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SCIC facilitation operations are Challenge driven. It means, the projects facilitated by SCIC are based on real-life initiatives from cities, organizations or alliances. These initiatives are called challenges.
Challenges rise from problems that cities and communities are facing. Traffic congestion, pollution and problems posed by climate change to mention a few. And the list is endless, with complex problems.
To shed the landscape; traffic congestion decreases quality of life and creates pollution. Climate change increases extreme weather conditions, which in turn raises requirements for housing and infrastructure - as well as new systems for crises. Need for carbon neutrality calls for renewing existing systems and creating more sustainable and smart innovations. Cross-sector collaboration is crucial to meet the requirements.
SCIC scouts for challenges constantly, based on members’ competences. In order to find the most suitable challenges for SCIC members, it’s important to know members' key skills and capabilities.
Requirements for SCIC Challenge
SCIC Challenge has four basic requirements before announcing challenges internally: 1) Challenge owner 2) Description and required expertise 3) Funding 4) Estimated time frame.
1) A challenge owner can be a city, company, organization, a region or alliance. As the owner is the key stakeholder and user of results after the project, the challenge owner has to be a legal entity.
2) Description of the problem and required expertise should be stated when announcing the challenge. The more carefully this is done, the easier it is to find the team of solvers and kick off the project. Does the challenge require understanding of IoT, safety systems, city planning or carbon neutral engineering? Is there also a need for expertise in project management, legislation, community building and circular economy?
3) Funding is a crucial part of any successful project. When announcing the challenge, the owner should also state what kind of funding the project gets. A great variety of public and private funding and investment options are available, in which SCIC can facilitate advice but is not applying or controlling the funding.
4) Estimated time frame states if the project is a long-term project that requires many participants in different parts of the value chain, or short-term testing pilot or proof of concept - or something in between. The time frame allows organizations to estimate required resources and ability to take part into the project.
Continuous search for Challenges
SCIC is actively scouting for challenges in their partner networks and other sources. Continuously creating connections and widening the networks, the aim is to find suitable and scalable challenges that match SCIC members’ expertise . For example, Los Angeles New Green Deal and Madrid WCC offer a variety of opportunities from several sectors. Delegations to both locations are under progress, made in cooperation with Business Finland.
In case of questions of creating a challenge, do not hesitate to contact CEO Pertti Kortejärvi.
After announcing the challenge
When a challenge is announced on the SCIC Expertise Platform, the facilitation process kicks off. It starts with searching the matching expertise among SCIC members, and establishing a team of solvers. The project team is an autonomous team, which is not administered by SCIC. The project leader can be the challenge owner or company either institution who sees the lead meaningful for their goals. SCIC assists in the co-creation process by offering facilitation, tools and networks.
Solutions for thriving cities
Smart City solutions aim to make cities smarter, sustainable and safer environments for the citizens. The forerunner cities around the world are heavily investing in creating and scaling them. SCIC is answering the megatrend, by bringing together the players who create cutting-edge solutions for thriving cities.
If your city, region or organization is looking for world-class Smart City solutions, take a step to your goals and submit a challenge. In case of questions, contact CEO Pertti Kortejärvi for further information:
Pertti Kortejärvi
pertti.kortejarvi@scic.io
CEO
Smart City Innovation Cluster