This document outlines the rules for an international biorefinery design competition organized by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland. The competition is open to both domestic and international enterprises to submit proposals for new biorefinery designs. An evaluation panel of experts in relevant fields will evaluate the submissions based on criteria in the competition declaration and select a winner or winners. The purpose is to identify solutions that could be further developed and potentially implemented in Finland to advance biorefinery technology.

1. 1 Introduction
Organiser of the competition
The 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 competition
The 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 time
The competition is open between the opening time and ending
time stated in the declaration of the competition.
Competition proposal
Participants 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 application
The 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 participate
The 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 rules
Confirmed 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
activitiesofthepanel,anewmemberwillbeselectedbytheorganiser
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.
Composition
The 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.

2. 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 protocol
The 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 copyrights
The 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 disputes
Attempts 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 Archiving
The 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 experts
The 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 paid
The 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 payment
The organiser of the competition will pay for the prizes, fees, and
compensations against an invoice, unless agreed otherwise.