Green Digital Charter
Posts by: Giulia.Campodonico
Green Digital Charter and the NiCE project have been invited to participate in the 5th Zagreb energy week that will take place between 12 and 17 May. The Charter, its outputs and benefits for the cities will be presented in a special session that will take place in the afternoon of 14 May.
City of Zagreb has set a number of ambitious climate policy targets, following the European 202020 targets and is active in implementing the planned measures and sustainable development processes in order to realize the vision of the City of Zagreb as the city of sustainable development, in cooperation with all relevant subjects in the country and abroad. The Zagreb Energy Week has an important role in reaching these targets and is one of the important factors in the process of the City of Zagreb sustainable development.
To find more about the Zagreb energy week: http://bit.ly/1px566f
To read the 14 May agenda: http://bit.ly/1lMF39n
To read the energy week programme: http://bit.ly/1mLeC3E
NiCE project/GDC presentation can be found here
The fourth and last Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) study tour will take place in Linkoping, Sweden on 9 May 2014. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities will be shown the projects that Linkoping is carrying out to fulfil its GDC commitments, especially in the sector of green ICT. Participants will learn from the host city through short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions with city officials and experts as well as experts from big local ICT companies. Visitors will leave the study tour with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm to implement green digital projects in their own cities.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors.
More details about the programme can be found here.
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
A new EU-China cooperation project has been launched last January 2014 aiming to provide continuity and progress in supporting and strengthening China Collaboration on ICT research with Europe.
The CHOICE project is funded by the European Commission DG CONNECT through its 7th Framework Programme and comprises Chinese and European partners, involved in previous and on-going EU-China collaboration projects, that will ensure all the valuable outputs of previous projects will be fully exploited and that synergies with relevant projects will be developed.
During its two-year duration, the CHOICE project emphasis will be put on:
- Identifying obstacles to reciprocity and encouraging a more balanced relationship with China based on reciprocity, especially supporting European nationals, companies and organisations willing to access Chinese research programmes;
- Highlighting and showcasing both EU and Chinese excellence in ICT R&D;
- Strengthening EU-China industrial ICT R&D cooperation, also with the view of preparing the ground for new upcoming rules governing EU-China ICT R&D cooperation under Horizon 2020 (H2020).
Thanks to this approach, the CHOICE project will create a bridge towards H2020 and capitalize on the timely conjunction of H2020 shift away from technology driven towards innovation driven ICT R&D based on societal needs and consumer aspirations, with the Chinese Government’s firm commitment to growing domestic demand, thus emphasizing opportunities in China for the exploitation of H2020 and in particular its potential for contributing to increasing Chinese domestic demand.
For more information, visit: http://www.euchina-ict.eu, follow the project on Twitter: @EUChinaICT and the discussions on LinkedIn: EU-China Cooperation on ICT research !
On 28 March, EUROCITIES hosted a webinar on funding opportunities under the Horizon 2020 programme on energy efficiency. Stephan Renner, from the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) gave a presentation on those calls that are relevant for local authorities.
The presentation is available here.
The webinar recording is available here.
Holistic simulation and optimization of energy systems in Smart Cities: CITYOPT project started in Nice, France
CITYOPT objectives
CITYOPT mission is to optimize energy systems in smart cities. This European project will create a set of applications and related guidelines that support efficient planning, detailed design and operation of energy systems in urban districts.
The project addresses energy system optimization in different life cycle phases. This will be supported by a user-centred design approach. All stakeholders including cities’ decision makers, facility managers, and citizens will be involved throughout all phases of the project.
CITYOPT applications will be demonstrated in Helsinki (Finland), Vienna (Austria), and Nice Côte d’Azur (France).
Innovative Demand-Response solutions tested in Nice Cote d’Azur
The Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur hosted the CITYOPT project Kick-off meeting in Nice on February 10th, 2014 and the project will run for 3 years.
CITYOPT will develop and demonstrate innovative demand-response services in Nice Côte d’Azur, to reinforce the continuity of service of the electricity supply network. Families will be recruited from the 2nd semester 2014 to participate in the experiment. CITYOPT will analyse the conditions for which the customers will agree to modify their behaviours, within a CITYOPT energy community.
CITYOPT team
The CITYOPT team gathers 7 project partners from 4 European countries, including research institutes, cities, energy utilities and a design studio: VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland (coordinator) ; AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria ; CSTB – Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment – France ; Experientia – Italy ; EDF – France ; City of Helsinki / Helsingin Energia – Finland ; and Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur – France.
Further information
Project coordinator: Hedman Åsa – Asa.Hedman@vtt.fi
Project website : www.cityopt.eu
The open Invitation for Commitment of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) has been officially launched! The interested parties are invited to step forward and support the objectives of the EIP by communicating and sharing their plans and initiatives for actions at the interface of energy, transport and information and communication technologies and infrastructures. These can exist already, or reflect ambitions for the future.
Cities are the major source of European economic activity and innovation. Every city is unique but also struggles with similar issues such as congestion, air pollution, raising energy costs etc. Smart urban technologies and services offer enormous prospects in this regard. However, greater concerted action between cities, industry, innovative SMEs, research organisations and civil society actors is needed to accelerate their roll-out.
This is the core intention of the EIP-SCC. This Invitation for Commitments invites all stakeholders, to step forward and support the objectives of the EIP by communicating and sharing their ideas and plans for actions at the interface of energy, transport and information and communication technologies. We welcome existing initiatives as well as ambitions for the future.
Bringing together innovative ideas and actions from across Europe this way will help develop a dynamic market place for innovation exchange and partnering to the benefit of cities, citizens and companies. The Invitation for Commitments is distinct and independent from Calls under Horizon 2020; it is not a funding instrument.
Why submit a commitment?
Often, cities or companies have good ideas but struggle to find the right partners. This leads to delays and creates additional costs. Becoming part of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities is all about finding the right partners, facilitating synergies between city authorities and companies together with other stakeholders so that also access to finance becomes facilitated.
Submitting a commitment offers several opportunities for learning, partnering, efficiency gains and new creation of new business:
- promote your actions on a European scale
- engage with others to get new ideas and feedback on your actions
- learn from others and exchanges best practices
- partner with others to jointly shape new or expanding existing projects , create cost savings and attract private sector funding
How to submit a commitment?
