Twenty-four teams.
One Medal.
The GQC Global Final is the championship round of the year. Six city winners and eighteen wildcards advance from the regional showcases to a two-day defence in New York. The Founder’s, Research and Impact Prizes are named on the Saturday; the GQC Medal is awarded on Sunday.
Twelve hours of defence.
All twenty-four teams pitch in three parallel rooms, six minutes each plus six minutes of senior-jury questions. Public audience admitted by pass.
Closed sessions in which the senior jury debates and names the Founder’s, Research and Impact Prizes. Teams shortlisted for the Medal are notified Saturday evening.
The three Medal-shortlisted teams defend their work for a final fifteen minutes each in front of the full jury. The Medal is presented at the Sunday-evening ceremony at The Cooper Union.
Four prizes, one medal, no surprise criteria.
Twenty-four teams: six city winners (two tracks × three cities) and eighteen wildcards drawn from remaining city scores and Invitational nominations. The weekend is 5–6 December 2026 in New York. Saturday is a full defence day at NYU Kimmel; Sunday is the Medal ceremony at Cooper Union, streamed. The Founders’ Dinner on Saturday evening is invite-only and is not a judging session.
Prizes: Founder’s Prize (venture promise under the same rubric, with a seed grant and a year of mentorship); Research Prize (quality of evidence and method); Impact Prize (credible pathway and ethics); GQC Medal (highest combined score). Special mentions, if any, are published with the results and printed on Certificates of Achievement. There is no undisclosed “overall impression” criterion.
What good looks like at this altitude is still the same five lines, read by a senior panel who have not seen the city scores. Bring the prototype. Do not rewrite the pack into a startup myth overnight. Wildcards sometimes win the Medal; city winners sometimes do not reach a prize. Travel bursaries cover the weekend. Certificates for Finalists are issued within three weeks and are verifiable at /cert/verify.html.