More than 100 interested citizens came to Röblingen am See today for the kick-off event of the REVIERPIONIER Idea Competition. As part of the event, the State Chancellery and Ministry of Culture of Saxony-Anhalt informed about the goals and content of the participatory format. Ideas for shaping the structural change in the Central German district of Saxony-Anhalt can be submitted for the first time from January 27 to March 12, 2023.
With the REVIERPIONIER idea competition, the State of Saxony-Anhalt calls on all civil society actors from the districts of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Burgenlandkreis, Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis, and the city of Halle (Saale) to implement their ideas for local shaping of structural change in the Central German district. Associations, organizations, and educational institutions are also addressed.
At the kick-off event in the form of a networking meeting, Dr. Jürgen Ude, State Secretary for Structural Change in the Central German District, industrial large-scale projects, Dr. Franziska Krüger (Head of the “Structural Change in the Central German District” staff unit) and project leader Annett Kautz (European Metropolitan Region of Central Germany) welcomed around 120 citizens.
Ude emphasized: “The structural change in the lignite district of Saxony-Anhalt is a major challenge, but every change offers opportunities to reposition oneself better for the future. With the participatory format REVIERPIONIER, clever minds and innovative ideas are sought on-site. The citizens of the district know their homeland best and will know how they imagine the future after the phase-out of coal.”
The Competition
The projects can be submitted easily and unbureaucratically via an online form at www.revierpionier.de in the first competition year from January 27 to March 12, 2023. After the evaluation phase from March to June 2023, all award winners will be published. The prize money will be paid out from June 2023. A financial own contribution is not required.
Further idea competitions will take place in 2024 and 2025. For this, annual prize money of one million euros each is available for about 150 award winners. A continuation of the competition from 2026 is sought depending on follow-up funding.
The Categories
Four thematic categories and prize levels form the basis of the competition:
“Topics around climate protection, sustainability, and commitment form the heart of the REVIERPIONIER. Ideas that improve the quality of life in the Central German district can be submitted in the REVIERGESTALTEN category. The ZUKUNFTGESTALTEN category is open to all ideas by and for children and young people. Innovative project ideas in the pre-founding phase are sought in the GRÜNDERGESTALTEN category. A second chance for selected, non-awarded project ideas is also offered by the five audience awards LOKALGESTALTEN,” explains Annett Kautz, project manager REVIERPIONIER at the European Metropolitan Region of Central Germany.
Within the competition, the submitted projects differ in size into “small”, “medium”, and “large”. The maximum prize money in the small prize level is 4,500 euros, in the medium level 12,000 euros, and for large project ideas 21,000 euros. The GRÜNDERGESTALTEN category includes a prize money of a flat 6,000 euros.
The REVIERPIONIER idea competition is supported within the framework of the funding program “Strengthening the Transformation Dynamics and Awakening in the Mining Districts and at the Coal Power Plant Sites – STARK”.
