Climate Innovation Through Interactive Ecosystem Summits (CITIES 4.0) project is the effort of 4 European innovation ecosystems to contribute to key elements of the European Climate policy and to the European Union’s Mission 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 (henceforward EU Mission), introduced in September 2021. The innovation ecosystems are Brainport Development (BRP), Leuven Mindgate (MIND), Turku Science Park (TScP) and Fondazione Innovazione Urbana (FIU). All the four cities partnering in this project, Brainport Eindhoven, Leuven, Turku and Bologna, have been selected as members of the Mission and thus they aim at reaching climate neutrality by 2030. In this context, the CITIES 4.0 project is an opportunity to experiment and innovate thanks to knowledge sharing, networking and interconnection.
In order to achieve climate neutrality in 2030 according to the objectives of the EU Mission, cities will need to adopt and find innovative solutions in a wide range of policy areas, while at the same time trying to reduce the social divide at local and regional level. For all these reasons, the complex challenges posed by climate neutrality have to be solved as much as possible not as single actors on the scene, but as an interconnected network of ecosystems sharing ideas, matchmaking for innovative solutions and putting knowledge in circulation. The basic operating principle of open innovation: sharing problems, sharing risks and then also sharing the results.
During the course of the project, a selection of engaged stakeholders from all the involved ecosystems will be asked to join a participatory process that is expected to be effective in each single local environment and culture. The process will help all the aforementioned activities, from matchmaking to ideas sharing, from fostering interconnection to bringing hints and insights from different stakeholders into the conversation. It will also help the four cities to plan actions during the development and implementation of the Climate City Contract. Moreover, the gained knowledge and insights wille be shared among all the other cities of the Mission, maximising the impact of the work done.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance and favour interconnections, networking and the sharing of knowledge and practice among the four ecosystems involved. In particular, CITIES 4.0 aims at strengthening and growing their abilities in maximising their path towards carbon-neutrality and disseminating their knowledge to other cities that are following a similar path.
