Rules

General Rules:

Before participating in the Zurich Enterprise Challenge, you should read the official rules in their entirety. By submitting you and your team members unconditionally agree to all of the terms and conditions of these official rules.

You accept any and all Zurich Enterprise Challenge decisions from Zurich Insurance Company Ltd, Mythenquai 2, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland and/or its affiliates (hereafter ‘ZURICH’) to be final and binding in all respects.

The Challenge is an international university competition offering participating students the opportunity to work directly with select ZURICH multinational corporate customers (hereafter ‘ZURICH Customers’) and provide real world solutions to existing challenges facing those corporations.

No participation fee or purchase is required.

• All competition participants are required to follow the registration and the submission process on the ZURICH website. For questions regarding submission style and process requirements please see the competition info pages of this competition.
• The Challenge is open to teams of currently enrolled full or part-time Master, MBA and PhD students (students graduating in 2022 are also eligible to join). Each team should consist of 3-4 members. For more information, please see the Prizes, Participants and Teams section of these rules.
• There are three phases to this competition. You can find the full details of each phase in the Submissions and Evaluation section of these rules.

Prizes, Participants and Teams

• For a summary of all prizes available please review the Prizes page. 
• Participation in the Challenge cannot in any way be deemed to give rise to any contractual relations with ZURICH or any of the associated ZURICH Customers and in particular any employment rights.

Participants

• The Zurich Enterprise Challenge is open to current Master, MBA and PhD students (full or part-time) with an interest in management, finance, risk management or similar subjects.
• Participants from previous ZURICH sponsored competitions can enter the Challenge.
• At any time during the Challenge, team members should not be or have been employees, trainees and/or interns of ZURICH or of any of its affiliates. Nor should they be or have been employees, trainees and/or interns of the associated ZURICH Customers. Under certain circumstances this rule may be waived, any changes to this rule will be evaluated on a case by case basis by ZURICH. Any team that may have a potential conflict with this rule should notify ZURICH for further clarification as soon as possible.
• Each team member’s proof of valid study will initially be based on their attestation provided in the team registration form.
• ZURICH reserves the right to check the validity of the registration information submitted by students at any stage during the challenge and to ask for copies of ID documents from the university cited by the student. ZURICH also reserves the right to refuse participation, or to disqualify, at any time during the Challenge, students (and their teams) who have submitted incorrect or misleading information. Teams will have no recourse against disqualification decisions.

Teams

• The Challenge is open to teams of 3-4 students. The team members have to be enrolled and attend courses at a university (including exchange students) during the Challenge. Multiple teams from the same university can join the Challenge. Participants do not need to have the same Major, degree or university as long as they meet the conditions set out in the Participants section of these rules.
• To register a team:
  1. Each team should have a nominated captain with whom ZURICH can interact.
  2. For each team member all specific information requested must be provided through the Registration page.
• If ZURICH has not received a team registration then the team will not be eligible to compete.
• Once a team has been registered, subsequent modification to the team composition will only be allowed in special circumstances and by written consent from ZURICH. This will be decided on a case by case basis by ZURICH and this decision will be final and binding.
• In the event that the number of members of a team is reduced to less than 3 members, the team shall be disqualified. However, ZURICH reserves the right to allow a team to continue in cases where a team member had a legitimate reason to leave their team and there are at least 2 team members continuing with the Challenge. ZURICH will decide whether a reason for a member to leave a team is legitimate or not. All decisions made by ZURICH will be final and binding.

Submissions and Evaluation

• All submissions should be made in English.
• To be invited to Phase 2 a team must successfully participate in Phase 1 of the competition and be invited to Phase 2 by ZURICH. 
• Challenge participants must fully reference all sources used; whether submissions with high levels of referenced information contain enough value to be considered admissible for the competition will be at the discretion of ZURICH for Phase 1 and Phase 2. Plagiarism will result in disqualification.
• Submissions will only be accepted from the team captain and registered team members.
• General judging criteria for the Challenge Phases can be found on the Submission page.
• The support of professors and/or university staff must be limited to general information relating to the subject matters taught in the university programs and must not relate to the Challenge questions. Unauthorized or excessive assistance will lead to team disqualification.
• There is no right of recourse by any competition participant against ZURICH and/or its affiliates in respect of any decision jointly or individually made by them in relation to any of the rules detailed on this page.

Phase 1: 22 March – 26 June 2022

Submission

• Participants will be required to complete a video submission (e.g. a YouTube recorded video voice over submission) to answer the question posed in Phase 1. The video should not last longer than 6 minutes.
• Each team member is required to present in the Phase 1 submission.
• Each team can submit a maximum of one voice over presentation video. The topic will be detailed on the ZURICH website. Please make sure you submit the correct link, for further details see the Submission page.
• All diagrams and figures included should be original or otherwise properly cited: please provide citations, references and bibliography in the appendix of your presentation.
• The bibliography style is open, where referencing Internet sources please provide a link if available.

