1 IntroductionOrganiser of the competitionThe organiser of the competition is the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Practical implementation is the task of the Strategic Programme for the Forest Sector (MSO) with the sup-port of the Enterprise and innovation department.

Participants in the competitionThe competition is open to enterprises of all lines of business and to various consortia. The competition is open to domestic and inter-national enterprises (e.g. forest, energy, and chemical companies) and corporate consortia that have research partners and investors.

Competition timeThe competition is open between the opening time and ending time stated in the declaration of the competition.

Competition proposalParticipants in the competition shall deliver their competition proposals to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy before the deadline, describing the biorefinery being proposed.

More detailed conditions for the competing proposals can be found in the competition announcement.

2 Area of applicationThe biorefinery design competition refers to a procedure in which the organiser of the competition asks for competition entries for biorefineries with an open and international search. Entries will be handled confidentially and evaluated by a panel of experts. On the basis of the evaluation, the Minister of Economic Affairs will select the winner or winners.

The organiser of the competition will draw up a schedule for the competition and set up an evaluation panel. The winner or win-ners of the competition will be selected on the basis of the set goals and evaluation criteria.

3 Nature of the competition

The competition is by nature a planning competition whose pur-pose is to find a solution as a foundation for detailed planning and eventual implementation. The purpose of the competition is to lead to further planning and investment taking part in Finland.

4 Form of the competition

The competition is general, open, and international. The compe-tition is in one stage.

5 Right to participateThe competition is open to enterprises of all lines of business and to various consortia. The competition is open to domestic and international enterprises (e.g. forest, energy, and chemical com-panies) and corporate led consortia which can include research partners and investors.

International biorefinery competition

Competition rulesConfirmed by a decision of the

Minister of Economic Affairs on 4 June 2014.

Members, experts, or the secretary of the evaluation panel may not take part in the competition. Business partners or next of kin of members of the evaluation panel are also not allowed to take part in the competition. Also disqualified is a person who has taken part in the drafting of the competition, or in its arrange-ments in such a way that he or she could have a clear advantage compared with others.

6 Evaluation panel

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy shall appoint an evaluation panel for the competition with the task of evaluating the competing proposals, drafting an evaluation protocol, and ranking the proposals. The winner or winners of the competition will be selected by the Minister of Economic Affairs on the basis of the panel’s proposal.

The evaluation panel has a quorum when all of its members are pre-sent. If a member of the jugding panel is unable to take part in the activities of the panel, a new member will be selected by the organiser as a replacement. The organiser shall name the members of the eva-luation panel, the chair, and the secretary, and if necessary, a contact person who, under an obligation to secrecy, shall handle contacts with competitors and respond to inquiries about the competition.

CompositionThe evaluation panel is composed of respected members in the field, who have high-level and versatile knowledge of business activities, process development, biorefinery technology, invest-ment skills and market developments in the field. Members of the panel have an obligation to secrecy concerning all proposals and all information that they contain. The names of the members of the panel will not be made public during the competition.

7 Secrecy and confidentiality in the competition

The competition proposals will be handled with the names of the members of the consortium included.

The handling and evaluation of the proposals in the competition are to be confidential. Officials of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy taking part in the handling of the matters are obliged to secrecy, and members of the judging panel and outside experts used by the panel for assistance, if they are needed, will sign a con-fidentiality promise before the competition proposals are made.

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy reserves the right to publish the winning proposal or proposals in the form of a headline and summary.

8 Competition declaration

The organiser of the competition will draft and approve the com-petition declaration and timetable. The competition declaration announces that a request is made for simultaneous proposals for a biorefinery, which will be evaluated on the basis of what was put forward in the application text.

The competition declaration introduces the organiser of the com-petition, as well as procedures and the right of participation. In addition, the goals, the initial data, the standard and binding planning instructions, the evaluation criteria for the competition proposals, the instructions for drafting the proposal, as well as the language to be used are presented clearly and unambiguously.

The competition declaration shall reveal the prizes and rewards to be distributed in the competition.

