The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has launched an innovation competition on "Smart Urban Planning and Industrial Solutions," Report informs, citing SOCAR.
According to the information, the competition aims to create conditions for the formation and development of innovative ideas in smart urbanisation, "smart city" systems, sustainable urban development, and technology‑based solutions.
With this initiative, SOCAR – considering its role in the energy and industrial infrastructure sectors, as well as the growing importance of environmental responsibility, sustainable development, and technology‑driven management approaches – encourages the development of innovative solutions that address current challenges in the urban environment.
The competition covers topics related to energy, ecology, water, infrastructure, and urban systems. It will provide participants with the opportunity to systematically approach real urban and industrial-city challenges, develop technology‑based solution concepts, and refine these ideas with mentor support.
Selected teams will participate in a 6‑week structured programme. During the programme, participants will work with mentors, analyse the core problem, formulate solution concepts, assess technical, operational, and organisational implementation possibilities, and prepare project directions for the final presentation.
The competition covers the following thematic areas:
Monitoring of air and noise quality in urban and industrial zones;
Distributed renewable energy solutions in urban environments;
Smart monitoring and restoration of polluted and abandoned industrial areas;
Smart management of industrial and wastewater;
Smart energy infrastructure, digital metering, and data‑driven management systems.
At the end of the programme, teams will present their project concepts at "Demo Day". Presentations will be evaluated based on the relevance of the problem, quality of the solution, potential for implementation, innovation and value‑creation potential, as well as the level of project development during the programme.
Who can apply?
Students, young professionals, researchers, start‑ups and innovation teams, as well as multidisciplinary teams interested in urban planning, engineering, ecology, energy, digital technologies, data analytics, sustainable development, and urban systems can participate.
Participants will be offered the following opportunities:
Work on real urban and smart city challenges;
Participate in structured working sessions with mentors;
Transform an idea into a project concept;
Justify the relevance of the problem, the applicability of the solution, and its potential impact;
Develop final presentation skills;
Present the project during "Demo Day";
Explore possible next‑stage development for selected ideas.
Application procedure:
Teams wishing to participate in the competition must fill out the application form via the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyZkFCqyjwL-LxZor3e2wrt5ZA2FWzLAFWqrhERhQvS0Vpwg/viewform?usp=header
Deadline for applications: 26.06.2026
For additional information: innovations@socar.az / phone: +994 50 841 54 74
https://report.az/en/energy/socar-announces-competition-for-innovations-in-smart-urban-development-and-industry