You are encouraged to take a look at the Strategic Implementation Plan and identify those priority areas that you would like to contribute to. The Operational Implementation Plan spells out each of these areas in some greater detail and also lists a number of specific potential actions in each area; these potential actions can serve as guidance and inspiration, but also Commitments beyond the actions listed in the Operational Implementation Plan are welcome. The actual submission process for a Commitment is simple and done via an online application form.
More information and the online application form can be found here
The deadline for applications is 15 June 2014
The third Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) study tour will take place in Murcia on 5-6 May 2014. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities will be shown the projects that Murcia is carrying out to fulfil its GDC commitments. Participants will learn from the host city through short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions with city officials and experts. Visitors will leave the study tour with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm to implement green digital projects in their own cities.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors. In future, study tours will be advertised on the Green Digital Charter website.
More details about the programme can be found here.
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
The second Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) study tour was hosted by Birmingham on 27-28 February 2014. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities learnt about the projects that Birmingham is carrying out to fulfil its GDC commitments. Short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions were organised to various project sites and venues of the city.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors. In future, study tours will be advertised on the Green Digital Charter website.
Presentations:
Green Digital Charter study tour welcome
Birmingham highways maintenance and management service
Letting suites and the customer journey: part1 & part2
Saving energy in Europe’s public buildings using ICT
Digital Birmingham presentation video
To look at the study tour programme, click here.
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
More pictures follow:
Glasgow has joined 41 major cities from 17 countries in signing up to the European Green Digital Charter.
Part of the EUROCITIES and Networking Intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) initiative, the charter, supported by the European Commission, focuses on using and sharing information communication technology (ICT) to help create sustainable low carbon societies.
The charter supports the council’s sustainability agenda already being pursued through Sustainable Glasgow and FutureCities.
By signing the charter, Glasgow commits to using digital technologies to reduce the city’s overall carbon footprint – while reducing the carbon footprint of ICT in the city.
The three essential commitments require working with other signatories on ICT and energy efficiency, deploying five large scale ’ICT for energy efficiency’ pilots within five years of signing up, and decreasing ICT’s direct carbon footprint by 30% within 10 years of signing up.
The benefits to Glasgow of signing the charter are:
- The charter is strongly supported by the European Commission’s DG CONNECT and will provide a competitive edge in future smart city funding
- Glasgow will benefit from networking with European digital pioneer cities and knowledge exchange among fellow signatories
- Cities are supported by the Networking Intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency project offering a toolkit for monitoring and reporting the Green ICT progress of cities
- The EC has cited the charter as a criterion for city participation in the annual EU-China urbanisation summits and related EC-sponsored collaboration
- Glasgow’s profile on digital and climate work will be enhanced by inclusion as a signatory city in high-visibility publications and events.
Glasgow already has aspirations to become one of the most sustainable cities in Europe and is currently working on a number of actions that fit this agenda including work on energy efficiency, transport and innovative technology.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “Signing the Green Digital Charter is a clear sign of Glasgow’s commitment to becoming a sustainable city.
“The signing this charter clearly demonstrates, on the European stage, of our city’s green agenda. It also supports the city’s commitment to national and international trade development issues.
“It is a declaration eventually committing well in excess of 100 European cities, to work in partnership to deliver on the EU climate objectives through intelligent use of ICT.
“A strong environmental agenda will promote positive impacts in terms of tourism, business and prestige, particularly with regards to the city’s ambition to become one of Europe’s most sustainable cities.”
Glasgow joins other UK signatories including Manchester, Bristol and Sunderland.
The UrbanTec Asia Conference at CIFTIS 2014 will be held at the China National Convention Center from 29-30 May 2014 in Beijing, China. The event is preceded by two editions of UrbanTec China in 2012 and 2013, which were widely recognized by the industry for its international influence, professionalism and authoritativeness. In 2014, the event is renamed as UrbanTec Asia to further its global vision and fortify the high-level platform for “New Concepts and Smart Ideas” to energize the era of new urbanization.
By international standards, smart city has been defined as an advanced stage of urban development, as assurance of fine technologies and quality services being applied to improve urban environment and livelihood. In a smart city where the people are truly cared for, governance and service will be more efficient whereas the industries will be upgraded to a higher level.
UrbanTec Asia 2014 will inherit the integrated framework of a high-level conference and brand showcase, supported by a series of press conferences, business matching and media activities, as an effort to provide a high-end, efficient and quality platform of knowledge exchange and business promotion. With contributions from leading experts, the Conference will focus on the core industries in smart city, such as urban development models, information and communication technologies, intelligent transportation systems and smart buildings with energy efficiency. Speakers representing government authorities, entrepreneurs and opinion leaders will gather at UrbanTec Asia to discuss current trends and solutions to pressing urban issues. The Conference has received positive feedback and full support from government bodies and associations worldwide, including the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, EUROCITIES, KNX (Worldwide STANDARD for Home and Building Control), foreign embassies in China, China Communications Industry Association (Internet Of Things Application Branch), China Intelligent Transportation Systems Association, China Exploration and Design Association and Z-Park Internet of Things Industry Alliance.
The Brand Showcase at UrbanTec Asia 2014 will again bring together model smart cities and leading enterprises to present state-of-the-art technologies and services as well as accomplishments with the aim to encourage interactions among exhibitors and visitors and to brand the cities and enterprises to the targeted audience. A delegation led by the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will demonstrate the innovative projects of urban services. Top 500 companies like SIEMENS, Bayer, SAMSUNG and NEC will actively participate and present their latest breakthroughs in technologies and services. In addition, model smart cities and associations, including domestic representatives, will concentrate to present the past and the future of smart city.
For more information, please visit www.urbantecchina.com
EUROCITIES (responsible for the Green Digital Charter and coordinator of the FP7-NiCE project) and Koelnmesse (organiser of the conference) have agreed to cooperate in the frame of the UrbanTec Asia Conference at CIFTIS 2014 that will take place on 29-30 May 2014 in Beijing, China.
