Participate in the Tallinnovation smart city innovation competition
The City of Tallinn, together with the Science and Business Park Tehnopol, is once again launching the “Tallinnovation” innovation competition to discover and implement smart city solutions in Tallinn. This year, the competition focuses on solutions that strengthen urban resilience, safety, and crisis preparedness. Solutions from other smart city domains are also welcome.
The competition fund is €150,000.
The amount of support per company is up to €30,000.
Applications are due by 4 May 2026.
The goal of Tallinnovation competition is
- to increase the development, implementation, and export of innovative technologies
- to support cooperation between the City of Tallinn and technology companies by enabling the use of innovative software or hardware products in the City of Tallinn
- to support the City of Tallinn’s ambition to become a safe urban environment with a human-centric living space
- to support companies’ growth ambitions, product development and entry into foreign markets
- to support the international competitiveness and export capacity of companies in Tallinn
Companies that do not need financial support but want to cooperate with the city of Tallinn, have the opportunity to submit an application on an ongoing basis through the website of the Test in Tallinn program.
Companies have the opportunity to get non-financial assistance such as suitable contacts, open data and support for launching pilot projects in the city of Tallinn.
If you have an exciting idea for creating smart city solutions or improving on existing ones, then this competition is for you. Submit your idea to the Tallinnovation competition.
Tallinnovation helps you go global!
As an additional opportunity, companies can also test their solution in Heidelberg, Germany.
With support from the City of Tallinn, you can:
- adapt your product or service for testing in foreign markets;
- build essential partnerships for export and testing with the support of the City of Tallinn and Tehnopol;
- cover transport and storage costs incurred during testing in foreign markets;
- tailor your value proposition to suit your target market (including translation services);
- ensure your product or service complies with the required certifications, safety standards, or trademarks in the destination market.
With support from the City of Tallinn, you can:
- adapt your product or service for testing in foreign markets;
- build essential partnerships for export and testing with the support of the City of Tallinn and Tehnopol;
- cover transport and storage costs incurred during testing in foreign markets;
- tailor your value proposition to suit your target market (including translation services);
- ensure your product or service complies with the required certifications, safety standards, or trademarks in the destination market.
If you choose to test your product/service abroad, the related costs can make up to 30% of the total eligible expenses.
In addition, the City of Heidelberg in Germany offers up to two companies participating in the Tallinnovation call the opportunity to test their product or service in Heidelberg, supported by separate funding of up to €25,000. Funding of €5,000–10,000 per project.
Heidelberg is primarily interested in solutions that help improve the following areas:
• Mobility and traffic management
• Energy
• Sustainability and circular economy
• Urban governance and public service management
• Social impact and citizen engagement
Interested?
By submitting an idea, you can
- implement your products/services in Tallinn (or in the capital region in the case of a cross-border service or product)
- get real time feedback to your product or service
- get valuable contacts, advice and resources (including access to infrastructure and other necessary resources for completing your project)
- get financial resources from the city of Tallinn to carry out the pilot project
- get financial support from the City of Tallinn for exporting and testing your product/service abroad
You can apply if your company
- is registered in Tallinn
- has been operational for at least 6 months (from the time of application)
- has at least one full-time employee
- has a turnover of at least €10,000 in the last 6 months (from the time of application)
- the implementation of the product/service in the city of Tallinn supports the goals stated in the city development plan of Tallinn
- has no debts to the state or the city of Tallinn
- is not in the stages of liquidation, restructuring or bankruptcy proceedings
What solutions are we looking for?
All types of smart city solutions are welcome to apply, with preference given to projects where the company’s solution contributes to the safety and/or resilience of the City of Tallinn (e.g. supports personal safety, digital and information security, crisis and civil protection preparedness, social resilience, and the protection of vulnerable groups).
- The product/service has been developed by the company (the prototyping phase has already been completed).
- The product/service is innovative.
- The product/service has not been implemented in the city of Tallinn before or if has been implemented, but the new solution is more economical, more innovative, communal or otherwise creates better opportunities.
- The product/service meets the conditions of the competition, which you can find in full here.
- The product/service corresponds to the goals of the Tallinn development strategy “Tallinn 2035”.
- At the end of the project, the applicant will move the installed product, unless otherwise agreed.
- If the company is using the grant for export purposes, it is required to include a preliminary market study of the intended export market(s) with the application.
Application process
Assessing conformity
Tehnopol will check the applicant and the application and the description of the project for eligibility. Tehnopol will ask the applicant for more information.
Pre-selection
Tehnopol, in cooperation with representatives from the City of Tallinn, will select up to 15 ideas or solutions and will invite selected applicants about their participation to the presentation round.
Presentations to the Committee
Those advancing to the presentation round will deliver a 10-minute presentation to the committee, composed of experts from the City of Tallinn and Tehnopol, as well as investors and mentors.
Winner selection
The Committee will select the best applicants, who will receive either a grant and/or an opportunity to cooperate with the City of Tallinn.
Contract signing
Tehnopol will conclude contracts with the selected companies selected with the City of Tallinn as a third party.
Surveillance
Tehnopol will monitor project implementation and disbursements.