Manchester Challenges
During the third round of CommuniCity Open Calls, the Municipality of Manchester presents three challenges. Open and Agile Smart Cities & Communities (OASC) will award grants of up to 12,500 Euros to a maximum of three applicants. You can find the challenges below, along with evaluation criteria and the target groups. If you have questions, please join the Info Events or check the Q&A section. Furthermore, before submitting your application, review the tips for a successful application on the “Read this first” page.
Manchester Challenge 1: How can cultural activities be promoted among minority communities?
The City of Manchester has a new cultural strategy and is a northern hub for sport, events, and music. The city aims to foster and promote culture in all of Manchester’s diverse communities, whether it is in the streets, community hubs, or homes. Culture in the city is diverse, but large-scale activity and venues are largely concentrated in the city center. Despite outreach programs, financial and language barriers persist for residents who might want to access cultural events and venues.
Therefore, the City of Manchester is seeking a technology-enabled solution to help promote and support diverse cultural activities, events, and festivals within various communities. With particular regard to supporting minoritised communities living outside of the city centre, with English as second language.
The City of Manchester will host one pilot in collaboration with the Manchester Digital Strategy, Cultural Strategy and identified community groups. Applicants can suggest relevant community group stakeholders to work with although steer can be provided by the other pilot hosts.
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: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 5%
Manchester Challenge 2: How to address poverty via a single source of information?
Despite its growth, the City of Manchester faces challenges due to high poverty rates. The abundance of support and information available to those in poverty can be overwhelming and confusing, leading to heightened mental health concerns for both those seeking support and those providing it.
The City of Manchester is seeking a solution that enables the provision of an up-to-date and culturally sensitive centralized information source accessible to grassroots organizations supporting marginalized groups facing poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage. There is a particular focus on supporting individuals in religious and racially marginalized communities.
The City of Manchester will host one pilot in collaboration with the Manchester’s Digital Strategy, Anti-Poverty Strategy and identified community groups, applicants can suggest relevant community group stakeholders to work with although steer can be provided by the other pilot hosts.
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: 20%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 2 | Weighting: 30%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 5%
Manchester Challenge 3: How can any technology solve social challenges?
Manchester has several policies and strategies to tackle numerous challenges across poverty, climate, housing, and young people. Yet, communities often have a deeper understanding of their own challenges than city authorities. For this challenge, the City seeks individuals deeply involved in community challenges to collaborate in ideating and creating a solution.
The City is looking for any technology enabled solution to help solve any social challenge in Manchester. Proposals for this challenge must be developed through close collaboration between a technology provider and the target community members.
The City of Manchester will host one pilot. Applicants must specify the pilot host organization and submit a Letter of Intent along with their application.
Minimum scores and weightings:
1. Impact
Minimum score: 3 | Weighting: 30%
2. Implementation quality and efficiency
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 15%
3. Excellence
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 15%
4. Co-creation
Minimum score: 3 | Weighting: 30%
5. Technology
Minimum score: 1 | Weighting: 10%