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2026 Student Design Competition

Phase one is open now until 10 January 2026.
7 months ago
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The IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) invites you to participate in the 10th CASS Student Design Competition.

The CASS Student Design Competition is a worldwide competition where undergraduate students will suggest and execute projects on electrical engineering and related areas. The focus should be on finding a solution to a real-life problem based on circuits and systems.

The competition will take place in three phases, the first at the chapter level, the second at the regional level, and a final at the world level. The final will take place during ISCAS 2026 in Shanghai.

CASS will reimburse the travel costs for the trip to ISCAS 2026 for the four finalists, one for each region - Regions 1-7 (USA and Canada), Region 8 (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Region 9 (Latin America), and Region 10 (Asia, Australia, Pacific), as well as ISCAS registration. The winning team will be awarded $3,000 USD.

For details on how to participate in the 2026 Student Design Competition, click here.

Competition Phases:

The competition will be carried out in three phases:

Phase one is at the Chapter level

Phase two is at the Regional level

Phase three (final phase) is at the world level during ISCAS 2026

Phase one of the competition (Chapter level):

  • Phase one should be organized by the local Chapters (or the local Sections)

  • There will be one local competition per Chapter

  • CASS will provide funding ($500 USD) for each local competition

  • Chapters (or Sections) are encouraged to seek sponsorship from local industry

  • ALL phase one teams are REQUIRED to register on the webform here: https://ieee-cas.org/form/2026-student-design-competition

 

Submit Here

 

The composition of the local judging panel for the first phase:

  • At least three members, appointed by the local organization

  • There must be at least one member from the local industry in the judging panel

  • The non-industry members should be CASS members

  • Conflicts of interest should be avoided

  • The proposed projects should be screened by the local judging panel

  • The evaluation will be carried out with the teams making a live demonstration to the judging panel

  • Projects will be evaluated based on "Technical quality", "Creativity", "Relevance to a real-life problem in circuits and systems", and "Accessibility to and engagement with undergraduate and high school students"

     

Important Dates:

1 November 2025: Registration for phase one of the competition opens

10 January 2026: Deadline to registration for phase one of the competition

25 January 2026: Deadline for the live demonstrations of phase one of the competition to take place

31 January 2026: Deadline for the phase one competition results

20 February 2026: Deadline for uploading the video and report related to the second phase of the competition

20 March 2026: Deadline for the phase two competition results 

1 May 2026: Deadline for the teams to submit the final version of the report

May 2026: Live demonstration of the final competition takes place during ISCAS 2026 and the winner is announced during the ISCAS 2026 Awards Ceremony

Inquiries:


General inquiries: (Click to show email)

Technical inquiries: contact your local CASS Chapter Chair or BoG Representative in your Region.