Through a public-private collaboration agreement, THE ORGANISATION: The Diario Vasco, Mondragón Town Council, the Basque Government, the Supreme Council of Basque Cooperatives, Konfekoop, MONDRAGON Corporation, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and the University of Mondragón present the second Mondragón City Challenge. This is an International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Competition aimed at secondary school students, vocational training courses and university students, to encourage cooperative entrepreneurial behaviour and introduce young people to the cooperative model by developing business projects based on a similar model.
Mondragon City Challenge is aimed at secondary school students, intermediate/higher education courses and university students from public, private or subsidised education centres all over the world.
Each centre may form as many groups as it wishes, each consisting of between 2 and a maximum of 4 members. In order to maintain a balance between the level of studies and age of the participants, the categories defined by the organisation are as follows:
IMPORTANT: The age of the participants should determine the category in which they will compete in the championship. If participants in the same team, by age, fall into different categories (despite being in the same academic year), the category into which the majority of the participants fall will be the one selected
Participation is open to anyone aged sixteen or who will have reached the age of sixteen during the current calendar year and to anyone who is under the age of twenty-four at the time of registration.
Participants in the second Mondragón City Challenge will be required to tackle the challenge of creating a business project from scratch by taking on one of the following challenges:
It will be an essential requirement that the project developed by the team is built on a cooperative management model. Finalists will defend their project in front of a professional jury at the event to be held on April 21, 2023 at the Amaia Theatre-Cinema in Arrasate-Mondragón.
Tutors from the following organisations will be involved in the Mondragon City Challenge: ASEKOOP (Asesores Seniors Cooperativistas) and the Association of Friends of Arizmendiarrieta, who will support and assist the young people based on their extensive experience as former managers of various cooperative enterprises.. The organisation shall be responsible for assigning a tutor to each group once the 20 qualifying teams have been determined. The criteria for assigning them shall be based primarily on the “greatest experience” they can bring to the challenge chosen by each group.
Likewise, training shall be given throughout the process to broaden the range of tools available and enhance the quality of each project.
The organisation shall also make a number of guidelines available to participants via the document "Guidelines for the Cooperative Business Project" to assist them in developing the project, so that everyone is following the same guidelines.
The jury involved at different points of the process shall be made up of experts from the following entities:
The second Mondragón City Challenge shall take place in line with the proposed phases and dates set out below.
PHASE 0: REGISTRATION - IDEA FOR A BUSINESS PROJECT - Period covered: from September 10 to October 28, 2022.
During this period, students must access the www.mondragoncitychallenge.com platform to consult the legal terms and conditions of the Mondragón City Challenge. Any questions can be passed on to the organisation by filling in the "Contact" form. To complete the registration period, participating teams must register on the platform and duly fill in the "Technical description of the project" document which consists of the following sections:
IMPORTANT: Every team must send only one technical sheet (fill in only one form) setting out the idea for their business project. They can take part in any of the following languages: Spanish, Basque or English.
PHASE 1: SELECTING THE PROJECTS - Period covered: from October 29 to November 16, 2022.
During this period, the technical jury, made up of the Leartibai Foundation and Saiolan, shall select the 20 projects with the greatest potential for development from all the proposals received, based on their experience in the business field. The 20 projects that have qualified shall be notified by the organisation by e-mail to each of the participants (as shall those who have not qualified) on November 17, 2022. Furthermore, they will also be published on the www.mondragoncitychallenge.com website.
If one of the 20 teams that qualify declines to take part after being selected, the organisers shall consult the technical jury and consider including the teams that are immediately below them in the ranking.
PHASE 2: CREATING THE PROJECT - Period covered: from November 19, 2022 to February 6, 2023.
The 20 teams that have qualified shall have from November 19 to February 6 to develop the project that they have devised. All of the projects must answer the questions raised in the document on the website called "Guidelines for the Cooperative Business Project", which is made up of the following sections (with recommended dates for each subject in order to meet the deadline for the final work):
The participating teams shall develop their projects over the above-mentioned period based on the milestones set by the organisation. Every team shall have the support of their tutor to monitor the whole process and resolve any questions or issues that may arise. February 6 shall be the last day for submitting “the dossier” of the project. The final document shall be sent via the Mondragon City Challenge platform (www.mondragoncitychallenge.com) and it must be submitted iin the format and under the terms and conditions set by the organisation:
PHASE 3: EVALUATION BY THE JURY - Period covered: from February 8 to March 8, 2023.
TThe professional jury shall evaluate each of the 20 projects and determine the 6 finalists, who shall defend their projects in the final event on April 21, 2023 (the teams with the highest scores shall be chosen). The projects shall be scored based on the criteria set out in the "Assessment" section.
On March 8, 2023, the organisation shall announce the 6 finalists to all parties involved in the process.
