Who can enter the challenge?
Are there any age restrictions?
Can we enter the challenge as a team or in partnership with others?
I have entered my idea into another competition; can I submit the same idea to this competition?
Who has the intellectual property rights to my idea/submission?
Can I remove my entry once I have submitted it?
What does a working prototype mean?
My idea will not be a working prototype before the deadline for entry submission, what can I do?
Why are you running cycling challenges?
Will someone definitely win the prize money?
Where can I find more information about cycling?
Can I apply to both the cycling challenges?
Can I get some advice on how to enter the competition?
What's the timetable?
How will you judge the entries?
How will you select the winners?
Who is funding the prize?
Will the prize go to one winner?
How can the prize be used?
My solution is already being used, but not widely - can I enter?
What do you mean by innovation?![Dotted line grey 200px [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/dotted_line_grey_200px.jpg "Dotted line grey 200px [original]"){kind=small}
Who can enter the challenge?
The challenge is open to all UK legal residents aged 14 or over or organisations with a base in the UK that come up with an innovation to make it more difficult to steal bikes. Employees of Nesta, other individuals working on the project, and their immediate families, are not eligible to enter.
Are there any age restrictions?
You must be 14 or over to enter the challenge. If you are under 14 and have a great idea for the challenge, please ask your parent or guardian to enter for you. If you are aged between 14 and 18, you will need your parent's consent to participate in later stages of the challenge.
Can we enter the challenge as a team or in partnership with others?
Yes you are able to enter as a team or group as long as there is only one submission made for this team entry. The person or organisation who applies is responsible for the rest of the team or partnership and the prize money will be paid to them.
I have entered my idea into another competition; can I submit the same idea to this competition?
Yes you are able to submit your idea even if you have submitted it to another competition. Please make sure you provide relevant and specific answers to our entry questions for this competition.
The other competition may have rules about you entering your idea in more than one competition. It is your responsibility to check this before you enter this competition.
Who has the intellectual property rights to my idea/submission?
You will retain intellectual property rights in your idea and submission. We may want to talk about your idea when promoting the challenge and sharing what we have learned from the prize, but you do not have to transfer intellectual property rights to us.
Can I remove my entry once I have submitted it?
Yes, you can send an email to cyclingchallenges@nesta.org.uk and request for your application to be removed.
What does a working prototype mean?
Working prototype means that, if the idea is a tangible product then at least one working version of it needs to exist in a state that its effectiveness can be tested under the terms of the challenge prize. If the idea is not, or not only, a tangible product then it must be able to be set up so that the effectiveness can be tested under the terms of the challenge prize.
My idea will not be a working prototype before the deadline for entry submission, what can I do?
Your idea must be able to be tested from March 2013. We will consider ideas that are not yet working prototypes on 18 January 2013 if you can convince us that the prototype will exist or your idea can be set up by March 2013.
Why are you running cycling challenges?
We are running cycling challenges to increase the number of people cycling across the UK and to support organisations who work to promote cycling.
Whether as a means of getting around locally for individuals and families, or for the daily commute, cycling presents a healthy, environmentally friendly, low cost form of transport.
It has been estimated by a study carried out by Transport for London and Mayor of London that road transport currently contributes around 70 per cent of air pollution in UK towns and cities damaging the local environment, climate and biodiversity. Cycling is a pollution free form of transport that creates no harmful emissions. For each adult that switches from a car to a bicycle for a commuting journey of two and a half miles each way, for 80 days a year, there would be a reduction in the cost of traffic emissions by £69 each year. By encouraging greater uptake of cycling as an alternative to car use, significant benefits in terms of improved local air quality can be seen, particularly in carbon emissions[1].
In addition there would be significant health benefits. According to the British Medical Association, cycling just 20 miles a week can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 50 per cent[2].
Nesta is running a number of challenge prizes on different topics. We are doing this both to achieve positive social and environmental impacts, and to learn more about how challenge prizes can be used effectively to encourage and support innovation. We are committed to sharing the insights we gather from these challenge prizes with other organisations.
Will someone definitely win the prize money?
No. We will only award the prize money if the Judges consider an entry or entries to have met or exceeded the challenge.
Where can I find more information about cycling?
Here are a few cycling websites that you can look as a start:
www.ctc.org.uk
www.challenge4change.org
www.sustrans.org.uk
www.lcc.org.uk
Can I apply to both the cycling challenges?
Yes, if you feel that you have the capacity and meet the eligibility criteria to enter both.
Can I get some advice on how to enter the competition?
If you have enquiries about how to enter the competition please email cyclingchallenges@nesta.org.uk.
What's the timetable?
The timetable of the challenge is as follows:
How will you judge the entries?
We will appoint a specialist Judging Panel. We will publish the names of the Judges when they have been selected.
How will you select the winners?
The winners will be selected according to the challenge prize criteria.
A limited number of entrants will be invited to live testing of their idea based on existence of a working and testable prototype of their innovation, as well as consideration of:
The winning innovation will be the one that during the live testing results in the longest time to steal the bike with a minimum threshold of 5 minutes.
The Judging Panel will also take into consideration the additional criteria on environmental impact, costs and potential for scale listed above.
The Cycling Challenge Prizes are being funded by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and Nesta.
Will the prize go to one winner?
We expect that there will be one overall prize for the winner of the challenge. Judges may also decide to recognise a runner up innovation or innovations at their discretion.
The prize should be used in ways that will help increase the number of people cycling in the UK. You are free to decide how to do this.
My solution is already being used, but not widely - can I enter?
You can enter a currently used solution as long as you are sure that you will not be in breach of any obligation to any third party, any obligations of confidentiality or intellectual property right by doing so.
What do you mean by innovation?
Innovation can involve coming up with a brand new idea using or combining things in a new way. Innovations might be technical, scientific or social - by radically re-organising processes or the way people and/or organisations interact for example. Innovation often comes from taking a risk and experimenting, by looking at challenges and problems from completely new angles; asking different questions and taking new directions.
[1] Delivering the Benefits of Cycling in outer London (2010) http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/benefits-of-cycling-report.pdf
[2] http://www.bma.org.uk/images/transportandhealth_tcm41-191801.pdf
![Hands Off My Bike! [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/Hands-Off-My-Bike-web.jpg "Hands Off My Bike! [original]")
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