Call for digital solutions enabling citizen engagement in sustainable cities

ENGIE North America, a subsidiary of the ENGIE Group, offers a range of capabilities in the United States and Canada to help customers decarbonize, decentralize, and digitalize their operations. These include comprehensive services to help cities run their facilities more efficiently and optimize energy and other resource use and expense.

With this in mind, ENGIE North America is seeking digital solutions to strengthen citizen participation in the consultation processes for various cities across North America

The goals of the digital solution we are seeking would be to ensure that everyone has access to current project information, and to allow the public to express itself as the project progresses. This ensures that the project owner can take into account local aspirations when defining and running the project and strengthens local acceptability. Our objective is that the digital tools enhance our consultative approach by helping project owners develop innovative and well-suited communication tools, manage debates, and capture every point of view. 

ENGIE North America main objectives for this call for projects are:

• to test and develop innovative, participatory digital consultation solutions that bring together a maximum number of citizens and stakeholders in the project region
• to inform these stakeholders about projects in development, in an attractive and playful way,
• to collect their contributions in an efficient and collaborative way
• to animate and facilitate the emergence of consensus.

The digital solution we are seeking must meet all the needs related to consultation and other specific aspects such as:

• mapping issues and actors,
• teaching and pedagogy
• gathering citizen opinions ( with a focus around local discussions in the social media )
• organizing public discussions ( with the relevant citizen group at the relevant time )
• building consensus
• monitoring and providing continuous information during the course of the project

The proposed solution must : 

• Include a digital application (web and mobile) that creates a dynamic link between citizens, local stakeholders and the renewable energy project developer.
• Provide a tool for intelligently managing consultation data collected from citizens
• Provide digital and non-digital interfaces for actions that can be carried out physically at the local level, such as innovative tools for coordinating consultation meetings.
• Use pedagogical technologies such as virtual visits or 3D immersion interfaces.

The solutions must be sufficiently mature to be tested under real conditions within 1 year maximum.

Rewards and benefits for selected projects:

Selected projects will get special support from ENGIE North America and its academic partners to:

• Test the solution under real conditions in connection with a project located in the US,
• Develop business partnerships and operational projects
• Be in contact with experts from the ENGIE Group
• An opportunity for investment consideration by ENGIE New Ventures, the corporate venture arm of ENGIE
  
• Be highlighted in ENGIE Group's national and international events and communication media.

Eligibilty criteria

• The submission and the solutions must be in English
• Solutions must be deployable in the USA
• Ppreference will be given to solutions from the USA
• Suitability for the subject
• Originality/innovativeness of the project
• Costs/feasibility and economic viability
• Maturity/time to operational rollout
• Ease of use

Due to the current Covid-19 crisis, the deadline for submissions is postponed until July.

Selection procedure and Provisional timetable:

• Early March 2020: launch of the call for projects.
• Mid March : a Q&A session will be provided with ENGIE experts if needed
• July, 10, 2020: deadline for submitting applications.
• End of July: analysis and shortlisting of submitted projects.
• tbc 2020: pitch session ( 60 minutes) from shortlisted projects to the selection committee, either in Houston or via Skype
• tbc 2020: final decision and announcement of the winner(s).
• Depending on various criteria, the project could begin by the end of 2020
  

Members of the selection committee and partners in the call for projects:

• Local and national academic partners of the ENGIE Group
• ENGIE North America Management
• Sustainability Department – City of Houston
• The Ion Innovation Hub - Houston
• French American Chamber of Commerce Houston
• ENGIE Group Sustainable Cities Specialist