Apart for a partnership in the promotion of the event, EUROCITIES will participate in two sessions: “Global smart city dialogue” that will focus on overall planning in a smart city and “The IOT and digital city” where the contribution of the Green Digital Charter and best examples of European cities will be presented.
Moreover, a high-level expert from one European city (tba) will travel to Beijing and give concrete examples of how cities can tackle sustainability challenges.
You can read more about the UrbanTec Asia Conference here
The second study tour of the “Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE)” project will take place in Birmingham on 27-28 February 2014. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities will be shown the projects that Birmingham is implementing with regard to its GDC commitments. Participants will learn from the host city through short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions. Visitors will leave the study tour with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm to implement green digital projects in their own cities.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors.
You can see the draft agenda of the study tour here
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
EUROCITIES and the NiCE project (Networking intelligent Cities for Energy efficiency) co-organised a successful project brokerage event on 11 December 2013 in Brussels. More than 60 city representatives were able to exchange ideas and find partners for future projects under the Horizon 2020 smart cities and communities call.
Horizon 2020 is the new funding programme for research and innovation, which allocates €92.32 million in 2014 and €108.18 million in 2015 for smart city projects.
Norela Constantinescu, technical officer at DG ENERGY, provided EUROCITIES members with first-hand information on the call which stimulated a lively question and answer session.
Cities wishing to become involved in lighthouse projects were invited to consider smart city solutions that are replicable on a European scale and that have a holistic approach to the three pillars of the call: low energy districts, integrated infrastructure and sustainable mobility.
Speakers from Florence, Mannheim, Nice Cote D’Azur, Cologne, Munich and Stockholm presented their project ideas and discussed them with other cities with similar interests.
The presentation of current smart cities projects, “Step up” and “Celsius” helped participants to draw useful lessons from the FP7 smart cities programme as was the presentation of the EUROCITIES-led projects NiCE and the Green Digital Charter, which supports cities in establishing monitoring and reporting tools to reduce their ICT carbon footprint.
All the presentations from the project brokerage event are accessible on the EUROCITIES member’s area at http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/publications/Presentations-EUROCITIES-project-brokerage-event-on-Horizon2020-Smart-Cities-Call-WSPO-9ECKSG
Our projects team is currently working on the funding briefs for all the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges calls which will be disseminated as of this week.
The funding brief for the smart cities and communities call – lighthouse projects is already available on the EUROCITIES member’s area at http://eurocities.eu/eurocities/funding_briefs/Horizon2020-SCC1-2014-2015-Smart-Cities-and-Communities-call-Lighthouse-projects-
The event was kindly hosted by Gothenburg’s European office.
The first Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) study tour was hosted by Vienna on 5-6 December 2013. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities learnt about the projects that Vienna is carrying out to fulfil its GDC commitments. Short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions were organised to various project sites and venues of the Vienna city.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors. In future, study tours will be advertised on the Green Digital Charter website.
Presentations:
Smart city Vienna and the role of the “Wiener Stadtwerke”
Aspern – Vienna’s urban lakeside
Danube island – Urban design of the middle part
Communicating the “smart city Wien”
Danube University Krems – Smart cities & smart ICT: part1 & part2
To look at the study tour programme, click here.
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
More pictures follow:
The third NiCE roadshow took place in Amsterdam on 13-15 November 2013. The event focused on the public-private cooperation on Green Digital Charter commitments. Speakers included Nicola Villa from Cisco, Marleen Stikker from Waag Society, Hans Tijl from the city of Amsterdam, Paul Bevan, secretary general of EUROCITIES and Philipp Barth from DG CONNECT.
The plenary session also included presentations about the Green Digital Charter and smart cities (Dave Carter – Manchester, Nikolas Kontinakis – EUROCITIES & Vin Sumner – Clicks & Links) a discussion about the smart cities and communities with the participation of Paul Bevan, Dave Carter and Johan Bouwmeester (city of Almere) and a presentation about EU-China collaboration from Shaun Topham from eu-forum.
Finally, study visits and presentations focused on Amsterdam’s smart projects and implementation of the Green Digital Charter.
For more information
Read more: Green Digital roadshows – bit.ly/NLuhdh
For more information regarding the Green Digital Charter, visit http://www.greendigitalcharter.eu/ or email nikolaos.kontinakis@eurocities.eu
Introduction
The first Green Digital Charter awards were announced during the NiCE roadshow in Amsterdam on 14 and 15 November.
The Green Digital Charter (GDC) awards are designed to recognise outstanding achievement by GDC signatory cities in their effort to work together to deliver on the EU climate objectives using digital technologies that increase energy efficiency, facilitate emissions reductions and forestall climate change. Under this scheme, cities have been asked to:
- Describe tools that they have used and projects that they have designed or implemented
- Assess their own progress
- Measure their ICT direct carbon footprint
The three categories of awards and the respective winners are:
Best effort in ICT carbon footprint reduction – Linkoping, Sweden
The award highlights cities that are working towards the respective GDC commitment based on:
- Reduction target achieved so far
- Use (quality of data) of the GDC ICT carbon footprint tool
- Use (frequency) of the GDC ICT carbon footprint tool
Starting in 2004, Linkoping implemented specific policies for the full life cycle of ICT equipment (procurement – use – disposal). The ability to accurately measure the energy consumption of the ICT equipment, thus being able to calculate energy costs and carbon footprint can give valuable knowledge and help decision making.
The best example of the results of this effort is that we have proven that by installing energy efficient equipment, between 2008 and 2013 we managed to reduce the total ICT energy consumption even though the number of ICT equipment has been doubled.
