Discovered Materials Grand Challenges — Official Rules

Last updated: November 5, 2026

1. Sponsor and Agreement to These Rules

The Discovered Materials Grand Challenges (the "Competition") are sponsored by Matforge, Inc., doing business as Discovered Materials ("Sponsor," "we" or "us"), 319 N Bernardo Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States.

By registering or submitting an entry, each entrant (and each member of an entrant team) agrees to these Official Rules and to Sponsor's decisions, which are final and binding on all matters relating to the Competition. If you do not agree, do not enter.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. The Competition is a contest of skill. Winners are determined solely by the judging criteria below, and chance plays no part. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

Any public announcement, website, social media post or other material describing the Competition is a summary only. If it conflicts with these Official Rules, these Official Rules control.

2. Eligibility

The Competition is open to individuals who are at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where they live, if higher), and to teams and legal entities, subject to the exclusions below. Each team or entity must name one authorized representative, who registers and accepts these rules on its behalf.

The following may not enter or win:

• Employees, officers, directors, contractors, advisors and agents of Sponsor or its affiliates, judges, and anyone involved in designing or administering the Competition, plus their immediate family and household members
• Anyone who is a resident of, or ordinarily located in, a country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, or who appears on any U.S. government restricted-party list (including OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals list), or any entity owned or controlled by such a person
• Anyone whose participation would violate applicable law, or the rules of their employer, university or government agency

Government employees and employees of universities or companies are responsible for confirming they are allowed to participate and to accept a prize. Sponsor may require written confirmation from an employer or institution before paying any prize.

The Competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Sponsor may verify eligibility at any time and disqualify anyone who is ineligible.

3. How to Enter

The Competition opens when these rules are published at https://discoveredmaterials.com/grand-challenges/official-rules.html and has no fixed end date. Each challenge stays open until Sponsor closes it under Section 6, or until the Competition is changed or cancelled under Section 13. The time Sponsor's mail server receives an email is the official time of receipt.

To enter, send your submission by email to [email protected] with everything the Challenge Description requires. By sending a submission you accept these Official Rules. Entries sent any other way, or received after a challenge is closed, will not be considered. Each entrant may submit up to three entries per challenge. An individual may belong to only one team per challenge.

Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, corrupted or misdirected entries, or for technical failures of any kind. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

4. The Challenges and Submission Requirements

The Competition has five challenges. Each challenge's full technical description, published at https://discoveredmaterials.com/grand-challenges/ (each a "Challenge Description"), forms part of these rules and states its objective success criteria, the test methods and conditions used to measure them, and any challenge-specific requirements.

A challenge is "solved" only when a submission meets every success criterion in its Challenge Description, as determined by Sponsor under Section 5. Coming close, meeting some criteria, or meeting them under different test conditions does not qualify unless the Challenge Description expressly provides for a partial award.

Each submission must include, at minimum: a written technical report, in enough detail for a skilled third party to reproduce the result, describing the method or theory and its principles, equations or algorithms, or, for a material, its composition and structure and how it was made; all data supporting the claimed results, meaning computational results with the code, inputs and parameters used, or measurement data with the instruments, methods and conditions used; and any samples, files or other materials the Challenge Description requires. Sponsor may publish clarifications or answers to entrant questions, which apply equally to all entrants.

5. Judging, Verification and Replication

Sponsor is the sole judge of whether a submission meets a challenge's success criteria. Submissions are reviewed by members of the Matforge team, who may consult outside experts. The verification sets and automated checks on the Competition website are a first screen only: passing them does not mean a challenge has been solved and does not entitle anyone to a prize.

Before any prize is awarded, Sponsor may require that claimed results be independently verified. This may include providing physical samples, sharing raw data and lab notebooks, allowing a site visit, and having the results reproduced by Sponsor or a laboratory it selects. Unless the Challenge Description says otherwise, the entrant bears its own costs of providing samples and information, and Sponsor bears the cost of the independent testing it commissions.

