Climate smart cities challenge
Why the Climate Smart Cities Challenge?
More than half the world’s population lives in cities; cities are our global economic engines and leaders in technology and policy development. Cities are where innovation happens.
However, the current climate emergency exacerbates global problems like rising inequalities; a lack of affordable, energy-efficient housing; limited mobility options; food and energy insecurity; and more.
The Climate Smart Cities Challenge harnesses the creativity and energy of innovators to work with cities to help achieve global net zero and create a better future for all. Launched by the UN and Sweden, this innovation competition will accelerate the shift to climate neutral cities, by empowering innovators and communities to collaborate in designing and demonstrating solutions and reinventing how cities innovate.
What is the competition?
The Climate Smart Cities Challenge is an open innovation competition to identify climate smart solutions to reduce the climate impact of Bogotá, Colombia; Bristol, United Kingdom; Curitiba, Brazil; and Makindye Ssabagabo, Uganda, while creating a better future for all.
Up to 80 finalists (up to 20 per city) will be selected in January 2022 to work closely with these four cities, learn more about their challenges, collaborate on solutions, and ultimately form teams to demonstrate solutions in real-world environments. The winning teams will share up to 400,000 Euro to leverage further investment and build towards system demonstration in 2023.
How to Apply
All applications to the Climate Smart Cities Challenge must be submitted by 17:00 (UTC) 5 January 2022. Applications need to be submitted before the deadline and via the dedicated application portal.
We encourage applicants to read all the information on the website including the FAQs, eligibility criteria, selection criteria, privacy policy and terms & conditions, before completing this application form. All applications will be assessed against the selection criteria.
To learn more about each city challenge and apply, visit the individual city webpage by clicking the links below:
Contact Us
If you have read the competition brief and the FAQs and have more questions, please contact the team at [email protected]. The deadline to submit questions is Wednesday, 15 December 2021 at 17:00 (UTC).