Best GDC project – Genoa, Italy
The award highlights cities that are working towards the respective GDC commitment based on
- Performance indicators of the project
- Innovation of the project
- Use of the GDC reporting tools
VERYSchool is a result-oriented project funded by the EC, focusing on pilot actions around the tool VSNavigator. The latter is an energy management and decision-making tool, customised for schools and the objective to drive, both at local (school unit) and regional (network of schools) level:
- The whole chain of stakeholders in the definition of an Energy Management Programme according to the ISO 50001
- Users in the implementation of an effective Energy Management System
Best set of GDC projects – Bristol, UK
The award highlights cities that are working in a systematic way for a green digital/smart future based on
- Performance indicators of the projects (combined performance)
- Existence of an encompassing strategic plan
- Diversity of projects’ scope
- Use of the GDC reporting tools
Bristol aims to be in the top 20 European cities by 2020 and has made a clear commitment to create a world-class and inclusive green-digital economy. Smart City Bristol is a collaborative programme between the public sector, business and community which builds upon the city’s digital infrastructure. The aim is to use smart technologies to meet the ambitious target to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2020 from a 2005 baseline, and the wider social and economic objectives. It was launched in 2011 and builds upon the Smart City Bristol Report commissioned by Bristol City Council and funded by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. Bristol’s Smart City Programme has focused on 3 key areas to date:
- Smart energy
- Smart transport
- Smart data
The moment for the announcement of the first Green Digital Charter awards (2013, http://bit.ly/14s3WfL) is approaching.
During the 3rd NiCE roadshow in Amsterdam (14-15 November, http://bit.ly/19C1r8J) the winner cities will be known.
The awards were created in an effort to further motivate cities use the NiCE toolkit (http://bit.ly/17XC2a6) and share knowledge with other signatories. Under this scheme, cities have been asked to:
- Describe tools that they have used and projects that they have designed or implemented
- Assess their own progress
- Measure their ICT direct carbon footprint
Based on the received applications, the shortlisted cities are:
- Best effort in ICT carbon footprint reduction: Linkoping (Sweden)
- Best GDC pilot project: Bristol (UK), Genoa (Italy)
- Best set of GDC pilot projects: Bristol (UK)
The IREEN roadmap shows how ICT can support and enable energy efficiency in neighbourhoods in both urban and rural areas. The steps in the roadmap cover short, mid and long-term actions in neighbourhood planning, buildings & infrastructure, transport, energy production, storage and management, and the overarching role of people involvement. In the IREEN Reference Guide you can read the full roadmap, visionary scenarios and interviews with city representatives on learning and best practice. There is also an introduction to the IREEN Toolkit, which will assist the public and private sector in the implementation of the roadmap outcomes.
You can download a full copy of the Reference Guide at: www.ireenproject.eu
You can also join the eeCities Wiki in the EU webgate. Here you will find more project details, such as city interview summaries, and links to related projects in the field of energy-efficient neighbourhoods. Please register at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas
The first Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) study tour takes place in Vienna on 5-6 December 2013. Visitors from Green Digital Charter signatory cities will be shown the projects that Vienna is carrying out to fulfil its GDC commitments. Participants will learn from the host city through short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions. Visitors will leave the study tour with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm to implement green digital projects in their own cities.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. They are knowledge transfer schemes that allow site visitors to interact with local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. NiCE has developed a study tour catalogue with information for hosts and visitors. In future, study tours will be advertised on the Green Digital Charter website.
To look at the draft study tour programme, click here.
For more information and links to the Study Tour Catalogue: http://bit.ly/18BT7M1
On Thursday 17 October Oisín Quinn, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, signed the Green Digital Charter making the city of Dublin the latest signatory of this important European initiative.
The signing took place, via teleconference connection, during the ceremonial knowledge society forum meeting of EUROCITIES (20 years of the forum) in Manchester where the Lord Mayor was welcomed by Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council.
The number of major European cities that have signed the Green Digital Charter is now 41, eleven of which are capital cities.
For more information regarding the Green Digital Charter, visit http://www.greendigitalcharter.eu/ or email info@greendigitalcharter.eu.
Three more major European cities have expressed their commitment to fight climate change by using information and communication technologies (ICT). City leaders from Gdynia (Poland), Riga (Latvia) and Sunderland (UK) signed in Brussels on Tuesday 08 October the Green Digital Charter which commits cities to reducing emissions through ICT and to promoting progress in tackling climate change through the innovative use of digital technologies in cities.
The number of cities that have signed the Green Digital Charter goes up to 40, ten of which are capital cities.
During the signing event, the chairman of Gdynia City Council, Stanislaw Szwabski, said:
“During the last 10 years, the city of Gdynia has developed and is implementing a clear strategic plan that will create a durable, socially accepted and ecologically safe city development. Signing of the Green Digital Charter is a clear statement of our commitment to use ICT towards this vision.”
Mayor of Riga, Nils Usakovs, said:
“The City of Riga has set ambitious targets for its citizens and the environment. We work closely with the European Commission, our representation in Brussels and Riga Energy Agency as well as with major European and regional city networks for the improvement of our citizens’ quality of life. Green Digital Charter will yield many opportunities to do precisely this!”
Leader of Sunderland, Cllr Paul Watson said:
“Sunderland has a longstanding commitment to managing carbon emissions and as a city at the forefront of digital developments, we’re committed to using ICT as a tool to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
As a growing centre for low carbon software companies and the first in the UK to offer wall to wall superfast broadband, we are working with IBM as their first UK Smarter City. We believe cities like Sunderland are well placed to play a significant role in finding innovative solutions to dealing with climate change. Signing the Green Digital Charter is an important step along the way to achieving future smart sustainability for our city.”
The City of Amsterdam will host the third Green Digital Charter Roadshow on 14-15 November:
Green Digital Charter Roadshow
Public-private cooperation on Green Digital Charter commitments
Roadshows are visibility and networking events organised under the NiCE project with the purpose of increasing the visibility of the Green Digital Charter and enabling the fostering of partnerships between signatory cities, European Institutions and other relevant stakeholders. (More information)
This third roadshow is organised by the City of Amsterdam in combination with other technology and digital development events with a special focus on public-private cooperation on GDC commitments.
More information and detailed programme can be found here.
You can register here!
Related news and webpages:
The City of Amsterdam will host the third Green Digital Charter Roadshow on 14-15 November:
Green Digital Charter Roadshow
Public-private cooperation on Green Digital Charter commitments
Roadshows are visibility and networking events organised under the NiCE project with the purpose of increasing the visibility of the Green Digital Charter and enabling the fostering of partnerships between signatory cities, European Institutions and other relevant stakeholders. (More information)
This third roadshow is organised by the City of Amsterdam in combination with other technology and digital development events on 11-15 November 2013 with a special focus on public-private cooperation on GDC commitments.
You can register here!
