As Canada’s blockchain industry continues to blossom, there will be an increased demand to recruit top talent. In order to address this situation in an innovative way, a new national university case competition was created. Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Exec will be the first-ever intercollegiate blockchain case competition, developed to encourage the student population to begin understanding and think critically about the technology’s potential.

Through this initiative, MLG Blockchain Consulting who is the organizing body, and BlockMason who is the main sponsor, hope to integrate blockchain into universities and to spread knowledge and expertise among the younger generations whose lives will surely be impacted by the further development of blockchain technology.

What is Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Exec?

For years, case competitions have been used to help prepare students for real world experience. In response to changing tides, a group of blockchain experts noticed the lack of blockchain-focused challenges. This caused the creation of this case competition that allows students to learn and think critically about blockchain’s place in the future.

Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Exec is this competition. We’ve seen blockchain’s ripple effect across industries already, and the technology will become increasingly prevalent in coming years. By participating in this competition, students will sharpen their skills, deepen their knowledge, and have the opportunity to interact with current and potential future Canadian blockchain experts.

Participants & Rules

There are just a few simple rules concerning participants, teams and the first-round that must be followed in order to stay in the running.

Firstly, at least one of the participants must be currently enrolled in a Canadian university. Secondly, students can either work individually or as a team of up to four students. Remember that diversity of knowledge, expertise and background will provide the best base for solving the cases.

Finally, the remaining rules are simply that students must follow the deadlines and must present their first-round solution in a slide deck format, such as Powerpoint, with sources if they wish to be considered.

Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Exec – The Competition

The competition is broken down into three rounds: the first two rounds are remote and the third is a daylong case competition in Toronto, Ontario where a panel of judges will decide upon the winners of Canada’s Next Blockchain Exec.

Round One: The MLG Challenge

In the first round, which opened on February 1st at midnight, participants were presented with the first problem that they are tasked with solving; to show the judges how blockchain technology can be incorporated into an existing company.

Submissions are due in at 11:59PM on February 28th, in a slide deck format that provides a solution to the problem. Creativity is encouraged, but the following five topics should be addressed in some way:

Introduction & market overview,

Issues facing the company & opportunities (present and potential)

Strategic plan (marketing & token economics)

Action Plan (timeline & implementation)

Risks and Mitigation (incl. potential drawbacks & questions of legality regarding regulation)

The top 20 teams will be announced at noon on March 3rd. These teams will advance to Round Two.

To register and join the competition, please register here

Round Two: The BlockMason Challenge

The challenge for Round Two will be announced by BlockMason on March 4th at midnight. The problem they will pose will deal with real world applications of blockchain that affects the entire industry.

Participants have until March 23rd at 11:59PM to submit their projects in the same way as in Round One. The top five teams of this round will be announced on March 27th at noon, and will advance to the next round.

Round Three: The Case Competition

The top five teams will be brought to Toronto to compete in a daylong case competition. These teams’ solutions will be presented to the panel of judges and other blockchain industry leaders, who will choose the winners of Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Execs.

The judges for this round are:

Michael Gord: Founder and CEO of MLG blockchain consulting , the fastest-growing blockchain consultancy firm in Canada, Michael Chin: Co-founder and CEO of Blockmason , aiming to democratize the creation of credit through permanently recorded debts and obligations, and, Derek Manuge: CEO of Corl , a financial tech company focusing on facilitating lending and investing through revenue sharing . Surprise 1 Surprise 2

At this event, the top five teams will have the opportunity to compete with some of the most forward-thinking students in Canada, and to network with current blockchain experts. But, only the top three teams will receive a prize. The first place winners will receive 5,000 of BlockMason Credit Protocol Tokens (BCPT), an up-and-coming coin, and an interview with MLG Blockchain. The second place will get 2,000 BCPT, and third place will receive 1,000 BCPT.

Want to become Canada’s Next Top Blockchain Exec?

Good news, there’s still time to get a team together to complete the challenge before the end of the first round; register here to join! For more details on the rules, challenges and judges just head to the website. All submissions can be made there.

Happy innovating and good luck!