CodeFest on Green Plastics
Help achieve a more sustainable future
The EPO's first ever public CodeFest tackles one of today's key sustainability challenges: ridding the planet of plastic waste. Global success depends on access to the right kind of know-how and that's what this major new competition is all about: making the know-how contained in patents concerning green plastics more readily available to innovators everywhere.
The ultimate aim is to inspire future innovation that supports healthy ecosystems and drives the circular economy for plastics. In alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are taking our commitment to sustainability and monitoring green technologies to the next level with initiatives such as the CodeFest on Green Plastics, which is of special relevance to SDG 12.
Background
The EPO's unparalleled data resources are relied upon by a range of governmental and international organisations, such as IP Offices, the OECD, International Energy Agency (IEA), International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA) and European Commission, as well as researchers and patent information specialists. The CodeFest on Green Plastics is a major opportunity to help improve access to these data resources and contribute to the development of an automated classification scheme for sustainable technologies. The competition will also help prepare the way towards creating a platform for exchange on AI-based approaches to organising the EPO's wealth of patent information.
Further information
The code challenge
Some of the groundwork has already been done in a recent EPO study on patents for tomorrow's plastics. This shows how patent data reflects the rapid rise in innovation in plastics that are easier to recycle, as well as in recycling technologies. The study also suggests that there is great potential to turn pioneering research in the field into inventions that can then be brought to market. "Patents for tomorrow's plastics" provides an excellent introduction to the topic and an important starting point for anyone wishing to take on the current code challenge, which is:
To develop creative and reliable artificial intelligence (AI) models for automating the identification of patents related to green plastics.
Participants
We are calling on talented minds aged 18 and over to register for the event by 13 November 2022, either in an individual capacity or as a team of up to five people. Anyone resident in one of the EPO member states is eligible to enter. Teams of EPO colleagues, external entrants or a mixture of both are all welcome!
In order to participate you must meet all eligibility criteria included in the rules of the competition.
The prizes
Each of the prizes will be accompanied by a trophy.
- Grand Prize winner: EUR 20 000
- 1st runner-up: EUR 15 000
- 2nd runner-up: EUR 10 000
Jury
Submissions will be evaluated by senior specialists from across the EPO working in sustainability, IT, data science and AI, as well as patent information and analysis.
![]() |
Abderrahim Moumen |
![]() |
Alexander Klenner-Bajaja |
![]() |
Angel
Aledo López |
![]() |
David Horat |
![]() |
Domenico Golzio |
![]() |
Marco Bravo |
![]() |
Roberta
Romano-Götsch |
![]() |
Yann Ménière |
Timeline
There are five key stages to the competition:
Thursday 15 September 2022, 12.00 hrs CEST
Registration opens!
Registrations closed!
Entrants must register for the challenge until 13 November 2022, 23.59 hrs CET. Registration includes entrants submitting an outline of their approach for solving the code challenge. Proposals must include an explanation of the intended approach and indicate the intended data selection, the possible model implementation and model evaluation.
13 -
14 November 2022
The jury evaluates the submissions.
Tuesday
15 November 2022, 12.00 hrs CET
The code
challenge is on!
The jury communicates the outcome of the previous evaluation to participants. All successful candidates will be given access to our EP full-text dataset and to Open Patent Services (OPS). The code challenge runs for just over eight weeks and solutions must be submitted until 15 January 2023 at 23.59 hrs CET.
16 January - 3 February 2023
The jury evaluates the submitted solutions and selects the finalists of the code challenge.
Monday 6 February 2023
Announcement of the finalists!
Finalists are invited to the EPO CodeFest on Green Plastics ceremony.
Thursday 23 February 2023, 14.00 hrs CET
EPO CodeFest on Green Plastics ceremony
During the online ceremony, the winners are announced and prizes awarded. Details of the full programme will follow soon.
Registration
Registration to join the competition is closed
Registration deadline
Sunday 13 November 2022.
Data Protection Statement (DPS)
Rules of Competition (RoC)
Award ceremony
Over 60 individuals took up the code challenge to develop an AI model that improves access to patent information on green plastics. After fierce competition, six finalists convinced the jury with their creative code, demonstrating how their models could help innovators learn from patent know-how and rid the planet of plastic waste.
Follow the online award ceremony on Thursday 23 February 2023, from 14.00 to 15.00 hrs, where all six finalists will present their ingenious solutions before we reveal the three winners.
Don’t miss out!