At the MELT Innovation Forum, the latest Tallinnovation contest was announced. This innovation competition, organized in collaboration between the City of Tallinn and the science and business park Tehnopol, aims to discover smart city solutions that make the city’s services and environment more convenient for businesses, residents, and visitors alike. In its fifth year, the contest has already invested a total of €400,000 in smart solutions for companies.

The Tallinnovation contest embraces modern smart city solutions that make the city more contemporary, human-friendly, economical, and inclusive. This initiative revitalizes cooperation between the city and technology companies, creating opportunities to test, use, and develop novel hardware-based products and services. The smart city solutions contest under Tallinnovation supports the city’s Test in Tallinn concept, enhancing the opportunity to test over a specified period with financial support.

Kalle Killar, City Enterprise Director for the City of Tallinn, stated that the contest welcomes smart solutions that offer sustainable and enduring alternatives to existing ones. "Our goal, as articulated in the Tallinn 2035 development strategy, is to become a truly green global city by ensuring a human-centered and clean urban environment and developing and implementing technologies with a minimal ecological footprint," Killar remarked, adding that circular solutions for resource valorization are particularly welcome.

The Tallinnovation innovation contest is being held for the fifth time in collaboration with Tehnopol and the City of Tallinn. Tehnopol has been offering a testbed opportunity to companies for about ten years. This opportunity was created to allow start-ups and growing companies to gain real customer experience quickly and to test their technological solutions at a very early stage. There are not many places in Estonia where a company can test its developed products or services near its location.

Martin Goroško, Business Development Manager at Tehnopol, noted that Tallinnovation has become a well-known opportunity for companies to start cooperation with the city quickly. "The dozens of pilot projects we have initiated have proven that a smart urban space can be successfully developed through trials. We are looking forward to interesting solutions in this round that are developed with the urban space in mind or serve a completely different purpose today but would fit perfectly into the urban space. The main thing is that the solutions are novel and innovative, making Tallinn even smarter, more sustainable, and more comfortable city," said Goroško.

The innovation contest is open to companies registered in Tallinn. Previously, companies such as GScan, TrackDeep, BiKeep, iBiot/Cleanhand, KrattWorks, R8 Technologies, Solintel, Teede Tehnokeskus, WiseParker (LainePoiss), Fusebox, Aiotex, 10Lines, MyPak Solutions, Koduandur, FudLoop, Thinnect, FOB Solutions, and MyGames have received funding. This year, up to €100,000 will be distributed among the companies, with €300,000 distributed over the previous four years.

Applications are open until May 27, 2024. An early submission of ideas offers the advantage of being able to refine the application based on feedback and obtain additional information. More detailed information about the contest and how to submit applications can be found on the website: https://innovatsioonifond.tehnopol.ee/.