Evaluation

• The Deadline for Phase 1 submission is 26 June 2022 at 23:59 of the last time zone (UTC-12).
• ZURICH will recognize teams who appropriately balance their presentation time between all team members.
• ZURICH will evaluate all the submissions and select the top teams to take part in Phase 2.
• A video or telephone interview may be arranged with the possible winners to verify any further pertinent facts and discuss the submission further.
• Phase 1 winning teams will be announced by 8 July 2022. Each registered team will be informed of the result by e-mail, there will be no further communication regarding the Phase 1 final selection process.

Phase 2: July – October 2022

Submission

• ZURICH will invite successful teams from Phase 1 to take part in Phase 2. Each team will be assigned to a multinational ZURICH Customer. ZURICH reserves the right to put a number of teams from Phase 1 on hold to mitigate against any of the top teams dropping out or being disqualified from Phase 2.
• ZURICH may choose to invite further teams to Phase 2. In such cases ZURICH will allocate teams to a ZURICH Customer.
• ZURICH is not responsible for solving any errors that stop or limit the Zurich Risk Room tool from functioning. This includes but is not limited to web browsers, computers, notebooks, tablets or phones.
• If invited to Phase 2 each team will be paired by ZURICH with one of the ZURICH Customers. This decision will be final and binding.
• To accommodate availability and other requirements of ZURICH Customers the start date of Phase 2 may vary and will be determined by ZURICH and ZURICH Customers. ZURICH will take into account the participants' academic calendar, but does not commit to accommodate to all requests.
• Each ZURICH Customer will formulate a Challenge question for the teams that will be assigned to them. This question will reflect a current real world corporate issue the company is facing, as well as the specific industry it operates in. Each ZURICH Customer will communicate the topic directly to each team that it is working with.
• Teams will receive dedicated briefing materials for the ZURICH Customer they have been paired with, including a Challenge overview, a Challenge question and contact details of their dedicated contact person at the ZURICH Customer.
• ZURICH works closely with the participating ZURICH Customers to ensure that all Challenge questions are comparable in terms of complexity and difficulty.
• In each of the Challenge questions teams will be asked to come up with creative solutions to a real world corporate challenge facing ZURICH’s Customer.
• Teams are expected to use the full Zurich Risk Room application for Phase 2. The Zurich Risk Room is ZURICH’s award winning country risk analysis tool, and should be used as the basis for their analysis, and to complement the analysis with any additional information deemed relevant for the analysis.

Developing the case study

• Phase 2 teams will be set up with individual Zurich Risk Room accounts and be given access to the Zurich Risk Room e-learning module. Other available support resources will include use of the educational information on ZURICH‘s Zurich Risk Room page and customer information provided by ZURICH.
• Each team’s individual Phase 2 project period, including overall duration, start and end-date between July and October 2022, and terms of collaboration will be defined by ZURICH and the ZURICH Customer in coordination with the team.
• Please note that ZURICH Customers may require the teams to sign separate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). For full details please see the Confidentiality Obligations section of these rules.
• During and at any time after the Zurich Enterprise Challenge, participants and/or teams are prohibited from any direct and/or indirect contact with the media with regards to any aspects of the Zurich Enterprise Challenge, including but not limited to the ZURICH Customers and the teams’ case studies, except if authorized by ZURICH.
• It is principally in the responsibility of the teams to schedule and hold the phone conferences with their assigned ZURICH Customers. ZURICH can, however, on an ad-hoc basis help organize them by providing teleconference dial-in numbers and extend administrative support where necessary.
• On the basis of the analysis undertaken, the teams are encouraged to come up with recommendations to their Challenge question, demonstrating how they turn cutting-edge risk insights into tangible business opportunities.
• At the end of the collaboration period, each team will have to submit the following:
  1. Submit a presentation (in English, ppt or pdf format) containing the analysis undertaken and the recommendation(s), including any necessary explanations, additional information and appendices. Please note the content should be appropriate to be used in a 20-minute presentation. The teams should structure their presentation as if they were presenting their projects to members of the C-suite and Board of the respective ZURICH Customer.
  2. Complete a live video conference which will include a 20-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A session with the ZURICH Customer and ZURICH. This video conference will be recorded and used later for grading. In exceptional circumstances, if the team is not able to complete a live presentation, they will be allowed to submit a pre-recorded video submission. However, teams will need to obtain approval from ZURICH in advance.
• The presentation has to be sent to ZURICH at the latest by 23:59 of the last time zone (UTC -12) on each team's specified submission date.

Evaluation

• Phase 2 submissions will be evaluated by ZURICH Customers and ZURICH. Phase 2 submissions will not be published.
• The Phase 2 winning team will be announced by 5 December 2022.

