The objective of the Holcim Foundation is to establish the Holcim Awards as an international platform for professionals and specialists of all generations to promote interdisciplinary dialog, bring forward new ideas and examine potential solutions.
Lessons learned in one context have applicability elsewhere, but may require adaptation and certainly need explanation and illustration.

The Holcim Foundation intends therefore to act as an enabler so that, whatever their origin, exciting and important new ideas can be more widely discussed and assessed by a broader audience of specialists. Facilitating exchange of experience and knowledge of the determinants for sustainability in building and construction is an investment in education, in innovation and in learning by doing.
The First Holcim Awards Competition was announced in September 2004 within the framework of the Holcim Forum 2004. This homepage has been accessible since November 2004. It supports the uploading by competitors of their projects and provides detailed information on the competition procedure.
The Holcim Awards is a competition of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction based in Switzerland. The independent Foundation is supported by Holcim Ltd in cooperation with its local Group companies and partner universities: the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA; Tongji University (TDX), Shanghai, China; University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil; and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Holcim Awards competition is comprised of five regional Holcim Awards (in 2004/5) and the global Holcim Award (in 2006). The regional Holcim Awards are based on five geographic regions: Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East and Asia Pacific. The award-winning regional entries qualify for the global Holcim Award.

The Holcim Awards competition is open to sustainable construction projects in architecture, landscape and urban design, civil and mechanical engineering and other related disciplines. The project must demonstrate proof of sustainability according to the five defined target issues. To be eligible for entry, projects must have reached an advance design stage but construction must not have yet commenced at the close of entries (March 31, 2005).

The total prize money for the regional and global Holcim Awards is USD 2 million.
http://www.holcimawards.com/default.aspx?l=en&c1=basics