9 Evaluation of the competition and the evaluation protocolThe evaluation panel ranks the entries according to evaluation criteria contained in the application.

Entries that deviate significantly from the instructions in the competition will not be evaluated.

The evaluation panel can give an honourable mention to a prai-seworthy entry that did not win a prize.

Only members of the evaluation panel, its secretary, and experts are allowed to be present when the evaluation takes place. They have an obligation to secrecy in matters relate to the evaluation work.

The evaluation panel decides which proposals will be evaluated and which ones will be excluded from the evaluation.

Excluded will be proposals• which have not been submitted in the sequence stipulated in the competition programme,• which lack a document required in the programme, unless the prize board considers the shortcoming of secondary importance for the consideration of the proposal.

The evaluation panel shall draft an evaluation protocol contai-ning the description of the competition task, a general evalu-ation of the competition, a critique of each of the competition proposals, a decision on distributing the prizes, including the reasons (a recommendation for further action in the competition, possible dissenting opinions, possible expert statements, and the significant picture and text material of the proposals.

When the evaluation panel is finished with an evaluation and proposal for a winner or winners, the Minister of Economic Affairs will make a decision on the matter.

10 Prizes and rewards of the competition

The prizes and rewards will be announced in the application declaration.If the number of entries in the general competition is significantly lower than normal an/if the quality of the proposals is weaker than normal, the evaluation panel can, with the agreement of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, decide to issue only part of the prize money.

11 Display of the competition entries and publication of the results

All proposals will be handled confidentially. Each entrant will get an evaluation of his/her proposal and feedback from the evalua-tion panel. The name of the consortium of the winning competi-tion proposals, the proposal’s title, and the brief public summary of those who submitted the proposal will be published.

It is recommended that when giving out information on the com-petition, all of the organisations and key persons who have wor-ked on the winning entry should be mentioned.

The result of the competition will be made public by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in a press release, in a possible announcement event, and on its website.

12 Responsibilities

The organiser of the competition is responsible for commitments made in the competition declaration.

Participants in the competition are responsible for submitting proposals, with content that corresponds to the instructions, by the deadline.

The evaluation panel in the competition is responsible for draf-ting an individual evaluation of each entry in the competition, as well as an evaluation protocol according to these rules.

The organiser of the competition will not return competition pro-posals to those who drafted them.

The organiser of the competition will see to the appropriate sto-rage of the proposals.

13 Rights of use and copyrightsThe right of use and ownership and other non-material rights to the material that was entered in the contest will be with the makers of the competition proposal. The organiser of the competition has the right of publication of the consortium that submitted the proposal, the title of the proposal, and the public summary of the proposal.

The competitors will retain the copyright to their proposals.

14 Resolving disputesAttempts will be made to resolve possible disputes primarily among the organiser of the competition and the participants. Disputes in which the parties cannot reach agreement, shall be submitted to Helsinki District Court for a resolution.

15 ArchivingThe application declaration of the planning competition, the evaluation protocol, including appendices, and the competition proposals will be securely archived. The archiving is the respon-sibility of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

16 Competition expenses

The organiser of the competition will pay for all costs incurred from the organising of the competition.

Remuneration for members of the evaluation panel

The organiser will pay a remuneration to members of the evalua-tion panel, which will be set in an agreement to be drawn up with the members. If a member participates in the evaluation as part of his/her work, no remuneration will be paid.

Remunerations for independent expertsThe organiser of the competition or the evaluation panel can, if necessary, ask independent experts to give statements. The same secrecy requirements that apply to the members of the evalua-tion panel apply to the experts. The organiser of the competition will pay an expert’s fee, which will be set in an agreement made with the expert. The organiser will compensate members of the evaluation panel and, if necessary, the independent experts for travel expenses according to state travel compensation rules.

Other compensation to be paidThe organiser of the competition is responsible for costs incurred from, among other things, directing the competition, helping the organiser, examining and approving the competition programme, the publication and archiving of the results of the competition.

Method of paymentThe organiser of the competition will pay for the prizes, fees, and compensations against an invoice, unless agreed otherwise.