APEC APP CHALLENGE 2021 RULES & REQUIREMENTS

The 2021 APEC App Challenge invites participants to use their software development and design skills to build products that help micro and small businesses in the tourism sector engage with the digital economy.

Rules for the 2021 APEC App Challenge

Eligibility – Eligible teams must be nationals of APEC member economies. Teams must consist of two to six individuals, and team members may not be replaced following the registration deadline. Teams must be composed entirely of nationals of the APEC economy that they are representing in the challenge. While the 2021 App Challenge is entirely virtual, the winning team may be invited to travel to a subsequent APEC meeting later in 2021.

Selection – Only the teams who register and meet the eligibility criteria, as laid out and interpreted by The Asia Foundation, may participate in the App Challenge.

Intellectual Property – Products and prototypes submitted by participants in the App Challenge must be the participants’ own work, and may not infringe on the intellectual property rights of any third parties, nor be subject to claims of ownership by the participant’s employer or learning institution. Participants submitting ideas and solutions to the App Challenge must also agree to allow their ideas and solutions to be incorporated into a final demonstration product for APEC Economic Leaders’ Meetings in November 2021. Code must be fully original and previously unpublished, with exceptions allowed for public APIs and open source code, provided such code is released under an open and non-restrictive license. Products that are built on top of an existing proprietary platform, including those built or owned by the participant, should still exist as original and independently operable products.

Promotional Rights – Products, prototypes, and mockups created by participants for this App Challenge may be used by The Asia Foundation, APEC, the New Zealand APEC 2021 Coordination Authority, or Google for promotional purposes before, during, and after the event. The participant’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, video, hometown, and biography may be used in promotional materials, press releases, and other publicity related to the App Challenge event. Should APEC request branding and recognition for awarding the 1st prize to a participating Team, the Team agrees to place branding within the winning app that acknowledges APEC’s support – e.g. “This app was developed during the APEC App Challenge.”

Code of Conduct – All participants will be asked to adhere to a code of conduct that will require that submissions:

  • must be entirely the original work of the entrants;

  • must not contain anything that is or may be construed as: (i) threatening, harassing, degrading or hateful; (ii) defamatory; (iii) fraudulent or tortious; (iv) obscene or otherwise objectionable; or (v) protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express prior consent of the owner of such right; and

  • must not contain any material that would give rise to criminal or civil liability or that encourages conduct that constitutes a criminal offense.

Rights and Trademarks – Participants will retain full ownership of the products they create during the App Challenge. However, under the terms of the challenge, APEC will have specified usage and branding rights.

Personal Opinions – Any statements, writing or materials developed by participants in connection with this program shall clearly state that the opinions expressed are those of the writer only and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of The Asia Foundation.

General Terms and Conditions for Software Products

Participants will deliver a functional web or mobile solution to the App Challenge designed for use by the target audience. Mobile, web or any platform app will be accepted; however we suggest building Android or Web apps, due to the installed user base in APEC economies. You may use any programming language(s) or framework(s). Use of Git or other version tracking is strongly encouraged.

Please note that fully-functional and near-production-ready apps will be preferred over prototypes or proofs-of-concept. It is expected that the winning app may be deployed to production following the conclusion of the challenge, with support from APEC, The Asia Foundation, and partners.

IMPORTANT: Products which offer limited or no functionality when decoupled from proprietary external APIs and services are strongly discouraged. While third -party integrations are expected, they should serve to amplify or extend an application’s existing, stand-alone features. Judges and evaluators will carefully examine each application and assess the degree to which submissions require third-party integrations in order to offer a basic level of functionality. If it is determined that a submitted application’s only functional features require fees and/or subscription payments to access proprietary external services, then these submissions will not be considered for awards.