About the competition

The open call for innovators is now closed.

Finalists will engage with dedicated innovation teams in the cities of Bogotá, Bristol, Curitiba and Makindye Ssabagabo. They will also receive mentoring and business development support to help them accelerate their solutions and form teams with key partners. Finalists will participate in hands-on workshops and drop-in sessions with each city to learn more and test ideas, gain support with accessing data and be introduced to key stakeholders.

Up to 80 finalists will be selected (up to 20 per city). From February – May 2022, finalists will benefit from:

• Support and engagement activities with a partner city: finalists will be able to work with city stakeholders to fine-tune solutions, adapt to the city context and form relationships with other teams to create teams of complementary partners (more details on each city page)
• Facilitated matchmaking process to find collaboration partners and form teams
• Access to coaching and mentoring support to develop product and business model
• Potential to build relationship with city stakeholders
• Profile-raising opportunities, including; – Finalists featured at the Expo 2020 Dubai in January 2022, – Winning teams featured at the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland in June 2022, – Potential media opportunities, – Exposure to potential investors
• Opportunity to contribute to tangibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating a better future for all
• A few selected finalists will have the opportunity and financial support to be part of the Global Cleantech Summit and meetings with investors in the field at Dubai Expo 2020 on 20 January 2022.

Following the finalist engagement period, up to one teams per city will be invited to progress. The selected teams will share up to 300,000 Euro in a planning phase (to take place June – December 2022) prior to ultimately demonstrating potential solutions in 2023. Consortia may also be able to access financial support that cities can help leverage in the system demonstrator phase.

Finalists will benefit from matchmaking support to form teams. Support will include speed-dating sessions among the finalists and deepened match-meetings to form relationships; guidance in choosing partners, kicking off collaborations and setting goals and objectives; assistance with maintaining momentum; and support with preparing final submissions.

In May 2022, finalists submit proposals as teams to progress. In June 2022, up to four teams (one per city) will be chosen to proceed with a planning phase, and announced at the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland. The winning teams will share up to 300,000 Euro in a planning phase to build towards demonstrating their solutions in the cities in 2023, with the ultimate aim of creating solutions that will create better futures in cities around the world. Teams may also be able to access financial support that cities and the competition partners can help leverage in the system demonstration phase.