Join the challenge to classify patent data for a sustainable future
MUNICH - The European Patent Office (EPO) has launched the spring edition of CodeFest 2025. Participants are invited to showcase their coding skills by creating an automated system for classifying patent data based on its potential to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), according to the official website of EPO.
With this edition of CodeFest, the EPO advances its goals of promoting sustainability and making patent data more accessible.
How does patent data support sustainable development?
With over 150 million patent documents, the EPO maintains the world’s largest, freely accessible single source of patent information. As the quantity of prior art grows, efficient classification of these records is crucial to enhancing accessibility, searchability and ultimately legal certainty for inventors.
The technical information contained in these documents can then be used to develop new ideas and enable researchers to build on existing innovations, as well as help investors and policymakers track technological trends and make informed decisions. All this can in turn provide the basis for unlocking solutions to the pressing global challenges identified in the UN SDGs.
Who can participate?
Data enthusiasts, corporate social responsibility professionals, IP professionals, developers, coders and data scientists aged 18 and above residing in one of the EPO’s member states are all encouraged to participate. The spring edition of CodeFest 2025 is open to individuals and teams of up to five members. Teams made up of EPO staff, external entrants or a mixture of both are all welcome!
How to participate
To take part, submit your proposal by 16 March 2025 at 23.59 hrs CET. Entries can take one of several approaches, and you are encouraged to consider how your proposed application can benefit users. For further details, please refer to the official CodeFest page.
Your proposal should include:
• The completed form with your personal information. Please note that all team members must register individually and indicate if they are part of a team.
• An outline of your proposal for solving the coding challenge. Proposals must include an explanation of your suggested approach and indicate the data selection you intend to use, possible model implementation and model evaluation.
To help participants leverage patent information into a valuable resource for solving pressing sustainability challenges, during the second round of the competition the EPO will provide participants with free access to the world’s largest collection of patent data and EPO patent knowledge products and services. Submit your proposal today or share this opportunity with someone who may be interested in the challenge!
Competition timeline
• March 16: Deadline for submission of proposals. A jury panel of EPO experts will evaluate the proposals and select which will advance to the implementation phase.
• March 21: Participants will be informed if their proposal has made it to the next round.
• May 21: Deadline for participants who advanced to the second round to submit their code. The jury will evaluate the final solutions based on among others creativity, functionality, impact on sustainable innovation and technical implementation.
• June 10: Announcement of the finalists.
• Early July: Winners announced during the prize ceremony
What are the prizes?
• Grand prize winner: EUR 20 000
• First runner-up: EUR 10 000
• Second runner-up: EUR 5 000
Don’t miss out on this chance to use your coding skills to drive positive social and environmental change. To register, visit the CodeFest Spring 2025 page.