INO structure is comprised of the steering committee, scientific committee, jury, permanent secretariat and executive secretariat. As shown in figure 1, international partners and sponsors are also a part of INO organizational structure. Each part of INO is explained below.
Figure 1.The organizational structure of the INO
1. INO Steering Committee (INOStC)
1.1. The INO steering committee includes representatives of founding member institutions. Representatives of Iran, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan as the founders of INO are the initial members of INOStC. One economy, one vote policy is adopted in INOStC. Adding a new economy to INOStC needs all members’ positive votes.
1.2. INOStC is the superior body for decision making and responsible for determining and updating the overall perspective of INO, strategy development, drafting and compilation of INO’s Regulation, determination of thematic focus, model and content of the competition, determination of INO organizational structure, as well as supervising financial aspects.
1.3. INOStC can invite observers including the head of INO executive secretariat, representative of Asia Nano Forum, and other pertinent international or regional organizations to attend INOStC meetings. In special cases, INOStC may consider a vote right for observers subject to approval by all the INOStC members.
1.4. The chairman of INOStC is elected by an annual polling among INOStC members. The host economy has the privilege to nominate the next INOStC chairman. The official responsibilities of the chairman are as follows:
1.4.1. The management of decision making meeting and taking its minutes
1.4.2. Organizing in-person and online meetings of INOStC
1.4.3. Signing all of the letters and official documents in association with INOStC
1.4.4. Attending the international INO-related events as the representative of INOStC
1.4.5. The management and supervision of all official and organizational activities in INOStC
1.4.6. In the absence of INOStC chairman, the vice-chairman should follow the scheduled works. The vice-chairman is selected by the INOStC chairman among the INOStC members and is the subject to be approved by all the INOStC members.
1.5. The presence of two-thirds of INOStC members in decision making meetings is required. The final approval of all decisions needs positive vote of at least a half of the attending members. In the case of equal votes, the steering committee’s chairman will adopt the final decision.
1.6. The working language of INOStC is English.
1.7. INOStC will hold at least two in-person meetings annually.
1.8. Other responsibilities of INOStC are as follows:
1.8.1. The supervision of the execution of INO in accordance with the regulations.
1.8.2. The assurance of proper and fair evaluation of team's performance by interacting with the INO Jury.
1.8.3. The final confirmation of the competition results after approval the results of the INO Jury work.
1.8.4. The selection of a host economy for future competitions.
1.8.5. The decision making about the committed infractions and different ways to deal with them such as permanent or temporary exclusion of wrongdoer or its economy from INO.
1.8.6. The accreditation of member economies’ representatives in INOStC.
1.8.7. The increment in the number of INOStC.
1.8.8. The accreditation of the INO scientific committee.
2. INO Permanent Secretariat (INOPS)
2.1. By the confirmation of INOStC, Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council (INIC) is selected for the official management of INO permanent secretariat (INOPS). This secretariat contributes to organization and fulfilling the long-term goals of INO and facilitating the connection between the INOStC and the host economy. The management and the progress of the INOPS is reviewed annually by the INOStC with the aim to match with its missions.
2.2. The head of INOPS is proposed by INIC and would initiate her/his activities after the official confirmation of INOStC.
2.3. Other responsibilities of INOPS are as follows:
2.3.1. Collection and publication of previous documents according to the disclosure rules related to the documents.
2.3.2. Management and supervision of the INO official website.
2.3.3. Establishing distance education platform.
2.3.4. Supervision of INO executive secretariat’s activity from the beginning of INO first stage to the final stage and reporting to INOStC.
2.3.5. Consideration of the official requests of interested economies to host the competition, evaluating the qualification of applicant economies, and presenting a report about their competency to INOStC to be approved by this committee.
2.3.6. Preparing the final report about holding the INO at most two months after the end of INO and presenting it then to INOStC for discussion and planning the further work.
2.3.7. Facilitating of INO networking with other active and effective organizations.
2.3.8. Interacting with other international/ financial/ educational organizations in order to achieve INO goals under supervision of INOStC.
