Although we believe that BEST is truly the best of the engineering competitions, because of subject, timing, and format, it may not be most proper for your school. 

To the right is a list of good engineering, science, and technology programs and foundations similar to BRI and the BEST Robotics Competition:

 FIRST Robotics

+ For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
+ Simply put, FIRST is the root of modern robotics competitions, boasting a non-profit status, and wishing to increase popularity in engineering and its underlying fields of study.  It's multinational status deems it a most important high school events, with 70,000 participants across the globe.  FIRST has three separate BEST-related challenges:

FIRST Robotics Competitions
+ Unlike BEST, FIRST requires a rather steep cost of $10,000 (which can be paid for with scholarships and grants, if the team is diligent enough to obtain it).  The competition is worth the price - teams get the best possible robot-building experience and training as well as lots of shiny things.  It also concentrates less on the presentation and more on robot construction.

FIRST Lego League
+ 9-14 year-olds have a less fierce, age-appropriate challenge
+ Using LEGO Mindstorm's programmable robots constructed from LEGO bricks, students learn the basic principles of robotic engineering early.

Coming Soon: VEX Robotics

JETS Programs

+ Junior Engineering Technical Society, est. 1950
+ Non-profit education organization to “inform and excite young people about careers in engineering”
+ 40,000 students involved in various activities.  BEST-related competitions include:

TEAM Challenge:
+ The Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science
+ Small teams (grades 9-12) take part in a one day, two-part “challenging academic team competition” (incorporates team development, problem-solving, and an open-book test).

NEDC Challenge:
+ National Engineering Design Challenge
+ Participants develop an engineering solution to a social need which takes participants from researching to fabricating an idea.

Science Olympiad