Nordic Energy Challenge 2024 is open for proposals
The theme of the Nordic Energy Challenge 2024 is Citizen Engagement, focusing on how we best engage Nordic citizens in the green transition towards making the Nordics the most sustainable…
The theme of the Nordic Energy Challenge 2024 is Citizen Engagement, focusing on how we best engage Nordic citizens in the green transition towards making the Nordics the most sustainable and integrated region in the world. We now welcome all interested actors, both from and outside of the Nordic region, to submit their abstracts for the competition. The proposed solution are required to contribute to the Nordic countries and bring Nordic added value.
Empowering citizens to enable a green Nordic energy transition
Photo: iStock/Halfpoint
The green transition impacts all of us in terms of our way of life and climate. We share a common responsibility for contributing to it, especially when it comes to energy.
The green transition necessitates new energy infrastructure and construction, often visible in the open landscape, as in the case of wind farms and electricity transmission lines. This influences citizens and can lead to local resistance. As a response, citizens must be involved and engaged in the planning of energy projects to generate mutual trust and a common value set that can humanize the green transition, empower local communities, and enable an inclusive, cultural transition for a green future. The Nordic region shall not only be a green region but also a socially sustainable one.
In many ways, we face a new situation in the energy sector, unexplored by national governments, local authorities, private companies, and citizens, which means it is a challenging task.
Several challenges must be solved, for example (a non-exhaustive list):
- Discovering procedures and tools to engage citizens in energy deployments successfully to mitigate local resilience and prolonged planning processes.
- Releasing the potential of local gained value from new energy infrastructures to citizens, including indigenous people.
- Identifying new growth and business opportunities that can contribute to affordable prices for local citizens and/or the public in general.
- Enabling a cultural transition while executing the green transition of the Nordic energy system at the required tempo.
Bring forth your idea
The Nordic Energy Challenge is an annual competition held by Nordic Energy Research, where all Nordic stakeholders with different profiles and expertise are invited to hand in proposals for innovative solutions that can contribute to solving a common Nordic societal challenge related to the energy sector. Nordic Energy Research wants to shape innovative research and promote new ideas with exciting perspectives, which, in turn, can bring added value to the Nordic region. That is where you come in!
We ask: How can we best engage the Nordic citizens in the green transition towards making the Nordics the most sustainable and integrated region in the world? How can further Nordic energy cooperation facilitate the combination of high environmental ambitions with citizen perspectives by favoring a broad and strong commitment from the public, business, and civil society? And how can we use the strong Nordic cooperation to create maximum added value?
Submit your innovative proposal for the
Nordic cooperation needed to solve the challenge.
We encourage all stakeholders to submit a contribution; companies, researchers and academics, non-profit organisations, business and sectoral associations, think-tanks, students, and individuals. Please submit your abstract to Ditte Stiler at ditte.stiler@nordicenergy.org to participate in the first stage of this year’s Nordic Energy Challenge. You are also welcome to contact Ditte Stiler if you have any further questions.
Nordic added value
There are large benefits to discovering common Nordic solutions to these challenges.
Common ground. Each of the Nordic regions and countries is small, but together, the Nordic region is the 11th largest economy in the world. Together, we have the power and critical mass to lead the green transition.
Transnational added value. The cultural similarities between the Nordic countries underline a potential for sharing and exploring common solutions for engaging citizens in innovative energy projects that can create greater impact and enable a cultural transition in the entire region instead of only nationally.
Larger markets. Businesses, citizens, and regions can gain value from a large market that entails competitive prices.
Knowledge sharing. Common research, knowledge generation and the exchange of experiences can accelerate development by combining and gathering different resources.
Project Timeline
How to participate
The Nordic Energy Challenge is divided into three stages.
Stage 1
Submit an abstract by 16 May 2024 at 13:00 (CEST), at the latest. The abstract should consist of up to 5,000 characters and include a short description of:
- The challenges and opportunities you are addressing
- What assumptions form the basis of your proposal
- Your methodology
- Expected outcome and impact of your analysis
All submissions will be examined by the project team at Nordic Energy Research, who on 23 May will announce the submissions that have qualified to participate in the next stage.
Stage 2
Due on 23 August at 10:00 (CEST), the selected submissions shall be finalised and submitted. The final submission should consist of a 5-minute video with 1–2 pages of complementary text.
On 9 September, a selected jury will announce the top-three submissions, qualified for the final round.
Stage 3
The selected participants will be awarded at a prize ceremony on 2–3 October in Oslo.
Selection
The jury that will evaluate the proposals that have qualified for stage 2 will consist of highly qualified representatives from the Nordic energy community and from Nordic Energy Research. All members of the jury are obligated to sign a confidentiality agreement before receiving any proposals. Thereafter, the jury will assess the submitted proposals on their level of comprehensiveness, innovation, and consideration of Nordic added value. Proposals that are fully founded on existing projects will be rated lower in terms of innovation by the jury.
Awards
- The best contributions will be awarded with an honorarium of 50,000 NOK, the second best with 20,000 NOK, and the third best with 10,000 NOK.
- Selected authors are encouraged to publish a summary of their proposal on the Nordic Energy Research website,
- Authors will be interviewed in videos to be published on the Nordic Energy Research website and Linkedin.
Terms and conditions
By participating in the Nordic Energy Challenge competition, the submitter(s) agree to be bound by the stated terms and conditions. The submitter(s) accepts that Nordic Energy Research (NER) uses the name and submission for marketing purposes in connection with the competition. If NER, in its discretion, finds any submission to be unacceptable, then such submission will be deemed disqualified.
NER also reserves the right to further develop ideas submitted in the competition, regardless of the continued involvement of the submitter(s). This right covers all submitted proposals, regardless of further qualification after submission of the first abstract, and extends to the time after the end of the competition. However, in relation to NER, the submitter(s) retains the copyright to the written work submitted. Nonetheless, NER shall, at its discretion, be granted royalty-free, non-exclusive license and user rights to the top-three winning proposals. These rights include, but are not limited to, printing, editing, translation, distribution, and reproduction of documents and materials.
The award cannot be transferred or changed in terms of content or scope. NER will not be held responsible for any extra costs that emanate from participation in the competition (unless otherwise stated). All tax liabilities (including income tax) arising from this competition will be the sole responsibility of the three award winners.
