Helsinki Challenges
During the third round of CommuniCity Open Calls, the City of Helsinki will award grants of up to 12,500 Euros to a maximum of 15 applicants. These grants will support the development of innovative solutions that address the specific needs of the City of Helsinki and its residents. Below are the eight challenges presented, along with evaluation criteria, pilot hosts and possible additional information. If you have any questions, please join the Info Events, check the Q&A section. Furthermore, before submitting your application, review the tips for a successful application on the “Read this first” page.
Helsinki Challenge 1: How can virtual reality support independent living of the intellectually disabled?
Adults with developmental disabilities often encounter cognitive and socio-emotional challenges that limit their ability to live independently, making them reliant on the help of others. To support independent living, a virtual environment that motivates and empowers the target group is needed.
The City of Helsinki seeks a virtual reality-based solution that enables intellectually disabled adults to practice and maintain the skills necessary for independent living.These include fundamental daily tasks such as cleaning and cooking. Additionally, the solution should support the establishment of a regular sleep-wake cycle and other skills essential for independent living and a healthy lifestyle. To combat isolation, the solution should ideally enable multiple users to join the VR space simultaneously for remote interaction. Together, users could communicate virtually and do, for example, motivating gamification exercises.
Virtual Services for Disabled unit is hosting one pilot in collaboration with their clients.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 25%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 25%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 10%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 0 | Weighting: 10%
Helsinki Challenge 2: How to enable sustainable choices and access to city services for immigrants?
Helsinki provides city residents with information and various services to help them live more sustainably in their daily lives. Despite efforts, many immigrants remain unaware of the city’s environmental communication campaigns and circular and sharing economy services, prompting the search for a solution. The aim is for all residents to have the opportunity to use the city’s services that make everyday life easier, while at the same time being able to influence and feel involved in advancing climate and sustainability goals.
The City of Helsinki seeks a technological solution to ensure that immigrants receive information on how to make sustainable choices in their daily lives and what city services are available. A possible solution could be a mobile web-based application offering basic circular economy information, a directory of city services and a connection to the circular economy services on the Helsinki Metropolitan Area service map. The application should be user-friendly, intuitive, and multilingual (6-10 languages). In addition, the application could include other functionalities, such as a circular economy glossary or a sorting course (based on existing materials). The sorting course could also be developed as a separate web application.
The Urban Environment Division is hosting up to two pilots.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 25%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 20%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 0 | Weighting:5%
Helsinki Challenge 3: Wildcard – How can innovative remote diagnostics improve city services?
Residents with cognitive and/or physical disabilities often find hospital visits challenging and psychologically demanding. For example, those with dementia may struggle to navigate unfamiliar environments and may feel apprehensive about being examined by unknown professionals.
Therefore innovative remote diagnostics are needed to enable better and more user-friendly services for its most vulnerable residents. By enabling the monitoring of simple health metrics, such as heart rate, sleep quality, and hearing, in the comfort of homes, familiar or caregivers locations, residents can benefit from regular check-ups. This potential for earlier diagnoses and improved overall care is particularly valuable for the elderly and those with chronic health conditions requiring frequent monitoring.
There are up to eight pilots funded under this Wildcard. Applicants must identify the host organization and submit a Letter of Intent concurrently with their application.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 25%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
5. Technology
Minimum score 0 | Weighting: 5%
Helsinki Challenge 4: How can the long-term unemployed be empowered with essential ICT skills?
The City of Helsinki seeks to enhance the equality, participation, and workplace skills of its residents through the improvement of existing services. One objective is to support and validate informal and extracurricular learning. These initiatives would facilitate residents’ transitions from social services to studies or employment.
Therefore, the City of Helsinki is seeking a digital solution to assist unemployed residents in developing their ICT skills and obtaining formal recognition for their competencies. This solution could potentially be provided by a team that has experience in educating career changers and newcomers to the ICT industry. It is important that this solution is aligned with the current needs of the labor market. The solution could be, for example, an open MOOC-style ICT or data engineering course. The specific topic of the course will be determined in collaboration with the pilot team, based on the ICT skills most beneficial for long-term unemployed individuals. The solution could potentially support the completion of qualifications, degrees, and courses in vocational training or in education.
