Do you know how to make your municipality smarter and more sustainable? Does your municipality have an energy, transport or other challenge you would like to solve through new collaboration models, design methodology and citizen involvement?

We are soon ready for the fourth round of Gnist, an innovation programme developed and run by DOGA and Nordic Edge,  where ambitious municipalities get to explore new ways to develop innovative solutions to specific challenges. The programme addresses challenges that require collaboration between the public and private sector, as well as between different departments and service areas within the municipalities.

Innovative answers to complex challenges
By using design methodology, cross-sectorial interaction and citizen involvement, teams come up with creative and original solutions to specific challenges municipalities face. Bjarne Uldal, project manager for Gnist at Nordic Edge, is very satisfied with the feedback from previous rounds.

-In addition to being introduced to new innovation and collaboration tools, the municipalities have experienced that the outcome of the process has resulted in innovative answers to often complex societal challenges that are hard to solve in traditional manners.

Changes in Gnist 2023/2024
All types of local communities, hereunder district municipalities, towns and larger cities can apply to be part of Gnist 2023, whereas previous rounds have been focusing on smaller municipalities. The sustainability aspect will also be more prominent in the upcoming round, meaning that projects must address economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The timeframe for the process will also be extended to allow time for prototyping, testing and validation of selected concept proposals.

-By allowing more time for the ideation and design phase, as well as putting more effort into piloting and testing, we expect even more tangible and value-adding results in the next round of Gnist, says Uldal.

Up to ten municipalities will be selected for the first phase, of which five will go on as Gnist -municipalities. The other five are invited to be active accompanying municipalities throughout the process.

If this sounds like something your municipality should join, please register for the webinar on 1st of February, where you will learn more about the process and what you can gain by joining the programme.

The application deadline for Gnist 2023/2024 is 31 March 2023.