PHASE 4: PREPARING A DEFENCE FOR THE FINAL - Period covered: from March 9 to April 16, 2023.
The finalists must present their project in a dynamic and original presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi or any other medium they consider appropriate). A telematic defence shall only be accepted by the organisation in exceptional, justified cases. Each team shall have a maximum of 8 minutes to carry out the defence at the final event on April 21, 2023 (the organisation shall be very strict with the time set). Presentations must be submitted in advance to the organisation, with a deadline of April 17.
The defence may be made in Spanish, Basque or English.
The professional jury shall ask a number of questions related to the project concerned after each team's presentation.
PHASE 5: COOPERATIVE ITINERARIES AND ACTIVITIES - Period covered: from April 17 (for international teams) or April 18 (for Spanish teams) to April 21, 2023.
The 20 teams that qualified will enjoy a variety of activities and socialising to enrich the experience. The organisation shall be responsible for funding the travel and accommodation of the teams that qualify in the municipality of Mondragón to make the experience more enjoyable.
The participants shall get the chance to gain first-hand knowledge of the activity of a cooperative company and to learn about the specifics of democratic management governed by the principle of equality and equity among partners. Participants shall also receive advice from professionals in relation to their project.
FINAL EVENT: DEFENCE OF THE PROJECT - Date held: April 21, 2023
Amaia Udal Antzokia (address of: Otalora Lizentziaduna Kalea, 6, Arrasate) is the venue chosen for the 6 finalists to present their proposals and thus close the second Mondragón City Challenge.
The professional jury shall ask a number of questions related to the project concerned at the end of each team's defence. The response capacity of the group shall be part of the evaluation of each project in the final (for more details see the "Assessment" section).
The event shall take place on April 21 and shall be attended by the 6 finalists accompanied by their classmates, the jury, the tutors, the mentoring companies, the 14 other teams that qualified in the first phase and the promoters of the competition. Other types of activities shall also be held to make the day more enjoyable.
The deadline for registering to take part in the second Mondragón City Challenge will be between September 10 and October 28, 2022 via the registration form on the www.mondragoncitychallenge.com website.
To formalise the participation of the 20 teams, they will need to have been previously selected by the Technical Team and assigned a tutor and a mentoring company to support their participation.
The mentoring companies shall give the 20 qualified teams the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of how a cooperative company works and the challenges it faces. Participants shall also receive feedback about their project from professionals, thereby enhancing the educational content of the initiative.
Selection of 20 teams. The technical jury shall rank those projects that it considers have the greatest potential to be developed based on their experience in the business field. Aspects such as the innovative nature of the activity, its potential for creating employment, the feasibility of the business, clarity of wording, coherence in terms of the cooperative management model, etc. will be assessed
Selection of 6 finalists. The professional jury shall grade the projects of the 20 teams that have qualified from 1 to 10 (the latter being the maximum mark), taking the following variables into account:
*The percentages (%) indicate the relative importance of each variable on the final grade.
The 3 projects in each category with the highest score shall make up the 6 finalists.
Selecting the winners. In addition to assessing the above-mentioned variables, the professional jury shall score (once again from 1 to 10) other skills that shall be considered on April 21,2023 when the final defence takes place.
The final score (the sum of all the variables considering their corresponding weighted scores) shall determine the winner of the second Mondragón City Challenge in each category.
Selecting a team for the "Originality Award". The "originality" factor will allow teams that did not reach the final to win a cash prize at the final event on April 21. The team that obtains the highest score for the above-mentioned variable shall be deemed to be the winner.
*In the event of a tie in any of the above cases, the jury shall take the scores for the other variables into consideration, always respecting the following order of priority until a winner is found:
The 6 finalists in the second Mondragón City Challenge, 3 in the 16-18 category and the other 3 in the 19-24 category, shall compete for the following prizes:
*If the hotel booked does not have a catering service, the organisation shall provide the team with the equivalent amount to cover the corresponding daily subsistence allowance (breakfast + lunch or dinner).
The organisation shall also present an "Originality Award" to the most innovative project from the remaining 14 teams that qualified in the first phase. The €800 cash prize is intended to reward the efforts made throughout the process. The financial prize shall be subject to the current tax deduction.
The winners shall be decided at the final event of the Mondragón City Challenge, which shall take place on April 21, 2023 at the Amaia Theatre-Cinema in Arrasate-Mondragón. The evaluation of both the technical jury and the professional jury shall determine the winners of the competition.
24/04/2023
The winners of the second edition of Mondragón City Challenge are:
- 16-18: Gu Geu Sortzaile (Gipuzkoa)
- 19-24: Olatu Berdea (Gipuzkoa)
- Originality: Team Smart (Germany and Belgium)
Congratulations!!