Introduction

The “City Challenges” 2020-21 is a global competition for cities to join and come together to offer solutions for greenhouse emissions reduction and contribute to building/having thriving cities. This competition has two stages: the first stage of the competition is an open call to find city challenges, and the second stage is a call for participating in a virtual workshop.

The competition is a joint initiative of:

• Teknikföretagen
• Viable Cities
• UN-Habitat
• Smart City Sweden
• Vinnova
• the Swedish Energy Agency
• Expo 2020 Sweden, and

The delivery agent is: Nesta Challenges

Therefore, the organizer invites city partners to run a challenge, find problem-solvers, to compete, and craft potential solutions for their greenhouse gas challenges and generate other social impacts.

Quick details

Application deadline: 22 January 2021 (5 GMT)

Open to: Any applicant organization

About the workshop

This workshop is a preface to applying to the competition (open call) where participants will hear from the partners about what they are seeking in applications and answer the questions they have before the deadline.

Event: “Climate Smart Cities Challenge: Applying to the open call (Part 2)”

Date: Tuesday, 12th January 2021

Time: 09.00 – 10:00AM (GMT)

Register for the workshop HERE.

Objectives of the competition

This is an open innovation competition that wants you to:

• Tell the organizers about your city’s ambitions to decrease or curb greenhouse gas emissions and build a good future for all
• Share a problem that is specific and resolvable in the short-term, but with the potential to be introduced, adapted, and promoted within the next five years
• Demonstrate a readiness to work with a global team of problem-solvers and investors and to mobilize resources to examine and apply solutions to your problem in your city

Note: This information will help the organizers to design the Climate Smart Cities Challenge and select the partner cities that will help them run city-based challenges, planned to begin in 2021.

Why should your city participate?

If your city is chosen as a partner, it will enjoy:

• The opportunity to co-design an open innovation challenge based in your city around your specific problem, supported by a team of experts in innovation, challenge prizes, climate change, cities, and sustainable development from UN-Habitat, Viable Cities, and Nesta Challenges
• A group of solution-providers competing to solve your challenges
• Access to potential investors and partners to execute projects in your city
• Peer learning opportunities with other cities facing similar obstacles
• Recognition opportunity of being part of a global challenge, including being featured in the World Expo in 2021 and being publicized in an intensive press campaign over the course of the challenge

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants can be a sole entity or a partnership, but being one lead applicant organization is a must.
• The lead applicant may be the city/municipal government or equivalent, or a private-sector agency, or a public-private partnership responsible for public services.
• If the does not have the lead application status, the relevant city/municipal government or equivalent must be a partner on the application.
• A ‘city’ can be a place of any size population with settlement (there is not any minimum population size), which may include a multi-city region or metropolitan region consisting of more than one adjacent municipality or local authority or comparable to it.
• Applicant’s proposal must include a challenge in reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions in your city and creating other social advantages.

Evaluation criteria

• Applications will be evaluated against the following criteria which match with the questions in the application form. Partners will score applications and make the decisions for choosing a diverse portfolio of cites and challenges in the shortlist.
• Suitability for open innovation competition
• Potential for impact, scale, and creativity
• Partnership capacity

Important Dates

Cities shortlist: March 2021

City challenges launch: October 2021

Announcement of city challenge solutions: January 2022

Testing, scaling, and implementation: Feb 2022-2023

How to submit your solution?

Applications will only be accepted via the online submission platform Submittable.

Submit HERE.

You can save a draft of your application at any time and return to it later. After you have submitted an application, you will receive a confirmation email and you will not be able to edit your application.

Please read the FAQs, privacy policy, and terms and conditions by clicking here before submitting your application.

For queries beyond those in FAQS, contact climatesmartcities@nesta.org.uk.