Innovation competition launched: come up with a concept and tackle circularity challenges with technology!

The innovation competition was on a break for awhile but now the materials have been updated! The new versions were published 27 May.

The innovation competition for the ERDF-funded AutoMod project is all about tackling circularity challenges and facilitating smart city development with technological solutions. Through the Ideas and Concepts innovation competition, the project is looking for ideas that exhibit well-grounded and researched potential for further development.

This competition is for concept-level ideas that exhibit well-grounded and researched potential for further development. Applications can be submitted until 19 June.

The project’s partner companies and implementers (Forum Virium Helsinki, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and the City of Espoo) will provide the competitors with various resources, such as coaching on product development and business, background materials on the needs and challenges that have been identified, testing environments, and development tools.

What we are looking for

The offered idea must be linked to circular economy. The proposed solution may be a software application, a business concept, a new operating model or interface, for example. The idea can be showcased through e.g. a visual mock-up or presentation.

The evaluation criteria are mainly based on speculative, yet researched and well-grounded, potential for further development, including scalability, business potential, impact, multi-purpose use, use of data or the latest technologies and the team’s capability and motivation.

Examples of topics to which the proposed solutions may be related:

• waste sorting (e.g. separating biowaste or types of plastic) and identifying different
  types of waste and materials.
• picking up litter
• separating construction waste
• ‘last mile’ services in parks or recreational areas
• grass-mowing in difficult terrain (e.g. steep banks) and collecting the waste for composting.
• emptying rubbish or waste bins
• streamlining work
• facilitating recycling or remanufacturing
• distributing various repair and maintenance services.

Procurements

The evaluation criteria are mainly based on speculative, yet researched and well-grounded, potential for further development (scalability, business potential, impact, multi-purpose use, use of data or latest technology, the team’s capability and motivation, and other similar qualities).

Through the innovation competition, we will select 1–3 solutions with a total combined value of up to EUR 12,000. The value of the individual pilot contracts will be max EUR 4,000 per selected solution.

Propose an idea

Pilots can be proposed via Forum Virium Helsinki’s online form. The call for tender and the tender form can be found via the links provided below. The open call materialis are in Finnish but tenders can be submitted in English as well. 

Call for tenders (In Finnish)

Tender form (In Finnish)

The call for tenders will be open until 22 pm on 19 June 2022. Tenders submitted by the deadline will be evaluated in accordance with the call for tenders and based on the criteria described therein.

The pilots will be selected by 30 June 2022. 

New operating conditions for using autonomous platforms and robotics

The AutoMod project is developing new cooperating and operating models for the circular economy through robotics. The project is about creating innovations that solve the circular economy challenges of smart cities and generate new business opportunities.

It also provides new operating conditions for using autonomous platforms and robotics.

The second competition in autumn

The next competition will begin in August-September and it will be about prototypes that will be attached to prototype platforms and tested at various locations in the Helsinki region in early 2023. The selected tenderers will be offered additional coaching regarding the utilisation of the latest technologies, among other topics, during the autumn.

The two separate application routes allow competitors to participate with innovative entries that are very different from each other, such as prototypes of robots, software applications, interfaces or business concepts.

Any questions?

The questions sent before 6.6. have been collected to this document (in Finnish)