Brussels, 07 January 2015 – The World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced today the Regional Champions for the 9th steelChallenge.
The Regional Championship took place online for a 24-hour period on 17 December 2014. This year’s steelChallenge attracted 1,566 teams and 1,922 participants representing 34 countries. There were 83,000 attempts with the basic oxygen steelmaking simulation, an increase of 73% compared to last year. 811 teams successfully completed at least one run of the simulation and 10,500 successful runs were completed.
The new Regional Champions in the ‘Industry’ and ‘Student’ categories will be invited with expenses paid to compete for the title of World Champion in Brussels in February 2015. They will compete in the presence of leaders of the global steel industry. All Regional Champions will be awarded certificates, cash prizes and an iPad in addition to their trip to Brussels. The World Champions in both categories will also be awarded a World Champion certificate, an additional cash prize and the steelChallenge trophy. Total prizes for steelChallenge-9 are €43,000.
The entrants were challenged to create steel at the lowest total cost and required quality for a construction application, using the basic oxygen steelmaking method, in a simulation on steeluniversity.org.
The Regional Champions are:
| Region | Team Members | Affiliation | Country |
| North and South America | Emiliano BUHLMAN Tomas AAGAARD |
Universidad Nacional del Sur | Argentina |
| Europe/CIS/Africa/Middle East | Patricia JOVICEVIC KLUG Matic KLUG |
Christian Albrechts University of Kiel | Germany |
| Asia and Oceania | Dahee CHO | Seoul National University | South Korea |
| China | Yongping WEI Yongxu WANG |
Chongqing University of Science and Technology |
China |
| Region | Team Members | Affiliation | Country |
| North and South America | Rodrigo RAMOS Francisco Necy ALVES |
Gerdau S.A. SENAI/CE |
Brazil |
| Europe/CIS/Africa/Middle East | Ghassan GHAZAL Leandro Dijon DE OLIVEIRA CAMPOS |
ArcelorMittal | France |
| Asia and Oceania | Ting-Min WU William HSIAO |
China Steel Corporation Dragon Steel |
Taiwan, China |
| China | Wang YE | Ningbo Steel | China |
- steeluniversity, an initiative of the World Steel Association, is an industry university delivering education and training to current and future employees of steel companies and related businesses. The goal of steeluniversity is to inspire and motivate students and steel industry people about the value of working in the steel industry so as to lead change for realising a more sustainable industry that serves a more sustainable world.
- steelChallenge-9 is sponsored at the ‘Steel’ level by China Steel Corporation, Tenaris, and Ternium. Tata Steel Limited is a ‘Silver’ sponsor of steelChallenge-9.
- 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 9 of the world’s 10 largest steel companies), national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. worldsteel members represent around 85% of world steel production.