On 8 October 2019, from 14:30-17:00, the first three Smart Cities and Communities projects GrowSmarter, Remourban and Triangulum, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, are hosting the session “From dream to reality: sharing experiences from leading European Smart Cities” at the European Week of Regions and Cities, dedicated to share their key lessons learnt.
The session will touch upon both technical and political aspects of creating smart cities, explains Lisa Enarsson, Project Manager of GrowSmarter: “At the session, the three sister projects GrowSmarter, Remourban and Triangulum will give examples of actions needed to speed up the transition to smart and sustainable cities through energy efficient refurbishment, mobility and integrated infrastructure. Mayors from our cities will highlight what is needed on the EU level to facilitate replication of these actions in your cities! You need to be there to bring this back home!” she says.
The European Lighthouse community currently consists of 14 projects that are driving the smart and sustainable city movement in Europe and beyond. In 40 Lighthouse- and 53 Fellow Cities, private and academic partners work on implementing innovative solutions in the fields of energy, ICT and mobility.
After five years, the first three projects of this Horizon 2020 funded programme are now coming to an end and will thus share their results with the public. Political representatives from major European cities and technical experts from the projects will share their smart city experiences:
“The purpose of a smart city is to provide solutions to significantly increase our cities’ overall energy and resource efficiency, resulting in a better quality of life for our citizens, higher competitiveness, new job opportunities and economic growth. We have gained experience which can help others and want to share them with the community in Brussels” says Trinidad Fernandez, Project Coordinator of Triangulum.
By organising a joint session in the context of the European Week of Cities and Regions, the three projects will show their impacts achieved in terms of energy efficiency, smart mobility, ICT interconnectivity, governance and social acceptance and will provide policy makers and experts with valuable insights for replication in other European cities and beyond.
For Miguel Á. García-Fuentes, Project Coordinator of Remourban, sharing the results with other cities is essential: “Our projects can all point to proven impacts in their respective Lighthouse Cities and guide other cities towards solutions just waiting to be replicated. What makes the difference is that we also address non-technological aspects, such as engaging with citizens, tackling governance issues or implementing business models to foster replication. We have hands-on experiences in meeting smart cities’ challenges, we have demonstrated the economic, environmental and social impacts generated by our projects and are now ready to spread these outcomes to all corners of Europe.” he says.
Information about the Event:
After a short welcome and introduction by Gustaf Landahl (Project Coordinator GrowSmarter) and Georg Houben (DG ENER), the session will start with a political panel, focusing on new governance approaches. Political representatives will be Katarina Luhr, Vice Mayor of the City of Stockholm (GrowSmarter), Dr. Ralf Heinen, Vice Mayor of the City of Cologne (GrowSmarter), Stijn Steenbakkers, Alderman for Digital Transformation of the City of Eindhoven (Triangulum) and Deborah Geradon, Councilor for Territorial and Commercial Development City of Seraing (Remourban).
In the second part, the Project Coordinators of all three projects will discuss results from their projects, main impacts achieved and their replication potential. Speakers will be Lisa Enarsson (City of Stockholm/GrowSmarter), Miguel Á. García-Fuentes (CARTIF Technology Centre/Remourban) and Trinidad Fernandez (Fraunhofer IAO/Triangulum).
The third part gives stage to the site managers of the project’s Lighthouse Cities to talk about their key success stories as well as unavoidable failures. Speakers will be Gonzalo Cabezas (City of Barcelona/GrowSmarter), Julia Egenolf (City of Cologne/GrowSmarter), Rosa Huertas (City of Valladolid/Remourban), Dave Tetlow (City of Nottingham/Remourban), Gerd Seehuus (City of Stavanger/Triangulum) and Mark Duncan (City of Manchester/Triangulum).
To wrap up, we encourage all participants to engage in an interactive Question and Answer session. Don’t miss this opportunity to interact with the policy makers, project coordinators and site managers, to exchange ideas and learn from their experiences.
We invite all participants to continue inspiring discussions during our networking event with finger food and drinks, taking place right after the joint session from 17:00-18:00 just outside the session room.
Links:
- EUREG 2019 Registration Page and Session Info: https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/programme/sessions/616_en
- GrowSmarter: www.grow-smarter.eu
- Remourban: www.remourban.eu
- Triangulum: www.triangulum-project.eu