Download:
- Presentations:
Related articles on website:
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November 5, 2013
Radisson BLU Lietuva Hotel
Vilnius, Lithuania
Conference flyer
The project Final Conference is taking place at a crucial time for the development of new instruments for EU-China cooperation including collaboration in science, technology and innovation (through the launch of the new EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation). Within this context, one of the main highlight of the conference will be the formulation of a EU-China ICT Cooperation Plan presenting the potential for collaboration in ICT research between Europe and China to be released by the OpenChina-ICT project including a set of recommendations to policy makers on how to better foster EU-China collaboration in the future.
The Conference will focus on EU-China ICT cooperation opportunities and will build upon the results of the OpenChina-ICT project. It will include a first session on EU-China collaboration status and perspectives with the participation of other EU-China initiatives, a second session on cooperation priorities in ICT among the two regions in which the main findings of the OpenChina-ICT project will be presented with the involvement of the EU-China Expert Groups. The third session will aim to provide recommendations and suggestions for EU-China successful ICT research cooperation and will be led by a panel discussion of experts.
Registration is free of charge but compulsory due to room capacity constraints, click here to register.
Public service information is the single largest source of information in Europe. Public authorities produce large amounts of official data that can provide a basis for new, innovative services and applications. This data, according to the European Commission, has an estimated market value of about €40 billion.
Can the opening of this huge amount of data foster the creation of tools and solutions that will turn European cities more “smart”?
We hope that cities will take advantage of the GDC platform and share ideas, tools and activities that can make the difference!
After clear feedback for the signatory cities, the template that will be used for reporting the Green Digital Charter activities (projects) is being developed in a way that matches the template that will be used for the Covenant of Mayors reporting.
During the last year NiCE project has been in a constant communication with the CoM Office in an attempt to build a reporting template that will follow the one that will be used after 2014 for the Covenant of Mayors. This way, cities will need to work for reporting their activities/projects in one of the initiatives and just copy & paste to report for the other.
According to the work under way, the Action Framework of the Green Digital Charter will be an integral part of the Toolkit mechanics.
Using the classification system of the Action Framework, cities will be able to identify areas, types & roles of ICT activity in which they need to put more effort in the way to becoming Smart Cities.
On 28 January, the second training of the NiCE project took place in Brussels focusing on the Green Digital Toolkit, the online platform developed by the NiCE project as a main tool for cities in the roll-out of their green digital measures.
The project partners have presented the different functionalities of the toolkit, showing to cities representatives how they can benefit at best of this platform and also letting them test it first hand by sharing tools and activities of their own city.
The city of Linkoping, part of the reference group of the project, has presented how they have already benefitted of the platform, the initiatives shared so far and potential outcomes they expect from the toolkit.
The 23 participants from 15 cities had thence the chance to test live the new platform and suggest last modification before its finalisation expected in June 2013.
Download: visit the “Document from events” resource session to download agenda, presentations and other images of the training
On 28 January 2013, in occasion of its second training, the NiCE (Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency) project has launched the Green Digital Toolkit to all cities.
The Toolkit is an online platform designed to provide cities with a central resource for city-level actions towards the Green Digital Charter. It indeed enables cities to browse and share activities information and tools, exchange with each other, monitor the status in the Charter implementation and compare it with against the Covenant of Mayors reporting procedures.
Originally conceived for Green Digital Charter cities only, the Toolkit is nevertheless accessible from everyone: future signatory cities, relevant stakeholders and single citizens. It is indeed separated into public areas and private ones, to which the Charter signatories only have access. While everyone can browse the list and access the reporting and access tools, signatory cities can access additional features:
- sharing details of green and digital tools and activities from their own city;
- rate, comment and collect the tools uploaded by other cities;
- review and monitor their activities in relation to the Green Digital Charter and the Covenant of Mayors;
- post related questions and requests and exchange with other signatories.
Signatory cities can ask for their login details by sending an email to: info@greendigitalcharter.eu.
Recent tools posted by cities include a mobile phone app for travelling on public transport (Linkoping), advice on state aid issues relating to broadband rollout (Manchester) and home energy management systems (Warsaw).
The toolkit is available through the Green Digital Charter and NiCE project portal: www.greendigitalcharter.eu/toolkit
The City of Nuremberg will host the second Green Digital Charter Roadshow next 14th March:
Green Digital Charter Roadshow
Financing and policy for smart and sustainable cities
Roadshows are visibility and networking events organised under the NiCE project with the purpose of increasing the visibility of the Green Digital Charter and enabling the fostering of partnerships between signatory cities, European Institutions and other relevant stakeholders. (More information)
The second of a series of three events, this roadshow is organised by the City of Nuremberg in combination with the EUROCITIES Joint Knowledge Society and Environment Forums Members Meeting on 13-15 March 2013 with a special focus on financing and policy for smart and sustainable cities.
More information and detailed programme coming soon.
Related news and items:
- 2nd NiCE roadshow in Nuremberg: “Financing and policy for smart and sustainable cities”. Register now!
- NiCE Roadshows
In its goal of supporting cities in developing green digital measures, NiCE has developed a green digital library available in the resource section of the Green Digital Charter website: www.greendigitalcharter.eu/resources/library
This library aims at being a central access point for information on:
- FUNDINGS – through downloadable funding fiches developed by the NiCE project summarising key aspects of the main funding opportunities currently available for cities
- POLICY – providing a list of related policy documents, classified according to different application areas of green digital measures
- Buildings
- Green ICT
- Energy
- Public lighting
- Transport
- Cross domain
- Other sectors
- EU-China
Next 28 January, the NiCE project will organise its second training for cities in connection with the winter Knowledge Society Forum taking place in Brussels.
Register now: ksf2013-nicetraining2.eventbrite.com
Green Digital Toolkit - preview
The NiCE training will focus on the Green Digital Toolkit, an online platform developed by the NiCE project as a main tool for cities in the roll-out of their Green Digital Charter commitments.
This platform, to be launched in January 2013, will enable cities to browse and share project and tools, exchange with each other, monitor their status in the Charter implementation, measure ICT carbon footprint and link the Charter activity to the Covenant of Mayor.
