The 2026 Grand Challenge

Designing the Human Infrastructure for Digital Product Creation

How can we build the skills, roles, workflows, and learning systems that enable people to effectively work with 3D, AI, and digital product systems at scale?

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For over a decade, the fashion industry has invested heavily in digital tools, from 3D and simulation to AI, automation, and advanced analytics. Yet despite widespread adoption, many organisations are still struggling to realise meaningful value from these technologies.

The limiting factor is no longer software capability, but human readiness to work effectively with digital systems.

Skills gaps, fragmented roles, misaligned workflows, poor onboarding, and unclear career pathways are now the primary barriers to successful digital transformation. Designers, developers, and planners are being asked to work in entirely new ways, often without the training, support, or organizational structures needed to succeed.

This year’s Grand Challenge invites startups and academic teams to shift the focus from technology alone to the human–technology relationship: reimagining how the industry builds digital capability, supports evolving roles, and creates human-centered systems that allow innovation to actually take root.

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The Prompt

How can we design human-centered systems that enable people and digital technologies to work together effectively, unlocking the real value of digital product creation in fashion?

Submissions must demonstrate how humans interact with digital tools, systems, or data in practice, including 3D, AI, simulation, automation, or related digital workflows. Technology should not be speculative or abstract, but meaningfully embedded in the proposed solution.

Submissions may address (but are not limited to):

1. Skills & Upskilling

How can we:

• Reskill existing designers and developers for new digital roles?
• Create clear learning pathways for hybrid skills (design + tech + data)?
• Reduce the learning curve for complex digital tools?

2. Roles & Career Pathways

How can we:

• Define new roles in digital product creation (e.g. 3D specialists, computational designers, digital developers)?
• Build credible career ladders for these roles inside organizations?
• Align education with real industry needs?

3. Workflows & Ways of Working

How can we:

• Design workflows that reduce friction between people, data, and tools?
• Create digital threads that actually make work easier (not more complex)?
• Minimize manual work, rework, and tool overload?

4. Human–AI Collaboration

How can we:

• Design systems where AI augments human creativity rather than replacing it?
• Preserve authorship, intent, and accountability in automated workflows?
• Build trust in AI-assisted decision-making?

5. Organizational Change

How can we:

• Support cultural adoption of digital tools inside large organisations?
• Help teams transition from legacy processes to new operating models?
• Measure human readiness, not just technical maturity?

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Submission Requirements

To be considered, submissions must:

• Focus on people, skills, or organisational systems, while clearly demonstrating how they interact with digital tools or technologies.
• Be relevant to fashion, apparel, footwear, or accessories.
• Demonstrate real-world applicability for brands, retailers, or educators.
• Show how humans and digital systems interact in practice, with attention to usability, adoption, and real-world constraints.
• Go beyond theoretical speculation into tangible frameworks, tools, or models.

We particularly welcome:

• Learning platforms and training systems
• Certification models and skills frameworks
• Workflow design tools
• Human–AI collaboration concepts
• Organisational change methodologies
• Academic research with practical industry application

This is your chance to shape the future of product development and leave a lasting impact on the industry. Are you ready to rise to the challenge?

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How To Qualify

Eligible participants must be affiliated with either a start-up or an academic institution, meeting the following criteria:

• Start-up Eligibility: A start-up, as defined for this contest, is a legally registered organization with fewer than 10 full-time employees and serving fewer than 10 active clients in the retail, footwear, and apparel industry.
• Academic Institution Eligibility: An academic or research institution, as defined for this contest, is a legally registered organization with an educational mission, non-profit status, and formal accreditation from a recognized accrediting body or governance agency.

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The Submission & Review Process

How to Enter

The Contest is conducted in two phases as outlined below. Entries received before or after the entry period are void.

Phase 1: Preliminary Round

Entry Period: 9 March 2026 – 24 April 2026

Entries Must Include:
Uploaded document(s) containing entrant contact information, confirmation of eligibility, and responses to the prompt(s) outlined on the website. Phase 1 responses should take the form of a one-page synopsis. Links to relevant images and multimedia are permitted.

Phase 2: Semifinalist Round

Entry Period: 12 May 2026 – 9 June 2026

Entries Must Include:
Selected semifinalists from Phase 1 will be invited to submit additional materials for Phase 2. These may include a white paper, research publication, solution schematic, thesis, video, demonstration, or other supporting content that provides greater depth and detail on the proposed solution or research.

Judging Criteria

3. Organisational Feasibility

Could this realistically work inside an organisation (brand, manufacturer, academic institution, or other)?

• Works within real constraints (time, budget, politics, culture)
• Doesn’t require perfect data or perfect teams
• Acknowledges complexity and messiness

4. Capability Transformation

Does this genuinely improve how people work with digital tools and systems?

• Improves skills, decision-making, collaboration, or speed
• Reduces friction, rework, or cognitive load
• Goes beyond surface-level efficiency gains

5. Long-Term Industry Value

Does this help the industry mature, not just optimise?

• Builds durable skills or frameworks
• Scales across brands or institutions
• Contributes to industry standards, not silos

Solutions need to be submitted in one of the categories below:

1. Start-up company
2. Academic or Research Institution

Acceptance Process

All submissions will be reviewed by the 2026 3DRC Grand Challenge judges.

• Entrants must submit Round 1 entries by 27 March 2026, 11:59pm PST.
• Round 1 accepted submissions will be reviewed by judges and narrowed to a group of semi-finalists. Semi-finalists will advance to Round 2, which will require the submission of additional research details and/or prototypes, including features, capabilities, and/or proposed solutions.
• Semi-finalists will be notified via email no later than 14 April 2026 and provided with detailed guidance for Round 2 submissions.
• Entrants must submit Round 2 entries by 30 May 2026, 11:59pm PST.
• Winners of Round 2 will be notified via email no later than 16 June 2026.

Awards & Recognition

The winning entry shall receive:

• A featured presentation (virtual) to the 3D Retail Coalition (3DRC) Board of Directors, and Committee Teams representing prominent brands
• A promotional interview feature on PI’s Seamless platform
• A marketing & promotional package provided by Grand Challenge Sponsors including:
  • Social media posts from PI and Kalypso
• A complimentary events package provided by PI:
  • Two registration passes for one mutually-agreed upon 2026 PI event
  • On-stage recognition & promotion during the above 2026 PI event
  • The opportunity to present the winning research or solution during an open-door webinar hosted by PI & the 3DRC

Submit Your Work

Fill out the form to enter the 3D.RC Grand Challenge.