity.org resources are used by more than 100 steel companies and 200 universities worldwide. Many of its modules have been translated into other languages, including Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese.
- steeluniversity.org won the European Academic Software Awards (EASA) in 2004 and the steeluniversity project team was recognised with the AIST’s Benjamin F. Fairless Award in 2008.
- The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world. worldsteel represents approximately 170 steel producers (including 17 of the world’s 20 largest steel companies), national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. worldsteel members represent around 85% of world steel production.
- The challenge is part sponsored by POSCO, ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, Tenaris, and Ternium.