Consider Corn Challenge

The National Corn Growers Association invites proposals for new uses of field corn as a feedstock for producing sustainable chemicals and products with quantifiable market demand.

Download Response Form for Contest Entry (Word doc) Download Terms and Conditions (PDF)

About the Challenge

The Consider Corn Challenge IV is about finding game-changing new uses for field corn, leading to products with significant market demand, without detracting from an existing corn market.

U.S. corn represents a sustainably produced, economically competitive, and extremely versatile feedstocks for bioproducts. U.S. corn farmers continue to adopt new innovative production practices, resulting in improved year-over-year efficiency and the ability to produce more with less. These advances now support production that greatly exceeds annual U.S. corn demand.

Additionally, new technologies are being deployed that will product clean product (sugar, lipid, protein) streams that can more efficiently be used as feedstocks for biobased processes. At the same time, consumers worldwide continue to demand additional biobased products. This confluence of available corn-based feedstock and consumer demand represents an extremely exciting opportunity for stakeholders in the sustainable bio-materials industry.

Informational Webinar Recording

Specific application areas will be considered for this Challenge

Biobased materials from novel mixes of corn-derived plastics
Compostable plastics with high tensile strength, such as netting or packaging materials
Heavy duty fuels or drop in chemicals (e.g., sustainable aviation fuel; biodiesel derived from corn glucose, bunker fuel, etc)
Carbon fiber
Other high-value molecules

For information about the previous Challenges and to view the winners, please visit www.ncga.com/newuses.

Award

This year’s challenge is even more exciting as the prize pool has increased! A total prize pool of  US $250,000 will be split equally between 1 to 6 winners, based on the strength of competing submissions.

Additionally, NCGA, or its state or other partners, may explore funding or other support of an Entry for further development and/or commercialization, even if the Entry is not a prize winner.

Timeline

Eligibility

The following types of approaches are ineligible:

Proposals which provide only incremental improvements for established commercial processes
Approaches that displace corn in a 1:1 fashion, for example a technology for converting corn to fuel ethanol that doesn’t dramatically improve economics
Proposals for new foods derived from corn
Proposals for sweet corn

The following individuals are ineligible to submit:

Submissions from individuals who do not own the represented intellectual property (IP) or who have not been authorized by the IP owner(s) to submit on their behalf are ineligible.
A previous winner of the Consider Corn Challenge I or Consider Corn Challenge II or Consider Corn Challenge III may not submit a proposal that represents substantially the same approach that NCGA already recognized as a winner.

A previous submitter who did not win may submit again if they have made substantial improvements and progress towards commercialization or have identified new markets which may offer greater volumes of corn utilization.

Success Criteria

Scoring will be based on the Entry’s ability to address and show alignment to NCGA’s evaluation criteria:

The approach provides for an empowering technology that enables or provides access to a new market for corn, with preference given to entries with focus on one or more of these 5 specific application areas:

Novel mixes of PLA, PBS, and PLH or other combination or molecule for the purpose of timed degradable plastic. Shelf life information should be included in submission details.

Novel mixes of glucose-derived PHA and PBS or another biobased compostable with high tensile strength and environmental biodegradability. Entries compatible with ruminant digestion will score higher.

Heavy duty fuels or drop in chemicals (e.g., sustainable aviation fuel; biodiesel derived from corn glucose derived directly from fermentation to lipids or catalysis from ethanol, bunker fuel, etc.)

Carbon fiber application (biobased polyacrylonitrile)

Other high value molecules or platform molecule that can demonstrate at least two derivatives with short term commercial application.

The approach uses components of the corn kernel (or corn-based ethanol) as primary feedstock. The areas highlighted in Figure 1 in the Challenge Summary PDF are the feedstock components that will be considered for this Challenge
Entries will be evaluated based on volume of corn utilized. Preference will be given to approaches that significantly drive the utilization of field corn.
Preference will be given to Entries which have already demonstrated the proposed technology at laboratory scale, producing at least milligram quantities
There is a clear path for scale-up to commercialization, and/or the Entrant has demonstrated experience in taking a process or plan from lab scale to commercial scale

 Ideally, the Entry team has available funding or support from potential commercialization partners.

Submissions

You must download, complete, and submit the CCCIV Entry Form by June 30, 2023 5:00 PM CDT.  You will be able to upload supplemental documents with your response.

Your NON-CONFIDENTIAL Challenge Entry should use the CCCIV Entry Form and include the following information:

A clear, concise description of your proposed approach, including:
- Which of the 5 specific application area(s) the approach addresses
- Which feedstock(s) the approach is based upon, and at what quantities/volume
An indication of the technical maturity of the proposed approach to include supporting data and availability of samples
Describe steps, activity, estimated budget, and timeline to reach commercial scale
Discuss the intellectual property (IP) related to your approach:
- Provide letter/s of support and prospects for matching funds to support commercialization, if available
- Disclose any prior support you have received from NCGA or other state corn associations
Describe your (or your team’s) background and related experience in commercializing new technology
Optionally, provide a private link to a short (2-5 minute) video presentation in which you pitch your approach and capabilities

 If you require assistance to submit your response, please contact us at considercorn@ncga.com

FAQs

Join us April 27th at 2 pm CT for an Informational Webinar via Zoom. This webinar will be recorded and posted on this site.

Terms and Conditions

By submitting a response, you agree to the Terms & Conditions which includes the following requirements:

You agree that your submission does not contain any confidential information.
You acknowledge that sponsor reserves the sole and absolute right and discretion to award prizes as stated in the contest.