The winning team will be named the winner of the Zurich Enterprise Challenge 2022 and awarded a CHF 5’000 cash prize.

Reproduction and Ownership

Phase 1

• ZURICH and/or its affiliates will have co-publishing rights for all contributions submitted to ZURICH for the Zurich Enterprise Challenge 2022 Phase 1. Ownership of the videos, ideas, innovations, etc. shall remain the property of the inventing party. The Challenge participant grants ZURICH and/or its affiliates non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide and royalty-free right to publish submissions including the right to publish the same, in whole or in part, on the ZURICH website, in internal company magazines or newsletters without any consideration, payment or compensation.

Phase 2

• Phase 2 of the Challenge is organized by ZURICH, with involvement of the ZURICH Customers. Any likeness and/or similarity between the projects presented by the students and any development of ZURICH products would be fortuitous. As the projects are built from ZURICH and ZURICH Customers brief and ideas, and as similar development may be currently under progress, all concepts communicated by teams and team members during the Challenge cannot be considered as being able to give rise to any concrete development. In the event where the items submitted to ZURICH and the ZURICH Customers by candidates for the Zurich Enterprise Challenge in the context of their participation in the Zurich Enterprise Challenge give rise to any intellectual property rights, the candidates will assign to ZURICH and the respective ZURICH Customers which the teams work with, which accept, all rights of reproduction, representation, adaptation or translation attached to the items on all support materials including those which are unknown on the date of the Zurich Enterprise Challenge, for all purposes (including commercial, promotional and advertising) for the legal duration of the intellectual property right, with world-wide effect, without any limitation on number.
• The assignment of rights by the student teams to ZURICH and their respective ZURICH Customers is granted and accepted without payment of any gratuities being due.
• By registering for the Zurich Enterprise Challenge, the participants agree to grant ZURICH the right to use and publish their name, portrait, picture, and similar information for advertising and promotional purposes without additional consideration, world-wide and on the World Wide Web without limitation of time. ZURICH may also publish in any media any results of the Zurich Enterprise Challenge without limitation of time.

Confidentiality Obligation

Warranty

• By participating in the Challenge, each participant represents and warrants to ZURICH that the material he/she is using and providing in the Challenge does not infringe any rights, in particular intellectual property rights, of any third party. ZURICH is entitled each individually to hold a participant directly liable for the consequences of his/her infringement of this warranty.
• In the course of participating in the Challenge, the team members will have access to information and know-how of all kinds, in particular commercial, financial, scientific, industrial or marketing, concerning the activities, operations and studies of ZURICH and/or of one or more of the ZURICH Customers with whom they have or have had relations or in which they have an interest. The team members will also have access to information concerning natural persons who are members of the companies referred to above (together hereinafter the ‘Information’). The team members must take all necessary measures to keep the Information strictly confidential, with the exception of Information, which is already in the public domain.
• The team members acknowledge that disclosure of the Information would cause ZURICH and/or the ZURICH Customer considerable damage allowing ZURICH or the ZURICH Customer to engage their liability. The confidentiality obligation will survive the termination of the Challenge, for whatever reason, until such time as the object of such obligation ceases to exist.

Disqualification

• ZURICH may, at their discretion, disqualify a team and/or any of the team members from participating if the team or any of the team members shows a disregard for these official rules, or acts in any uncompliant or otherwise disruptive manner. ZURICH may exclude any team and/or any of the team members if the team or any of the team members intends to damage any Challenge material or information. ZURICH has the right to prosecute any team and/ or any of the team members if the team and/or any of the team members try to destroy, disrupt, damage or alter the proceedings of the Challenge.

Data Protection

• As part of the Challenge ZURICH will be able to receive and select data from the participant registration data and regarding the submissions received (including the selection and evaluation process). This may also mean that ZURICH may contact Challenge participants directly. Challenge participants’ data may eventually be used by ZURICH for the purpose of potential career development activities and potential recruiting activities.

Claims

• Any disputes, questions and/or claims relating to the Challenge must be received at the latest within 5 days of the date at which the winning team of the Zurich Enterprise Challenge 2022 has been announced.

Miscellaneous

• ZURICH reserves the right to shorten, modify, cancel or amend otherwise the Zurich Enterprise Challenge without the teams and/or team members being able to claim compensation thereof.
• The Zurich Enterprise Challenge, its concepts, content, look and feel, logo and all other elements are the sole and exclusive property of ZURICH.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

• The Zurich Enterprise Challenge and these rules are subject to Swiss law without regard to its conflict of law rules. Accordingly, any disputes arising from, or in connection with, the Challenge shall be settled according to Swiss Law. Place of jurisdiction and ordinary court being Zurich, Switzerland, to the exclusion of all other courts. Any appeal to the Swiss Supreme Court (Bundesgericht) is excluded.