A submission that cannot be verified or reproduced within 90 days of Sponsor's request, or whose entrant does not cooperate with verification, will be disqualified. Sponsor decides whether a challenge has been solved, and by whom, in its sole discretion, and that decision is final and binding. Sponsor is not required to review submissions within any time frame, to award a prize if it decides no submission qualifies, or to explain its decisions.

6. Prizes

The total prize pool is up to US $1,000,000, allocated across the five challenges as shown in Section 4. Each amount is a maximum, not a guarantee. A prize is payable only if Sponsor determines that its challenge was solved under these rules while the challenge was open and before Sponsor closed it.

• First qualifying solver. Each challenge prize goes to the first eligible entrant whose submission Sponsor determines meets all success criteria, based on the time Sponsor received the submission.
• Simultaneous solutions. If two or more qualifying submissions are received within 7 days of each other, Sponsor may split that challenge's prize equally among them.
• Teams. A prize won by a team is paid to the team's authorized representative, or split as the team members direct in a written agreement signed by all of them. Sponsor is not responsible for disputes among team members.
• Closing a challenge. Sponsor may declare any challenge completed or closed at any time, for any reason, by posting notice at https://discoveredmaterials.com/grand-challenges/. Reasons may include that the challenge has been solved by an entrant, by Sponsor itself, or by anyone who did not enter, including through publication. Once a challenge is closed, Sponsor has no obligation to review, verify or award a prize for any submission to it, including submissions received before closure. If a challenge is closed because Sponsor or a non-entrant solved it, no prize is awarded.
• No end date. The Competition has no deadline. Prize funds that are not awarded remain Sponsor's to use for any purpose.
• No substitution or transfer. Prizes are paid in U.S. dollars and may not be transferred or assigned, except that Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

7. Prize Payment, Taxes and Winner Documents

Before payment, each potential winner (and each team member receiving a share) must sign and return, within 30 days of request: an affidavit of eligibility and compliance with these rules, a liability and publicity release where lawful, a confirmation of the license and covenant in Section 8, any employer or institution consent Sponsor requests, and tax forms such as IRS Form W-9 or W-8BEN. Failure to return them on time may result in forfeiture, and Sponsor may then award the prize to the next qualifying entrant.

Winners are solely responsible for all taxes on their prize. Sponsor will report prize payments to tax authorities as required and will withhold taxes where the law requires it, including for winners outside the United States. Prizes are paid within 60 days after all documents are received and verified.

8. Intellectual Property and Confidentiality

Ownership. Entrants keep ownership of the intellectual property in their submissions, subject to the license and covenant below.

License to Sponsor. By submitting, each entrant grants Sponsor and its affiliates a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free license, transferable and sublicensable through multiple tiers, under all intellectual property in the submission, to use, reproduce, modify, publish, make, have made, sell, offer for sale, import, commercialize and otherwise exploit the submission and anything derived from it, for any purpose. This license applies to every submission, whether or not it wins, and survives the closure of any challenge or of the Competition. Entrants receive no payment for it beyond any prize they win.

Covenant not to sue. Each entrant, for itself and its successors, assignees and licensees, agrees never to bring or support any claim against Sponsor, its affiliates, or their sublicensees, customers or partners alleging that their use or commercialization of the submission, or anything derived from it, infringes or misappropriates the entrant's intellectual property. This does not limit an entrant's right to enforce its intellectual property against anyone else, or to bring a claim that Sponsor breached these rules.

No confidentiality. Submissions are not treated as confidential, and no confidential or fiduciary relationship arises from entering. Do not include anything you need to keep secret. If you want patent protection, file your patent applications before you submit, because submitting may count as a public disclosure that affects your rights.

Independent development. Sponsor and others may already be working on, or may later develop, materials and methods similar to your submission. Entering does not limit Sponsor's right to develop, use or commercialize anything it develops independently or receives from others, and creates no obligation to you beyond paying any prize you win under these rules. Sponsor may solve any challenge itself, and may then close it under Section 6 without awarding a prize.

