Smart City Aachen

1. what is the subject of the ideas competition?

The Smart City Aachen ideas competition is about promoting projects and ideas that demonstrate new and digital solutions to current challenges.
The ideas competition aims to strengthen Aachen's position as a major science and business location and to support the path to climate neutrality by 2030. The spectrum of content is deliberately broad. Whether the use of smart technologies contributes to climate and resource protection, revives the retail sector, enables completely new business models, promotes the digital participation of older people or revolutionizes energy supply and mobility: all ideas are welcome. The important thing is that new technologies are used and that they create added value for people and/or the environment.

Some possible topics are listed under the heading "Solutions sought" on the smart.aachen platform. The list of topics is not exhaustive. Furthermore, ideas are excluded that are not in line with the purpose and concept of the competition.

Only ideas that have not yet been started or commissioned and have not been the subject of another ideas competition can be submitted.

2. who is eligible to participate?

Committed representatives of civil society, small initiatives and associations are addressed as well as universities, start-ups or companies based in the Aachen city area or the Aachen city region.

The Smart City think tank reserves the right to exclude entries from the ideas competition that violate the conditions of participation, are submitted using false information or are obtained by deception. Ideas that are unlawful, discriminatory, racist, offensive, pornographic and/or violate youth protection regulations or other undesirable actions will not be accepted.

The submission of multiple project ideas is generally possible. For each participant, however, in principle only for one project idea a premium is paid.

A right claim to a premium does not exist in principle.

3. how should an application look like?

During an 8-week participation period (from 2.8.2023 to 27.9.2023), applicants can submit their project ideas via a form on the smart.aachen platform. Both the creation of a project idea and the commenting and evaluation of the ideas submitted require registration with a clear name on the smart.aachen platform. In order to ensure a high diversity of participants, the platform also offers the possibility during this first phase to initially find a partner application for the implementation of one's own project idea - or to apply for such a partner application.

All project ideas can be viewed publicly by third parties at any time and are marked with the institution and name of the submitter.

In addition, weekly office hours are offered in the OecherLab and digitalHUB as an analog contact point for questions regarding the competition.

If legal action is taken against your institution or against you in relation to your submission, especially if authorship of the idea is disputed, we reserve the right to exclude you from the ideas competition at any time.

4. What happens if I cannot meet the deadline (September 27, 2023)?

The complete application must be received by midnight on September 27, 2023. The date of submission of the idea on the smart.aachen platform is decisive.

5. what is the process after submission?

Step 1:

During an 8-week participation period, applicants can submit their project ideas via a form on the smart.aachen platform. Both the creation of a project idea and the commenting and evaluation of the submitted ideas require registration on the smart.aachen platform. In order to ensure a high diversity of participants, the platform also offers the possibility during this first phase to find a partner application for the implementation of one's own project idea - or to apply for such a partner application. As an analog contact point for questions about the competition, weekly office hours are also offered in the OecherLab and digitalHUB.

Step 2:

After the participation period has ended, the ideas submitted on the smart.aachen platform will be activated for public voting for two weeks. From the ideas with the most likes, the Smart City think tank will select 5 ideas to move on to the second, final round of the competition with a €2,500 grant to further develop their concept.

Step 3:

In addition to the €2,500 to further develop their concept, they will receive a Startup-Business-Membership package in the digitalHUB for the duration of the elaboration phase of another 8 weeks. The type of elaboration depends on the respective project idea and will be coordinated with the Smart City think tank. For example, demonstrators or prototypes can be built, design mock-ups or videos can be created, or a written concept can be elaborated. The second phase concludes with an event at the digitalHUB, where the results of the 5 participating groups are pitched and evaluated live on site by a jury of experts. Up to three winners* will each receive a grant of €10,000 to implement their project idea. The entire results of the call for ideas will be published on the smart.aachen platform.

All elaborations from step 2 and 3 will be exhibited in the OecherLab.

6. how to proceed after the premium?

The prize is earmarked for a specific purpose, i.e. it is linked to the implementation of the submitted idea. The winners of the final round of the competition must have completed the implementation of their idea by May 31, 2024. Upon completion of their project, they will provide the Smart City think tank with documentation for publication. The exact contents of the documentation will be determined at a later date. The SmartCity think tank has the right to inquire about the status of implementation at any time and may set deadlines for this purpose. The award recipient is obliged to provide the Smart City think tank with information on the status of implementation. The Smart City think tank may demand the return of the award at any time if the conditions of participation have been violated.

7. what rights does the Smart City think tank acquire to my submission?

The participant grants Thinktank Smart City a free, materially, temporally and spatially unlimited, transferable, non-exclusive right of use for all known and unknown types of use for all ideas submitted. This includes, in particular, the right to reproduce, edit, redesign, further develop, transmit in unaltered or altered form, as well as to distribute, publicly reproduce and make publicly available, exhibit and display.

Furthermore, the participant grants the Smart City think tank and its members of the alliance the right to use the ideas for the purposes of reporting on the ideas competition, its promotion and the presentation of the results in online media (e.g. on websites and in social media). For the purposes of reporting on the ideas competition, its promotion and the presentation of the results in online media (e.g. on websites and in social media) or in print media, the participant grants the Thinktank Smart City and its members of the alliance, free of charge, unlimited in time and place, the simple right to reproduce, disseminate, make publicly accessible and edit the results provided by them to the Thinktank Smart City within the framework of the ideas competition, while respecting the personal rights of the participants, as well as to transfer the exercise of these rights to commissioned third parties, such as technical service providers or agencies. Likewise, the names of the winners may be publicly announced in connection with the Smart City Ideas Competition or the presentation of the results by the members of the Smart City think tank in online media (e.g. on websites and in social media) and in print media.
The statutory rights of revocation remain unaffected.

8. additions

The ideas competition may be terminated by the think tank at any time, in particular due to external circumstances and constraints.

External circumstances and constraints include, in particular, technical problems, legal changes or measures by third parties that are beyond our control and mandatory.

The liability on the part of Thinktank Smart City and its members is excluded.

Applicable law is exclusively that of the Federal Republic of Germany.
If individual provisions of these Terms and Conditions of Participation are invalid in whole or in part, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.

The place of jurisdiction is Aachen.

Conditions of participation for the ideas competition

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The Smart City think tank

Operator

digitalHUB Aachen e.V.

Aachen city