Promote circular construction and offer your solution to our innovation challenge!
The cities of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa, together with HSY, are launching a joint innovation challenge as part of the Circular Buildings project to find new circular economy-based solutions for construction. Selected ideas may be piloted at various sites across the Helsinki metropolitan area. While the market dialogue is conducted jointly, each city can proceed with their own procurement based on the challenge.
The goal of the innovation challenge is to discover new construction solutions based on circular economy principles, and to make better use of demolition materials and building components. The challenge seeks to identify improved practices, uncover new circular products and services, and create conditions for a functioning market for circular construction. Another key aim is to find solutions that can help extend the lifespan of buildings facing demolition and improve the use rate of underutilized spaces.
Selected companies will receive expert mentoring during the process, and finalized solutions will be showcased at a demo day in October.
Throughout the Circular Buildings project, we will continue engaging with all participants of the innovation challenge to advance circular construction in multiple ways. The most promising proposals may also be piloted in collaboration with our partner cities and organizations.
The proposed solution can focus on the reuse of a specific building product, the lifecycle of a building, or it can be a more comprehensive service concept related to circularity and reuse of construction materials.
The innovation challenge seeks entirely new services or existing solutions combined in a novel way. In the evaluation, special emphasis will be placed on the originality, innovativeness, and feasibility of the proposal. The proposed solution can still be in development, but it must be sufficiently advanced to be piloted between October 2025 and May 2026.
Pilot projects must include thorough documentation and reporting of the implementation and outcomes. The results of the pilots (including implementation details, key findings and outputs, as well as experiences and conclusions regarding the solution’s impact) must be made public and freely accessible. This means that the outcomes of the project are public and may not include business or trade secrets, nor can the publication of results be restricted on such grounds.
Participation as a team of multiple organizations is allowed and encouraged. In such cases, the team must designate one main point of contact. Several organizations may submit a joint proposal, but the concept must have one primary responsible applicant.
The pilots will be carried out as procurements by each city individually. Each city may select 1–3 solutions to pilot, meaning the total budget may be divided across multiple pilots.
Suppliers may submit proposals for one or more of the challenge topics:
Although procurements will be carried out separately, the innovation challenge is jointly facilitated by all cities involved in the Circular Buildings project. Pilots can be implemented within the area or using the resources of one or several participating cities.
Innovation Challenge by the Cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and HSY
The Circular Buildings project – a joint initiative by the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa together with HSY – is launching an innovation challenge to promote circular economy solutions in construction.
As part of the challenge, each city is calling for innovative proposals related to the following themes:
Challenge 1: Reuse of Window and Flat Glass
You can read more about the City of Helsinki’s challenge here.
Challenge 2: Efficient Methods for Selective Demolition and Reuse-Driven Business Models
You can read more about the City of Espoo’s challenge here.
Challenge 3: Lifecycle-Efficient Use of Existing Building Stock
You can read more about the City of Vantaa’s challenge here.