9. Entrant Representations and Warranties

By submitting an entry, each entrant represents and warrants that:

• The submission is the entrant's original work, and the reported data and results are accurate, complete and not fabricated or selectively presented
• The entrant has all rights needed to submit it and grant the licenses in Section 8, including any rights held by an employer, university, funding agency or collaborator
• The submission does not infringe or misappropriate any patent, copyright, trade secret or other right of any third party, and was not developed using anyone's confidential information without permission
• The work was carried out in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and institutional policies

Many universities, employers and grant funders own or have rights in inventions their staff create. Entrants are responsible for resolving those rights before submitting. Sponsor may withhold a prize until it is satisfied that the winner can grant the rights required.

10. Safety, Legal Compliance and Export Controls

Entrants conduct all research, experiments and testing at their own risk and expense, in their own facilities. Sponsor does not supervise, direct or control entrants' work and is not responsible for any injury, illness, property damage, environmental release or other harm arising from it. Entrants must follow all applicable health, safety, environmental and hazardous-materials laws and good laboratory practice.

Entrants must not ship hazardous, regulated or dangerous materials to Sponsor except as the Challenge Description permits and in compliance with all shipping laws. Sponsor may refuse any shipment.

Submissions and related technical data may be subject to U.S. and other export control and sanctions laws. Entrants are responsible for obtaining any required licenses before sharing technical data or shipping samples, and must not submit anything classified or controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Sponsor may decline any submission it believes would create an export compliance issue.

11. Publicity and Privacy

Except where prohibited by law, each winner agrees that Sponsor may use their name, likeness, institution, city and country, a description of the winning submission and the results achieved, in announcements, advertising and promotional materials in any media, without further notice, approval or payment.

Personal information collected through the Competition is used to administer it and as described in Sponsor's Privacy Policy at https://discoveredmaterials.com/privacy.html. Sponsor may share it with judges, verification laboratories and service providers as needed to run the Competition, and with authorities where required by law.

12. Release, Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

Release. To the fullest extent permitted by law, each entrant releases Sponsor, its affiliates, and their officers, directors, employees, agents and judges (the "Released Parties") from all claims, losses and liability of any kind arising from the Competition, the entrant's participation, research or testing, or the acceptance or use of any prize.

Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Released Parties will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data or opportunity. Sponsor's total liability to any entrant arising from the Competition is limited to the amount of any prize that entrant has actually won and not been paid.

Indemnification. Each entrant will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties from any third-party claim arising from the entrant's submission, research or testing, breach of these rules, or breach of the warranties in Section 9, including claims of intellectual property infringement.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations or exclusions of liability, so some of the above may not apply to you.

13. Changes, Suspension, Cancellation and Disqualification

Sponsor may amend these rules or any Challenge Description, close any challenge under Section 6, or suspend or cancel the Competition or any challenge, at any time and for any reason, by posting notice at https://discoveredmaterials.com/grand-challenges/. Amendments take effect when posted and apply to every submission that has not already been awarded a prize.

Sponsor may disqualify any entrant who it reasonably believes has broken these rules, provided false or misleading information or data, tampered with the Competition or judging, acted unlawfully, or harassed or threatened anyone involved. Sponsor may recover any prize paid to an entrant later found to be ineligible or in breach.

Sponsor's failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it.

14. Disputes and Governing Law

These rules are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute arising from the Competition or these rules will be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its applicable rules, before a single arbitrator, seated in Mountain View, California, in English. Each entrant waives any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class or representative action. Either party may seek temporary injunctive relief in court to protect its intellectual property.

Any claim must be brought within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred.

15. General

If any provision of these rules is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. These rules, the Challenge Descriptions and any documents a winner signs under Section 7 are the entire agreement between Sponsor and each entrant about the Competition. If these rules are translated, the English version controls.

Nothing in these rules creates an employment, partnership, agency or joint-venture relationship between Sponsor and any entrant. Entering does not obligate Sponsor to purchase, license, fund or invest in any entrant's work beyond paying prizes won under these rules.

Questions about the Competition: [email protected]. For a list of winners, visit https://discoveredmaterials.com/grand-challenges/ after the Competition ends, or write to Sponsor at the address in Section 1.