This training session will show cities how to:
- search the toolkit for tools
- assess their city’s green and digital activity
- share details of their own projects and tools
Each city will be provided with their own login to the toolkit where they will be able to collect favourite tools, capture their progress on the Charter, discuss experiences with other cities and share tools.
Although being mainly addressing Charter signatories, all cities are welcome to attend as the toolkit can be a useful support for green and/or digital cities action as a whole. Participants representing Green Digital Charter signatory cities will have their travel and accommodation costs reimbursed .
A limited number of laptops / iPads will be available for use, although participants are recommended to bring their own, together with a datastick or links to a website containing their material to share.
Download here:
Related items:
The City of Amsterdam was the winner of the City Award at the second edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress, held November 14 in Barcelona, Spain. Amsterdam’s winning submission was an innovative Open Data Program for transport and mobility, with the motto: “We the data, you the apps.” The program, as part of the Amsterdam Smart City Approach, aims at making Amsterdam more accessible through opening public data to optimize mobility and transportation.
Amsterdam, also one of the signatory cities of the Green Digital Charter, is now working on making traffic and transportation data publicly available, in the hope that the open data will stimulate innovation for new products and mobile services to make trips more efficient whilst improving the accessibility of the city.Examples of new apps that have been created are Parkshark (Glimworm) and Bike Like a Local.
Download:
- Agenda
- Presentations:
See the exhibition website: www.smartcityexhibition.it
Related articles on website:
Next 28 January, the NiCE project will organise its second training for cities in connection with the winter Knowledge Society Forum taking place in brussels.
Green Digital Toolkit - preview
The NiCE training will focus on the Green Digital Toolkit, an online platform developed by the NiCE project as a main tool for cities in the roll-out of their Green Digital Charter commitments.
This platform, to be launched in January 2013, will enable cities to browse and share project and tools, exchange with each other, monitor their status in the Charter implementation, measure ICT carbon footprint and link the Charter activity to the Covenant of Mayor.
This training session will show cities how to:
- search the toolkit for tools
- assess their city’s green and digital activity
- share details of their own projects and tools
Each city will be provided with their own login to the toolkit where they will be able to collect favourite tools, capture their progress on the Charter, discuss experiences with other cities and share tools.
Although being mainly addressing Charter signatories, all cities are welcome to attend as the toolkit can be a useful support for green and/or digital cities action as a whole. Participants representing Green Digital Charter signatory cities will have their travel and accommodation costs reimbursed .
A limited number of laptops / iPads will be available for use, although participants are recommended to bring their own, together with a datastick or links to a website containing their material to share.
More information, including detailed agenda, logistics, registration and reimbursement rules, will be provided soon.
Related items:
- Edinburgh and Turin sign the Green Digital Charter. From left: Enzo Lavolta, Turin; Donald Wilson, Edinburgh; Paul Bevan, EUROCITIES; Nigel Murphy, Manchester
One week only after the last Green Digital Charter signature, two more cities have agreed to adhere to our initiative.
The cities of Edinburgh (UK) and Turin (Italy), have joined our initiative last 8 November, raising the number of signatories to 34. The Green Digital Charter signatories altogether now represent about 20 million citizens across 14 European countries.
Lord Provost Donald Wilson signed for Edinburgh while Turin was represented by Councillor for Environment Enzo lavolta.
The signature has taken place in Nantes in occasion of the 2012 Annual Conference of EUROCITIES in front of Paul Bevan, EUROCITIES secretary general, and Nigel Murphy, Manchester deputy mayor and newly elected vice chair of the Knowledge Society Forum of EUROCITIES.
The European Commission’s Environment Directorate-General has issued a new brochure titled “Green Public Procurement: A collection of good practices”, illustrating how European local authorities successfully launched green tenders and providing guidance to those wishing to do the same.
We are proud that two of the twelve examples provided comes from Green Digital Charter signatories: Barcelona and Stockholm.
Stockholm in particular presents its strategy for an environmentally friendly office IT equipment, confirming the city commitment of reducing the environmental impact of ICT undertook signing the Charter.
In 2010, Stockholm County Council introduced stringent new environmental requirements for purchasing computers. The new stipulations include low energy consumption, the use of recycled plastic in new products and eliminating lead, mercury and halogenated flame retardants from new computers.
Have a look at this interesting case on the brochure to know more about the criteria used for awarding the tender, the results, the environmental impact and lessons learned.
Green Digital Charter signatories. From left: David Hopkins, Milton Keynes; Tommaso Sodano, Naples; Merce Griera i Fisa, EC - DG Connect; Andreea Strachinescu, EC - DG Energy; Paul Bevan, EUROCITIES; Nigel Murphy, Manchester; Antonio Cantatore, Bari; Ivo Rossi, Padua.
On 31 October, Bologna hosted the first Roadshow of the NiCE (Networking intelligent cities for energy efficiency) project. The event, focussing on enabling technologies for energy efficiency, has been held in context of the Smart Cities Exhibition organised under the patronage of the city.
The roadshow was the setting for a Green Digital Charter signing ceremony during which four new cities demonstrated their commitment to using ICT to reduce their carbon footprint.
The Italian cities of Bari, Naples and Padua and the British city of Milton Keynes joined the 28 large European municipalities that have already signed the Green Digital Charter. The 32 signatories altogether now represent 18 million citizens across 14 European countries.
Representing the city of Bari, director Antonio Cantatore has declared that the natural equation of ICT is energy efficiency and saving. Councillor David Hopkins has declared that the Charter is a motivation for the city of Milton Keynes to continue their work towards energy efficiency: “we are well on target but we need to cooperate with other cities fighting climate change as we do”. The vice mayor of Naples, Tommaso Sodano, had underlined how the objectives of the Charter are reachable only with the support and cooperation of all actors of the city: public administrations, enterprises and citizens. Finally, for the city of Padova vice mayor Ivo Rossi has declared that the Charter is a new Challenge to include to other actions within the Covenant of Mayors and to promote to neighbouring towns and cities.
Mercè Griera-I-Fisa of DG CONNECT has congratulated and welcomed the four new signstories, confirming the support of the European Commission to this initiative.
The event, focusing on enabling technologies for energy efficiency, has been hosted by the city of Bologna held in context of the Smart Cities Exhibition. This has been a great occasion to learn from local experiences of the city of Bologna, signatory of the Green Digital Charter since February 2010.
