Brainport Smart District (BSD) strives to enable everyone to make maximum use of the opportunities of the unique trial ground that is BSD. For this reason we are continuously looking for innovative projects that fit the parameters of BSD and that contribute to the research and development goals. The established parameters as published on our website serve as an important guideline (Programme lines, Design principles and further defined parameters).

This document describes the method by which BSD selects projects.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BSD BUSINESS CHALLENGE 

Initiators can submit their project proposals to the Stichting Brainport Smart District via the website. They must be concrete proposals to test and/or execute an innovative project in our new district. Information meetings are organised at least twice a year, for which the companies and organisations behind the submitted projects will be invited. The dates of these meetings are published on our website www.brainportsmartdistrict.nl/business-challenge  and communicated on social media. Initiators who subscribe to the BSD newsletter will also receive this information by email.

We may change the selection criteria and the procedure over time. Experience gained is important in a learning organisation. Therefore projects submitted in a first round may be judged by different criteria than in a subsequent round.

Submission of a project proposal

On www.brainportsmartdistrict.nl/business-challenge/ you can find a link to the online registration form. Receipt of the registration form will be confirmed by email.

Step 1: Selection

All project proposals submitted via the website will be assessed by the Brainport Smart District Project Team. The Project Team assesses whether the project proposal constitutes a sufficiently concrete idea. Next, the Project Team assesses based on the criteria in appendix 1 the degree to which the project proposal falls within the defined principles and parameters of Brainport Smart District, which are:

• the Design Principles (section 2.1 of the Plan of Action)
• the Programme Lines (section 2.2 of the Plan of Action)
• The  Inspiration book

If a project proposal deviates from the abovementioned principles and parameters, the board may still select the project if it offers a significant innovative and/or disruptive perspective outside the defined parameters. In principle, the Project Team will inform the submitters within 2 weeks after the closing date of the relevant Business Challenge round whether their proposal has passed the first test. The selected project proposals will go on to step 2 of the selection process. The projects not selected are informed that they have not been successful.

Step 2: Assessment by the Selection Committee

Initiators whose project proposals were selected in step 1 will be invited to flesh out their proposals further and present them to an independent Selection Committee. This committee is made up of representatives from the business community, knowledge institutions and local government (what is known as the Triple Helix principle). The composition of the Selection Committee will be announced on our website. For these presentations a number of dates and times will be set on which initiators are asked to present their proposal.

During this presentation the initiators will have 6 minutes to explain their proposal. The presentation must address the content of the proposal, some idea on the approach for the realisation, the intended funding, the organisation/team composition and the way in which the initiators incorporate Quadruple Helix collaboration in their proposal (see section 4.1 of the Plan of Action). After the presentation there is a brief period for the Selection Committee to ask questions. In the selection, the Selection Committee will use the criteria set out in appendix 2. The initiators must submit a more detailed project proposal to the project team one week before their presentation, in which the abovementioned topics are also addressed. Based on the detailed project proposals, the presentations to the Selection Committee and/or the answers to the questions of the committee the Selection Committee will assess the proposals and choose which proposals qualify for realisation.

Step 3: Start of collaboration

The Selection Committee sends its recommendation to the Board of the Stichting Brainport Smart District. The Board then decides on the basis of the recommendations of the Project Team and the advice of the Selection Committee which project proposals will be definitively accepted as official BSD projects.

The Board has the authority in exceptional cases to deviate with substantiation from the recommendations of the Selection Committee. The Project Team will inform the initiators of the decision of the Board and will start the contracting phase. The Project Team aims to make a start within 2 weeks after a decision from the Board.

In this period the Project Team will draw up a draft collaboration agreement between the Stichting and the initiator that serves as a starting point for lay down the collaboration in writing. This agreement must be signed before the start of a project. This collaboration agreement describes the parties involved, the objective, the activities and the planning. The project proposal will be attached to the collaboration agreement as an appendix.