Inno-vent Challenge
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Inno-Vent Challenge 2026

Competition rules

A provincial competition for college and vocational training students.

The regulations

Participants are encouraged to read the contest rules before registering. Only participants who have accepted the contest rules will be considered. Participation in the contest constitutes a commitment to and unconditional acceptance of the rules, which are final on all matters relating to the contest.

The competition is organised by the Éole Foundation.

Important Dates

January 2, 2026 – Opening of entries for the competition

February 6, 2026 at 4 p.m. (EST) – Deadline for submitting participation applications

May 16, 2026 at 4 p.m. (EST) – Deadline for submitting final projects

June 11, 2026 – Awards ceremony

Eligibility

  1. To participate in the competition, you must form a team and complete the online participation form before February 6, 2026, 4 p.m.
  2. A team must consist of a minimum of 3 people, and each individual must:
    1. Be at least 16 years old at the time of registration;
    2. Be enrolled in a Cégep or vocational training program at the time of application;
    3. Be available for a meeting with the Éole Foundation team, between February 9 and 13, 2026;
  3. No purchase is required to participate in the challenge.
  4. The winners in each category must, to the best of their ability, be present at the awards ceremony in June 2026.
  5. Entries are subject to verification by the contest administrators. All fraudulent or incomplete entries will be rejected and will not be eligible. The administrators' decisions in this matter are final.
  6. To authorize the Éole Foundation to use team photos and any comments collected during the competition for promotional purposes (including advertising, sponsorship tools, blog articles, etc.)
  7. Details on the selection of winning scholarship teams: A committee will be created to choose the winning teams according to pre-established criteria. The jury members will analyze the applications based on the following criteria:
    1. Creativity and innovation
    2. Mastery of concepts and feasibility
    3. Social and environmental impacts
    4. Quality of the final presentation
    5. Skills development
  8. The relative weighting of the criteria in the analysis of applications will be specific to each scholarship category.
  9. If one of the scholarship categories does not reach a sufficient quality in the final projects submitted, the Éole Foundation reserves the right to reduce or cancel the scholarship category in question.
  10. The winning teams will be notified of their selection by email within 2 weeks of the closing date for submitting final projects.
  11. If the winning teams do not contact the organizer within 3 days, the selection committee will designate another winning team or cancel the scholarship category.
  12. The selected winning teams will be contacted by the Éole Foundation using the phone number provided on the entry form. The competition administrators will conduct interviews with the winning teams in each scholarship category to create content articles that will be published on the Foundation's social media channels. Each winning team must submit at least one royalty-free photo of the project and the team.
  13. The winning teams for each scholarship category will be announced at a ceremony organized by the Éole Foundation in June 2026.
  14. The winning teams, or at least one person representing the team, must be present to receive their prize.
  15. Details on the scholarships: 5 scholarships will be distributed to the winning teams: 1 Innovation scholarship worth 10,000 $, 1 Impact scholarship worth 5,000 $ and 3 Special Mention scholarships worth 3,000 $ each.
  16. Winners must comply with all the conditions outlined in these rules; otherwise, the organizers will award the grant to another project chosen by the Éole Foundation. This award will then be made under the same circumstances as those stipulated in points 7 to 11 of these rules.
  17. The scholarship must be accepted as awarded and cannot be replaced by another prize. Furthermore, the scholarship awarded cannot be transferred, sold, or exchanged with another person.
  18. Details on intellectual property The intellectual property related to the ideas, concepts, prototypes, models, simulations or solutions presented as part of the Innovent Challenge remains the exclusive property of the team members who developed them.
  19. By participating in the competition, teams grant the Éole Foundation and its partners a non-exclusive, free and worldwide license allowing them to use, reproduce and distribute the content of their project (including videos, presentations, photos and descriptions) solely for promotional, communication or teaching purposes, without financial compensation.
  20. This license does not authorize the Éole Foundation or its partners to market or commercially exploit the proposed solutions or inventions without first obtaining written authorization from the participants concerned.
  21. Conversely, teams are responsible for ensuring that their project does not use, without authorization, copyrighted content or elements belonging to a third party. They must therefore verify that the ideas, images, data, software, or references they use are royalty-free or properly attributed.
  22. General Regulations All decisions of the competition organizers are final and without appeal.
  23. The contest organizers reserve the right to modify the contest conditions or to terminate it at any time without prior notice.
  24. Winners must consent to the use of their names, city of residence, testimonials, photos and voices in any advertising related to this contest, without compensation.
  25. Winners must consent to their project (or the subject of the submitted application) being used in any publicity related to this competition, without compensation.
  26. Employees, board members, members of the finalists selection committee, members of the Éole Foundation committees, and persons with whom they reside, are not eligible to participate in the competition.
  27. The Éole Foundation cannot be held responsible for late entries, any malfunctions that may hinder access to the website and its normal operation, or any problems affecting telecommunications systems during the contest. Furthermore, the Éole Foundation disclaims all liability for any damage caused to a participant's computer or to the components of any computer system used to participate in the contest.
  28. By participating in this competition, each person releases the competition organizers from any liability and any damage that may arise from this participation, or from the acceptance and use of the scholarship if the person turns out to be on a winning team.
  29. The competition is subject to all applicable laws.
  30. The Sponsors assume no responsibility for entries that are lost, misdirected, delayed, incomplete, mutilated, or received after the contest deadline.
  31. Participants must sign a declaration confirming their compliance with the rules and their acceptance of the scholarship as awarded, and a release form acknowledging the non-liability of the Éole Foundation and their respective employees, directors, and officers with respect to any injury, accident, damage, claim, liability, loss, or misfortune related to any aspect of the competition, the prize, acceptance, use, misuse, possession, and delivery of the prize, printing errors, claims based on personality rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy, before being awarded the prize.

Competition contact information

Inno-vent Challenge Competition 

Eole Foundation
5 Chemin du Cap, Cap-Chat, QC G0J 1E0 

innovent@projeteole.ca

Fill out the registration form

Contact

Benjamin Leduc
General manager 

 benjamin@projeteole.ca