The day, moderated by EUROCITIES secretary general Paul Bevan, included speaches from local representatives from the hosting city and region and their implementation partners: the city of Manchester, the Austrian Institute of Technology and Stuttgart university.
The Green Digital Roadshows networking events will go on in 2013 to continue fostering partnerships between signatory cities, European Institutions and other relevant stakeholders. The second of three appointments will take place in Nuremberg in March 2013 in connection of a joint meeting of the Environment and Knowledge Society Forums of EUROCITIES .
Have a look at the profile of our new signatories, with contact and information:
Four new cities will sign the Green Digital Charter in occasion of the first roadshow organised on 31st October by the NiCE project with the City of Bologna within the Smart City Exhibition.
Register now here to find out which cities will join our initiative!
This will be the occasion to exchange on the enabling role of technology for energy efficiency, hearing technical and political presentations of local and international experiences and analysing the path from the Covenant of Mayors commitments to a smart city.
More information:
- about the roadshow in Bologna – see the event programme
- about the roadshow programme of the NiCE project
On October 16 2012 we provided our video message about the Green Digital Charter: ICT for Sustainable Cities to the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) workshop “Connected City- the Greener Future” in Shenzhen, China.
The one-day event examined how the deployment of ICT solutions in sectors such as energy, housing and transport can turn the challenges of today’s cities into opportunities for greening the world economy.
More specifically, the events objectives were to:
- Draw attention to the potential of ICT to address sustainability challenges
- Showcase state-of-the-art ICT solutions in areas like transport, energy and housing, highlighting the efficiencies that can be achieved
- Encourage Chinese companies to become engaged in the climate effort by making the business case for developing smart ICT solutions
- Raise excitement amongst local policymakers through relevant research
You can view our contribution here
SMARTSPACES aims to public authorities in Europe to significantly improve energy management in the buildings they occupy by using ICT
Europe’s building sector represents a huge, largely untapped potential for energy saving. The new SMARTSPACES project will address this by enabling public authorities in Europe to significantly improve energy management in the buildings they occupy.
The project will be implemented in 11 pilot sites with more than 550 buildings in the Green Digital Charter cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Murcia but also in other large and mid-sized cities like Milan, Leicester, Istanbul, Belgrade, Hagen, Lleida, Venlo and Moulins. This will reach almost 20,000 professionals and staff users and more than 6,000,000 visitors annually. SMARTSPACES will provide an energy optimisation service which will exploit the potential of ICT including smart metering for significant energy saving in city administration buildings, office buildings, museums, university buildings but also schools, nurseries and sports and event centres.
The city authorities are expected to benefit directly through reductions in the time they need to manage the heating plants and prepare renovation investment decisions. Indirect benefits will come through the strong improvement of their economic situation through drastic energy consumption and cost reductions resulting from an optimised operation of the heating plants and electricity systems in their buildings.
ChartyFor more information, please visit www.smartspaces.eu. Download the SMARTSPACES brochure and the first newsletter.
NiCE will host a speed networking session during the EUROCITIES Annual Conference in Nantes on the morning of 9 November 2012. The session will present the Green Digital Charter and include a short demonstration of the tools developed to assist cities in implementing their commitments.
The session aims to address concerns and answer questions such as: what benefits are there for potential signatories in the short and long term? How does signing the Green Digital Charter help cities with their overall environmental targets? How does being a signatory complement other projects or initiatives cities might already be involved in, e.g. the Covenant of Mayors?
Each speed networking session will last 30 minutes; with 15 minutes for the presentation and 15 minutes for questions. There will be two speed networking sessions on the Green Digital Charter in total, hosted by the city of Malmo and EUROCITIES.
Cities will soon be able to organize green digital study tours under the NiCE project.
Study tours consist of a one to three day visit to a host city, during which visitors are shown green digital measures that the host is undertaking to fulfill their commitments to the Green Digital Charter. They are knowledge transfer schemes that offer the possibility for site visitors to interact with key local stakeholders and see how projects are implemented in reality. (More information)
During the study tour, visiting participants (officers and/or politicians) are able to learn from the host city by means of short presentations, site visits and peer-to-peer discussions.The success of a study tour is measured by a meaningful exchange of best practices, and mutual learning; both the visiting and host cities can be inspired by the others’ experiences and expertise. The final aim is that the visitor leaves with fresh ideas and renewed vigour to implement green digital projects in their own city.
Study tours fall under the second area of action of the NiCE project: exchange and learning activities. In line with this, NiCE has developed a Study Tour catalogue, presenting the offers from nine Charter signatories who have agreed to host visits in their cities.
Have a look at cities’ offers on the Green Digital Charter Study Tour Catalogue!
If you are interested in hosting a study tour, have a look also at our Resource Pack with information for hosts.
Time is fast approaching in the lead-up to the NiCE project’s first Roadshow: Green Digital Charter for Smart Cities: enabling technologies for energy efficiency.
The Roadshow will take place on Wednesday 31 October, within the framework of the Smart Cities Exhibition hosted by the City of Bologna from 29-31 October.
This Roadshow will offer an occasion for Green Digital Charter signatories and interested cities to network with each other, European Institutions and industries. It is also a chance to increase the visibility and profile of their cities. Last but not least, the event presents an opportunity for cities to demonstrate their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint using ICT by signing the Green Digital Charter! (More information on the benefits of becoming a signatory and how to become a signatory.)
The event will be divided into three sessions in the morning before moving to the exhibition closure in the afternoon:
- Keynote speech delivered by Pier Paolo Maggiora on the Smart City: the infrastructure of the future
- Plenary session on the subject of the Covenant of Mayors and Sustainable Action Plans: the path towards smart cities including: Green Digital Charter signature ceremony
- Green Digital Charter for Smart Cities: enabling technology for energy savings, with speakers from local authorities as well as technical experts
Please click here to view a draft agenda of the event, which includes links to the registration pages for the different sessions.
More information:
- About the Smart Cities Exhibition and to register to other events, please visit the exhibition website
- About the Green Digital Charter Roadshows
As announced last March at the official ceremony, Bologna has won the European Mobility Week Award for 2011 beating Larnaca and Zagreb, the other two finalists.
