Teaching Factories Competition for students (Call is open until 15 APR 2025)
Calling on Bachelor’s & Master’s students to team up, tackle real manufacturing problems!
Teaching Factories Competition for students (Call is open until 15 APR 2025)
Work on real manufacturing challenges and gain practical skills that will set you apart in your career path.
Get coaching and training from company mentors.
Three Solver Teams will be rewarded in prizes: 1st place: EUR 10 000, 2nd place: EUR 7 000 and 3rd place: EUR 5 000.
Get coaching and training from company mentors.
Three Solver Teams will be rewarded in prizes: 1st place: EUR 10 000, 2nd place: EUR 7 000 and 3rd place: EUR 5 000.
The Teaching Factories Competition 2025 is calling on Bachelor’s, Master’s and Vocational Education and Training (VET) students to team up, tackle real manufacturing problems and co-create solutions with leading European companies. It’s more than a competition — it’s an opportunity to build skills, network and make an impact.
Who can apply
To be eligible for the call the Solver Teams should meet the following criteria.
Higher education students:
- Must consist of 4 to 6 members. Teams are encouraged to prioritise diverse representation by actively involving individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to women, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities.
- Must be students officially enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Master’s programme at the end of the application phase in a Higher Education Institution in one of the Member States (including overseas countries and territories, (OCTs)) or Associated Countries to Horizon Europe.
- Must be students in at least their second year of a Bachelor’s degree or enrolled in a Master’s studies.
- Should include members from at least two different disciplines, such as informatics, engineering, business or natural and technological sciences.
- Participants who graduate and/or unenroll during the competition phase are expected to stay in the competition until the end of it.
What are the challenges
There are 15 challenges provided by 8 Manufacturing companies. Please see the short list of all the challenges below. For further information on the challenges click here and on the challenge prover companies click here.
- CHALLENGE 1 - Selection and adaptation of a flame retardant for the manufacture of non-woven hemp building insulation as an ecological and natural alternative to mineral wool
- CHALLENGE 2 - Selection of flame retardants for nonwoven fabrics made of synthetic fiber
- CHALLENGE 3 - Conducting a study on the life cycle and carbon footprint of nonwoven hemp building insulation
- CHALLENGE 4 - Automated Wool Felting System: Enhancing Traditional Craftsmanship with Controlled Manufacturing Processes
- CHALLENGE 5 - Development of a Universal Packaging Machine for HighDensity Scrubs
- CHALLENGE 6 - AI-Powered Smart Weighing & Tracking System for ErrorFree Cosmetic Manufacturing
- CHALLENGE 7 - Humanoid Robot Walking Development - Implementing Autonomous Walking
- CHALLENGE 8 - Robotics for Controlled Agriculture Systems
- CHALLENGE 9 - Transforming Agriculture with Advanced AI
- CHALLENGE 10 - Smart Manufacturing for Autonomous Greenhouses
- CHALLENGE 11 - Optical Target ReID for drone
- CHALLENGE 12 - AI for Optimizing Energy Consumption in Industrial Production
- CHALLENGE 13 - Low-Cost BMS Lite for Industrial SMEs
- CHALLENGE 14 - Modular PCB for Stability & Longevity
- CHALLENGE 15 - Is CLEAN AIR’s Sustainable natural resource management challenge
Important dates
Application phase for the first cohort of Solver Teams:
- Info Sessions: Do you have any questions? Join us online!
- For students: 26 March 2025, 12:00-13:00 CET – Register here
- For students: 9 April 2025, 12:00-13:00 CET – Register here
- Call closing: 15 April 2025, 17:00 CET
- Evaluation of applications: 23-29 April 2025
- Communication of results: 30 April 2025
- Feedback time (acceptance/rejection): by 7 May 2025
- Kick-off event: 9 May 2025
- Submission of solutions by Solver Teams: 3 July 2025
- Online pitching session: 10 July 2025
- Communication of results: 14 July 2025
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