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Competition details and criteria
The Nordic Built Cities Challenge is an open, multidisciplinary competition to develop and visualize
Nordic solutions for urban challenges connected to an urban space – in a smart, livable and
sustainable way.
The competition is based on the Charter, which states 10 principles for livable, smart and sustainable Nordic
cities – taking energy, climate, economy and people into account. The Charter is the main judging criteria of the
competition.
The urban challenges connected to the urban spaces must be/have:
Evaluation criteria:
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Is the urban challenge prevalent in many urban areas both within and outside the Nordic region?
Has the urban challenge a potential to result in solutions that, in accordance with the Charter, that
contribute to a more liveable, smart and sustainable city?
Does the challenge have potential to result in solutions that are innovative, tangible and scalable products
or services – or a combination of the two.
Does the challenge have potential to result in solutions that can be demonstrated in the given urban space
within the near future?
Does the challenge have potential to result in solutions that draw on innovators from a broad range of
disciplines?
Does the application have a project owner that is committed to launch and run a local competition with
the support from Nordic Innovation?
Does the application have a project owner that signals a willingness to allocate resources to address the
challenge by means of innovative solutions?
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The urban spaces must fulfil the following requirements:
Basic criteria:
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The urban space is in the Nordic region.
The urban space is an existing or new urban spaces that are clearly delimited and of a broader public
value: The urban space could be individual sites or settings such as squares, a high street, parks and
gardens, green corridors, a specific city area, a demolition ground or a block of houses with their
neighbouring spaces.
The Nordic Jury
The Nordic jury will recommend up to 8 projects that become the foundation of the Nordic Built Cities
Challenge with attention to the total portfolio that shall represent a variety of urban challenges and urban
spaces.
The aim is to:
Select up to 8 projects that fulfils the criteria for urban challenges and urban spaces, taking the Charter into
account and represents all Nordic countries, including Greenland and Faroe Islands. Together, the selected
challenges and urban spaces should represent different challenges and spaces in different urban contexts in
the Nordic countries, thus resulting innovative solutions including a wide range of disciplines, knowledge and
expertise
Nordic Innovation is responsible for the process of deciding and administering the Nordic Jury, as well as taking
the final decisions based on the recommendation of the Nordic Jury.
The Nordic Jury will represent a multidisciplinary group of people from across the Nordic region, with
knowledge of innovative solutions to make cities and urban spaces liveable, smart and sustainable.
The tasks of the Nordic jury are to:
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Advise on the criteria for selection of urban development projects taking the vision and mission of
Nordic Built Cities programme into account.
Recommend to Nordic Innovation which urban development projects that should become the
foundation of the Nordic Built Cities Challenge.
Be a part of the local juries during the competition period.
Add inspiration and expertise to the local inspiration days – there will be one in each selected urban
development project.
Nominate the Nordic winner of the Nordic Built Cities Challenge.
Management and communication of the knowledge and solutions created in the competition, in
collaboration with Nordic Innovation.
Collaborate with NI to insure that The Nordic Built Cities Challenge is compliant with the necessary legal
obligations, including the rules of state aid.
The members of the Nordic jury is not yet decided. The Nordic Jury will consist of nine (9) persons, together
representing a multidisciplinary group, with knowledge in innovative solutions to make cities and urban spaces
liveable, smart and sustainable. The Nordic Jury shall balance nationalities and competencies to get the best
representation of the Nordic region and knowledge about the relevant issues.
Nordic Innovation will provide the following to the Urban challenge Owners:
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Financing for the implementation of each competition of up to 2 000 000 NOK (up to 800 000 NOK in
direct funding and up to 300 000 NOK as prizes to up to four finalists.
Communication and advertisement of all competitions.
Provide the Nordic Matchmaking Event of Nordic Built Cities Challenge in order to attract challenge
solvers to compete and partner creating Nordic teams.
Provide a template for the inspiratory days and provide with inspiratory speakers for each inspiratory
day.
Add expertise and bird’s eye perspective to each of the local juries, by providing 1-2 members of the
Nordic Jury as local jury members.
Arrange a Nordic prize event and communicate the results of the competitions.
Offer a ready to fill-in-designed template for the competition programme to be used. The competition
programme will be finalized in cooperation with Nordic Innovation.
The responsibilities of the urban challenge owners are:
The project owner is the owner, the responsible legal entity and project manager for one of the selected urban
spaces facing an urban challenge.
The responsibilities of the owners of the selected urban development project will be detailed in a signed
contract with Nordic Innovation. The main responsibilities can however be defined as:
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Secure that the final competition program is finalized and accepted by Nordic Innovation and that the
competition is implemented according to the competition design, time schedule, communication plan
and deliverables of the Nordic Built Cities Challenge as set by Nordic Innovation.
Organize and administer the local jury, including documentation of the composition, and decisions of
the local jury. The local jury, approved by Nordic Innovation, judges the solutions submitted and
recommends local finalists to Nordic Innovation.
Secure that appropriate expertise is available in support of the local jury, when needed, in order to
facilitate and address quality assurance of the judgments.
Plan and organize a site visit during the first phase of the competition.
Plan and organize an inspirational day including a site visit according to a model presented by Nordic
Innovation.
Actively participate in the Nordic Matchmaking Event of Nordic Built Cities Challenge. The event is
scheduled for September/October 2015.
Implement the local competition in accordance with prevailing law in the country where the
competition takes place. This shall be the Project Owners sole responsibility.
State aid rules
There are some doubts with regard to whether grants from Nordic Innovation should be regarded as State aid
subject to EU and EEA law. Pending clarification from the Nordic countries, Nordic Innovation has decided to
follow State aid rules, and will proceed with the grant as described below:
Explainer: State aid rules only applies to organizations that conduct economic activity. If a project participant
does not conduct economic activity, grants can be given without further consideration.
Definition of economic activity: Any activity consisting in offering goods and/or services in a given market is an
economic activity. In this context, the fact that the activity in question is termed ‘social’ or is carried on by a
non-profit operator is not in itself enough to avoid classification as an economic activity.
Funding for project participants that conduct economic activity is planned to be granted as de minimis aid
under Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and
108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid, published in the Official Journal
of the European Union L 352/1 on 24.12.2013.
De minimis ceiling:
For grants to fall within the de minimis ceiling, the following should apply for each project participant:
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Aid of no more than EUR 200 000 shall be granted over a period of three years. The three-year period
corresponds to three financial years.
Applicants that conduct economic activity are responsible for documenting that they are eligible for de
minimis funding.