Notice on Preliminary Evaluation and Contest Schedule for the 16th e-ICON World Contest

Dear Participants of the 16th e-ICON World Contest,

Warm greetings from KEFA.

First of all, we would like to sincerely thank all students and teachers for your interest, enthusiasm, and participation in the 16th e-ICON World Contest.

This year, a total of 252 applications were submitted for the preliminary round of the 16th e-ICON World Contest. Compared to the 141 teams that participated in the preliminary round last year, this represents an increase of approximately 78.7%, showing a significant expansion in participation from the previous year.

We would like to inform you that the preliminary evaluation of submitted app development proposals is currently underway. The evaluation is being conducted as a document-based review of the proposals submitted by domestic and international teams.

During the preliminary evaluation, the submitted proposals will be reviewed based on the specificity of the problem definition, feasibility and relevance of the proposed solution, web application planning and implementation potential, connection to the SDG theme, and expected impact.

Based on the preliminary evaluation results, teams expected to advance to the final round will be selected. The selected teams will then go through a final participation confirmation process. After that, domestic and international teams will be matched to form global teams for the final round.

The final global team matching results will be announced on Friday, July 3, 2026, through the official contest website and individual email notifications.

Please refer to the key schedule below.

Category	Schedule	Details
Preliminary Evaluation	June 2 – June 10, 2026	Document-based review of app development proposals
Finalist Team Result Announcement	June, 2026	Individual email notification and invitation process
Global Team Matching Result Announcement	July 3, 2026	Announcement on the official website and individual email notification
Online Final Round	July 6 – July 31, 2026	Online collaboration, mentoring, and web app development by global teams
Online Meet-up Day	July 18, 2026, TBA	Online networking and collaboration program for global teams
Offline Final Round	August 3 – August 7, 2026	In-person final round in Korea

Please note that the above schedule is subject to change depending on operational circumstances. Any changes will be announced through the official contest website or notified individually by email.

Teams advancing to the final round will participate as global teams, collaborating with students from other countries to further develop their web application projects. During the online final round, global teams will work together through online collaboration, mentoring, web app development, and presentation preparation.

An Online Meet-up Day is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 18, 2026. Further details will be provided separately to the teams advancing to the final round.

The offline final round will be held in Korea from Monday, August 3 to Friday, August 7, 2026. The offline program is expected to include the opening ceremony, team development activities, final presentations and evaluation, awards ceremony, and closing ceremony.

All selected participants are required to take part in the official final round schedule. Detailed information regarding the final round, including participation procedures, collaboration tools, required submissions, presentation, evaluation, and offline participation, will be provided separately to the selected teams.

Once again, we sincerely appreciate your active participation and passion for the 16th e-ICON World Contest. We look forward to seeing your creative ideas continue to grow through this contest.

With best regards,

Korea Digital Education Frontiers Association