2.4. To facilitate initiation of INOPS activities, INIC will cover the permanent secretariat costs until the end of the first INO. However, for long term financing of the INOPS activities, it is assumed to establish a fund and financing mechanisms.
2.5. The URL link of INO official website is www.Nanoolympiad.org. The registration of participants, online education, online consultation about the ideas, presentation of project status review, and announcement of all competition-related news will be done through the INO official website. The INO permanent website is a platform for announcement of sponsors, partners and supporters of each period of INO. Each team has its own webpage on the website for INO-related activities such as “results announcements”, “objection to INO Jury decisions”, “receiving consultations”, “education”, and “registration”. The webpages of the teams will be archived after releasing the annual / final results.
3. INO Executive Secretariat (INOES)
3.1. National nanotechnology development bodies (like public sector institutes, S&T Parks and so forth), the Ministry of Science (Universities etc.), or other pertinent organizations in the host economy have the overall responsibility for organization and arrangement of INO as INO executive secretariat.
3.2. The official responsibilities of INOES are as follows:
3.2.1. Performing online and in-person education for selected teams from the beginning to the end of the period in each stage by coordination with INOPS (Appendix 1 includes the Proposed curriculum educational content. It should be confirmed by the INO scientific committee).
3.2.2. Carrying out the Olympiad in accordance with the regulations.
3.2.3. Time planning and management before, during, and after INO.
3.2.4. Providing the regulations and the customs of the host economy and actual contacts (the address, telephone number, fax, the email etc.) of INO authorities before the start of INO for participants.
3.2.5. Providing the proper information for INOPS in order to update INO permanent website contents.
3.2.6. Facilitating the process of applying for visa including invitation letters.
3.2.7. Providing the medals, certificates, and awards.
3.2.8. Financial support (as defined in section 4.5) of the participant teams as they enter the host economy until they leave it out.
3.2.9. The investment attraction and financial support for holding INO.
3.2.10. Provision of security for all INO teams and guests.
3.2.11. Public announcement of official results in the closing ceremony.
3.2.12. Holding the opening and closing ceremony of INO.
3.2.13. Development and providing of documentation of the INO final stage including collection of photos and videos.
3.3. The following requirements should be met till one economy is capable of hosting INO:
3.3.1. Capable of provision of security and safety for participants.
3.3.2. The applicant economy should be able to provide proper educational, operational, infrastructural facilities.
3.4. The applicant economy should be ready to raise a fund for running INO and financial support of teams, their representative and jury members.
3.5. If no economy volunteers for hosting INO is suggested, INOStC will choose one of their members as the future host. The economy which has not been the host for a long time will be given priority to be chosen as the next host.
3.6. In the case of force majeure condition in the host economy, it is obliged that INOES inform INOPS within a week. Under such conditions, a special meeting in INOStC will be held and one of the following decisions will be made:
4. INO Scientific Committee and Jury
4.1. INO Scientific Committee (INOScC) members are proposed by the INOStC members annually and are confirmed in INOStC meetings. Once the INOScC members are assigned, INOPS sets an INOScC meeting.
4.2. The chairman of INOScC is annually elected by its members followed by approval by the INOStC. His/her presence is obligatory in all official meetings of INO Jury.
4.3. Responsibilities of INOScC are as follows:
4.3.1. Evaluation and modification of criteria for judgment in the regulation.
4.3.2. Declaration of the technical results of competition to INOStC.
4.4. INO Jury is responsible for the judgment of the team reports/works of the competition based on the criteria and indicators verified by INOScC. The jury members will be proposed by INOScC and approved by INOStC. The expertise of the jury should cover at least the following areas:
4.5. Annually the INOScC will determine the specific educated curriculum in accordance with the annual theme of the INO.
4.6. INOScC decides about the number of members of the INO jury annually (6 to 10 members).
4.7. Every year, INOES is responsible for funding all/local costs of INO Jury (for supporting local expenditures like accommodation costs and etc.).
International Nanotechnology Olympiad (INO) is a global competition among university students from different involved countries being held consistently in member economies. Participants propose their competitive ideas and plans as nanotechnology based solutions for problems related to global challenges.