The eCitySevilla project, promoted by Seville City Council, the Andalusian Regional Government’s Ministries of Finance – through the Andalusian Energy Agency – and Economic Transformation, the PCT Cartuja and Endesa, has recently launched a challenge for the development of a pilot project for safe bicycle parking. World Bicycle Day is celebrated on 3 June, proclaimed in 2018 by the UN to try to give more prominence to this means of transport, which is one of the most widely used and fundamental in the current fight against pollution and climate change.

Specifically, the challenge consists of developing a bicycle parking model with a capacity of approximately fifty units, which are protected from the sun and rain, safe and secure, with a space reserved for electric bicycles or scooters and with modular facilities that can be changed location. The proposal must also have an attractive, technologically advanced design and a viable business model.

The aim is to involve qualified companies and groups that will help to encourage the support of innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives that can also contribute to the creation of a 100% sustainable and emission-free area in the Cartuja Science and Technology Park, thanks to the complete transformation of the energy model in public spaces, private buildings and transport.

The deadline for submitting proposals will remain open until 11 June. The company that manages to present the best initiative to this challenge, which is carried out in collaboration with the Sevilla Futura platform, will be able to install a pilot project within the PCT Cartuja and will have both the dissemination of its project and support services for its subsequent business development. The challenge envisages that, if the model works, it can be implemented in other parts of the PCT Cartuja and the city.

In order to assess the best initiative, the rules of the call for proposals establish a scoring procedure that will take into account aspects such as the locations proposed for the pilot project, the surface area allocated to each bike, the design and aesthetics, quality and durability, functionality and innovation, the energy generation capacity for self-consumption, the modular nature of the proposed solution, the ease of transfer to other locations and self-sufficiency in the management model.