The city of Tallinn and the Scandinavian research and business camp Tehnopol have issued the final call for proposals for creating new smart city solutions or improving existing ones by 23 August.
Companies registered in Tallinn are being invited to participate in the innovation competition Tallinnovation.
Those who submit an idea have the opportunity to receive financial support, a pilot of their project, receive contacts, advice and resources from the city of Tallinn, and support from the Tehnopol mentor network. The innovation fund is €50,000.
Green economic centre
Last year, 12 entries qualified for the competition, from which the commission selected the five most promising ideas. These included a smart bicycle garage company, an autonomous mini weather station solution and the ability to connect buildings to a virtual power plant.
“We want to turn the Tallinn region into a smart and green economic centre in Northern Europe, with an excellent living environment and fast and comfortable connections,” said Aivar Riisalu, deputy mayor of Tallinn.
“Our wellbeing is based on a knowledge-intensive economy, a good living environment and balanced development, which in turn relies on smart and creative people. That is why new developments for the smart city are very necessary for us.”
Evaluation of the entries takes place in two parts. Applications are first reviewed, additional information is requested and applicants are contacted to find the best solutions.
In the second part, the selected solutions are presented to a committee of experts in the field. Ideas that require both financial and non-financial contributions, such as testing e-solutions, data collection and similar, are welcome.
“Tehnopol contributes to the creation, development and growth of state-of-the-art technology companies. The opportunity to test the innovation created in the real environment is an essential intermediate step to reach the first customers in the market,” said Indrek Orav, member of the management board of Tehnopol.
“We have decided to support companies by offering a test environment, and this has brought a high concentration of innovation to our town – smart crosswalks and street lights, road paving with solar panels, drawing and luggage robots, a self-service mini-shop.”
Tehnopol, one of the largest research and business cities in Scandinavia, aims to contribute to the emergence and growth of world-class technology companies in Estonia and to support its expansion into foreign markets.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated fee)