The City of Helsinki Rehabilitative Work Activities department will host up to two pilots in collaboration with their clients.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 25%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 25%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 15%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting:30%
5. Technology
Minimum score 1 | Weighting: 5%
Helsinki Challenge 5: How can robotics solutions provide assistance to patients?
As single-patient hospital rooms become more common and staff shortages increase, patients are spending increased amounts of time alone. Various care robotics solutions could alleviate this problem. Beyond providing guidance, companionship and assistance, care robotics could also help reduce feelings of loneliness and insecurity.
This challenge is looking for robotics-based solutions enabling internal hospital transport services for patients. Patients with mobility restrictions or intentional movement limitations could benefit from internal hospital transport services, allowing various items to be ordered to the patient’s room. This includes food deliveries from outside the hospital or orders from the hospital canteen, delivered to the patient rooms without using staff resources for the actual transport.
Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) will host up to two pilots.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 10%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 0 | Weighting: 10%
Helsinki Challenge 6: How can shared understanding among patients, relatives, and staff be ensured?
The concern of relatives and close networks can be immense when a patient is hospitalised. Their involvement can also make the hospital stay slightly more bearable and enhances the overall well being of the patients. Sharing information about key treatment aspects with relatives and the necessary network is currently challenging due to, for example, due to GDPR regulations. Similarly, maximising the benefits of visits and support from relatives in the patient’s daily care can be difficult.
This challenge is seeking innovative solutions to improve communication between relatives, the patient, and the care staff regarding treatments, visits and other significant matters. The ideal solution would bring transparency and reduce communication breakdowns. Additionally, solutions for managing visitor access, where authorizations and access keys (mobile) can be granted through an automated process, would add value.
Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) will host up to two pilots.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 10%
5. Technology
Minimum score 0 | Weighting: 10%
Helsinki Challenge 7: How can patient well-being and monitoring be improved?
To enhance patient mobility, new innovations in wearable monitoring devices are essential. Beyond vital signs, these devices should track a broader range of activities and physiological parameters, offering a more comprehensive health profile. By replacing traditional, often costly, mobile monitoring equipment, these devices can facilitate data collection from a larger patient population, enabling more effective healthcare delivery.
This challenge is seeking innovative technologies to monitor patient well-being and status through wearable equipment. This includes solutions like bracelets, smart beds, or other monitoring solutions such as radio or camera-based systems. These solutions should be able to detect patient distress or abnormal biological responses to medication. Additionally, other innovative methods to enhance patient safety and well-being are being sought.
Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) will host up to two pilots.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 10%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 0 | Weighting: 10%
Helsinki Challenge 8: How to ensure active engagement and mobility of patients?
For psychiatric patients, acting as independently as possible within the hospital is highly beneficial. Encouraging independence fosters self-esteem, physical wellbeing, and a smoother transition back into the community. It also reduces dependency on staff and accelerates recovery. Also, the wellbeing of the patients can be enhanced by musical therapy, sensory rooms or other kinds of spaces suitable for example, for relaxation, reducing agitation or preventing self-harming behaviors.
Thus, this challenge is looking for solutions that allow autonomy and greater freedom of movement for psychiatric patients. Additionally, sensory rooms and other sensory-based experiences within the hospital are considered valuable tools for improving patients’ wellbeing and promoting their active engagement. The solution related to mobility should enable nurses to grant access and receive alerts when a patient leaves or returns to the unit. Increasing physical activity could be achieved through various exercise solutions available for patient beds or rooms, gamified mobile solutions promoting movement, or AI-based solutions provided via hospital television to engage patients both physically and mentally.
Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) will host up to two pilots.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 10%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 0 | Weighting: 10%