Judging

Assessment

The judging process will progress in 3 rounds for those who are attending the Summit in person (“Live”) and in 2 rounds for those who are submitting a video to the competition (“Virtual”). 

ROUND 1 (Live and Virtual) 

In the Classroom: At the end of the academic semester, each instructor, in conjunction with the expert consultants who have worked with the classroom, will assess the student projects and pick one team (the Finalist Team) to participate in the BDC Summit in June.

ROUND 2 (Virtual - for those who cannot attend in person) 

Videos Virtually Submitted and Assessed: Finalist Teams who cannot attend the Summit in person are eligible for the Outstanding Digital Submission Prize. Teams have until the last week of May to submit their 7-10 minute video (date will be announced to participants), which will be reviewed and scored by a select group of judges the week before the Summit. The winner of the Outstanding Digital Submission Prize will be showcased at MoMA alongside the Top Teams. Please see the Prizes page for specific parameters of the Outstanding Digital Submission Prize. 

ROUND 2 (Live)

Summit Day 1: At the Biodesign Summit, Finalist Teams from around the world will present their projects at Parsons, The New School. Students present simultaneously throughout the day in front of judging panels in different lecture halls. Each team has 15 minutes in total to present their work and answer judges’ questions. As teams present, judges score and add comments for each team based on the Judging Rubric criteria. At the end of the day, each judging panel meets to deliberate and share scores to put forth their top two teams. These teams will make up our Top Teams who move forward to Day 2 at MoMA.

PLEASE NOTE: Gallery Show displays will not be considered in this decision as the judges will be choosing their top 2 teams before the Gallery Opening. Judges will review Gallery Show displays for the Outstanding Display Prize. 

Round 3 (Live) 

Summit Day 2: The Top Teams present in-person to the full jury of experts. From these Top Teams, judges will choose the Overall Winner and the Runner-Up. They will then choose winners for the Outstanding Prizes from ALL of the in-person participating finalist teams (not just the Top Teams). The judging process lasts about 3 hours and is a combination of score calculation/review and in-depth discussion. 

Post-Summit Feedback

Teams can expect to receive comments from judges in the weeks after the Summit. Feedback might include (but is not limited to) points about the team’s research, presentation, and potential next steps.

Communicating Concepts

Narrative

Oral presentation

Each team has 15-minutes onstage at the Summit to tell the story of their project (this includes up to 10 minutes of presentation time followed by a 5-minute Q&A with the judges). The presentation should explain how the design functions, the subject it addresses, the science behind it, and how it may be adopted. The presentation and slides should be engaging while treating the project seriously. 

How well has the team explained the design, the needs to which it responds, the science driving it, and how it may be adopted, and the process by which it arrived at the idea?

VISUAL RENDERING AND PHYSICAL MODEL

Each team is asked to create visual renderings or illustrations that capture the look, functionality, and possible uses of their design. Teams should also create a physical model or prototype that demonstrates their design work.

How well do the visual rendering and physical models illustrate the vision, including its look, functionality, and uses?

VIDEO (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – JUDGES WILL NOT SCORE THIS COMPONENT, but may refer to it as they judge)

We recommend that each team produce a 2-3 minute video describing their project. We ask that students be creative here. Students are welcome to share their video during their 15-minute presentation without audio.

Website (recommended – Judges will not score this component)

Teams are encouraged to create a website that describes their project. This site can serve as a record of their work and a place to highlight team members’ biographies, achievements, and future goals. It also makes their work discoverable by the wider community.

Social MEdia (recommended – Judges will not score this component)

We ask students to actively participate in promoting their projects online by developing creative social media campaigns. We recommend making use of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but teams are welcome to post on the platforms they prefer. We ask teams to tag @biodesigned where possible. 

THINKING CRITICALLY

Reflection

Process

How much experimentation and exploration has the team done and how well has this been communicated in the presentation? Did the team identify new questions during the process?

Self Appraisal

Has the team recognized strengths and weaknesses to its vision? Has it suggested ways to address them? What are next steps? Has the team recognized all the voices—experts and otherwise—necessary to inform the project?

THE “BIGGER PICTURE”

Context

HUMAN IMPACT

A. Users/Nonusers/Scalability

How deeply has the team considered how the design changes the lives of those who use it and those who don't use it? These might include workers involved in its manufacture as well as those who don't have access to the design or can't afford to pay for it. Has the team considered how widely its design might be used, including among different genders, races, and socioeconomic groups?

B. Ethics

How well has the team considered ethics imbued in their vision? Does its vision challenge or reaffirm the ethics of those for whom it’s meant and/or those by which it was created?

SUSTAINABILITY

A. Environmental Impact

How deeply has the team considered its design's interaction with living environments? How might the project change the living environment? For good, bad, both?

B. Efficiency/Life Cycle

How well does the project consider the use of resources (e.g. water, feedstocks, energy, labor, etc.)? Has the team considered their design’s entire life cycle? How is it sourced? Can it be recycled or reused in other ways?

RISK

Has the team considered the potential negative effects of its vision?

A. Safety

Has the team accounted for possible harm to human health and the living environment associated with its product or process malfunctioning? Has the team changed their design to mitigate these risks?

B. Dual use

In the hands of someone with ill intent, any design can be used nefariously. Has the team considered how their design might be harnessed for ill intent? Has the team considered how its design could be negatively exploited, and how to mitigate that risk?