The sixth steeluniversity Challenge is ready to launch

The sixth steeluniversity Challenge will begin at 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, 15 November 2011. The Challenge will consist of two rounds: regional and global. There are two categories: ‘Student’ and ‘Industry’. Entrants will compete online from their own countries in the first round and the winners will come together in Belgium for the grand final.

The first round will start at 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 and will run for 24 hours. The task is to produce a given steel grade at a minimum overall cost using steeluniversity.org’s blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace simulations. Participants can take part as individuals or teams of maximum two people. They can make an unlimited number of attempts to achieve the given specification at lowest total cost within 24 hours.

At the end of this round Regional Champions from the ‘Student’ and ‘Industry’ categories will be identified for each of the following regions: North America, Latin America, Europe-CIS, Middle East-India- Africa, and East Asia-Oceania. They will be invited to take part in the grand final in Brussels with full sponsorship of their trip.

The regional champions from each of the categories will compete for the title of World Champion at the World Steel Association in Brussels in February 2012. Leaders of the global steel industry will be present to watch the event as it unfolds.

World Champions in each category will be awarded cash prizes and a trophy.

The first round will decide the regional champions

Visit steeluniversity.org to register for the Challenge or to find out more.

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Notes to Editors:

• The steeluniversity.org website is a free and innovative e-learning resource focused on all aspects of steel, including steelmaking technology and the multitude of steel applications. It provides highly interactive, game-like simulations of the major steelmaking processes in real-time. This award-winning, on-line initiative is developed and sponsored by the World Steel Association.
• steeluniversity.org resources are used by more than 100 steel companies and 400 universities worldwide. Many of its modules have been translated into other languages, including Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese.
• steeluniversity.org won the European Academic Software Awards (EASA) in 2004 and the steeluniversity project team was recognised with the AIST’s Benjamin F. Fairless Award in 2008.
• 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 18 of the world's 20 largest steel companies), national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. worldsteel members represent around 85% of world steel production.