Any Government, Public Entities and Local Public Offices, organize regularly some Startup Competitions, to innovate the area where they are based in, or to promote a specific social needs.
Especially if you are creating something for “social utility”, you should consider this option, even if it could take a lot of time to prepare materials to participate.
The reason is really simple: Public Entities are completely different from Private Investors, their goal is the Social Utility, not the profit, so maybe you are solving a specific problem for some specific persons or for an entire community.
Normally the general goals are promoted from Politics, so if your Company is working in this specific Sector, or if your Startup matches these specific needs, you should contact them as soon and as directly as you can.
Maybe on the website there are direct contacts of the office that is organizing the contest, or probabily there is the direct form application for this specific contest / competition…
In any case, the suggestion is just to let them know that you simply “exist”, and your solution is specific for this contest or competition that they are organizing.
Naturally they can’t give you any kind of “specific benefit or advantage”, but normally someone will answer you, with the right instructions or with the correct steps to apply.
Consider that only the thing that they know that you exist, generally coud give you more opportunities than some others one completely unknown…
Maybe the specific competition is not perfect matching for your specific startup, but you can get some direct connection with the office, and the next time you will be informed in time…
Remember that they are Public Offices, so they are motivated principally from the Social Utility, not from the Profit like private investors…