Bologna won over the European Mobility Week jury by organising a Car Free weekend instead of just one day. The permanent measures implemented included building charging points for electric cars and a plan to extend the city’s network of cycling paths to 130 km. The municipal authorities invited citizens to contribute their views to the plan during Mobility Week. Bologna also set up a large car-free zone at the heart of the city for the week. This pedestrian area was open to street performers, retailers and sports associations and as the initiative attracted over 60 000 visitors, the city authorities have decided to repeat it in future events. The city also organised numerous bike tours, bicycle workshops and self-repair stands, games, walks and an exhibition on electric cars.
To celebrate this award and just at the end of the European Mobility Week, Bologna has launched a brand new video. Have a look!
Who will be next? Applications open until 1 November!
Wang Shaoyu presenting the digital agenda of the City of Yantai
The NiCE project hosted a session on ‘Green Digital Agenda in Smart Cities – European and Chinese cities leading by examples’ during the East-Meets-West congress and exhibition on innovation and entrepreneurship in Cyprus on 1-4 September. Organised by the European Office of Cyprus under the Cypriot presidency, the event aimed to promote and implement new tools for effective collaboration between business and academia.
The session was moderated by Luc Bas, European office director of The Climate Group, and included an introduction to the NiCE project and Green Digital Charter and a presentation of the EU-China partnership by Pedro Ballesteros Torres from the European Commission. The cities of Manchester, Amsterdam and Yantai presented their green digital activities, highlighting common approaches and cooperation strategies. European and Chinese smart cities were able to share visions of green digital development, discuss best practice and exchange information on achieving substantial, sustainable results on a global scale. The session was important for deepening the EU-China cooperation under the NiCE project.
See:
Documents from event (including session agenda and presentations)
NiCE activities on EU-China cooperation
The City of Bologna, signatory of the Green Digital Charter since February 2010, will host the first Green Digital Charter Roadshow next 31st October:
Green Digital Charter for smart cities
Enabling technologies for energy efficiency
Roadshows are visibility and networking events organised under the NiCE project with the purpose of increasing the visibility of the Green Digital Charter and enabling the fostering of partnerships between signatory cities, European Institutions and other relevant stakeholders. (More information)
The first of a series of three events, this roadshow is organised by the City of Bologna in cooperation with ForumPA and with the support of the NiCE project consortium. It set in context of the Smart Cities Exhibition taking place in Bologna on 29-31 October and it will focus on the role of ICT to trigger and support cities in tackling climate change.
More information and detailed programme coming soon.
A study commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change recently revealed that over half the population is unaware of the existence of smart meters.
source: EurActiv.com
Over 51% of the 2,396 energy bill-payers interviewed by the Ipsos Mori research team in Britain said they had never heard of smart meters. Only one in four said they knew at least a fair amount about the meters, 24% had heard of them but knew nothing about them, while just 2% claimed to know “a great deal”.
The study comes amid plans to roll-out smart meters in all of Britain’s 30 million households from 2014 to 2019.
The EU’s 27 member states are expected to present their national cost-benefit analyses on the deployment of smart meters to the European Commission before 3 September. These are expected to result in 80% of European consumers being equipped with intelligent metering systems by 2020.
The roll-out of smart meters could potentially transform the way energy markets operate in the EU, with customers expected to become more actively engaged in controlling their energy consumption, with the help of demand-response systems.
Smart meters display household’s energy consumption in real-time, giving users the possibility to monitor fluctuations in their energy consumption both locally and remotely – through wireless systems, the internet and smart phones.
Since households are responsible for 40% of total energy consumption, the European Commission believes smart meters will be a key element in reducing energy demand and cutting associated carbon-dioxide emissions.
[source: EurActiv.com]
On 4 September 2012 NiCE will host a session titled ‘Green Digital Agenda in Smart Cities – European and Chinese cities leading by examples’ during the East-Meets-West congress and exhibition on innovation and entrepreneurship, held in Cyprus from 1-4 September. The event is organised by the European Office of Cyprus to promote and implement new tools of effective collaboration between business and academia.
For the first time, distinguished scientists from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe will collaborate closely with the business sector to promote and implement effective collaboration between science, technology and business while sharing the common goal of harnessing the potential of entrepreneurship by transforming innovative ideas into products and services. The congress aims to improve links between scientific and business communities, promote private sector investment in science, innovation and enterprise development, encourage SMEs and scientists to exploit global knowledge resources and increase innovation financing mechanisms. Both the congress and the exhibition events are of significant importance on a local, regional and European level.
Moderated by Luc Bas, (The Climate Group, European Office director), the NiCE session will run from 10.00 – 12.30. After an introduction to the NiCE project and the Green Digital Charter and the presentation of the EU-China partnership from Pedro Ballesteros Torres (European Commission), European and Chinese smart cities will present their green digital activities, highlighiting their common approaches and strategies of cooperation. The purpose of this session is indeed to share visions of green digital development in cities, discuss best practice and exchange information to achieve substantial, sustainable results at a global scale. At the same time, the session aims at deepening the EU-China cooperation started by the NiCE project.
Session agenda: http://www.greendigitalcharter.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/EASTWEST-2012_draft-programme_12.06.22.pdf
For more information, visit the event website at www.eastmeetswest.eu.com or email giulia.campodonico@eurocities.eu.
The EU-China Mayors’ Forum, to be held on 19 and 20 September 2012 in Brussels is the first annual flagship event of the EU-China Urbanisation Partnership.
It will get together EU and Chinese Mayors, local decision-makers, city planners, business and NGOs willing to share experience in moving towards sustainable, integrated and efficient solutions. The European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao have confirmed their participation.
Co-organised by the Covenant of Mayors Office and the Chinese Association of Mayors, the Forum is supported by the European Commission’s DG Energy and the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
This first edition will mark the kick-off of annual events to be organised alternately in Europe and China. It will bring together EU and Chinese Mayors, local decision-makers, city planners, business and NGOs willing to share experience in moving towards sustainable, integrated and efficient solutions in the area of urban management.
The Forum will conclude with the signing of a cooperation Charter between European and Chinese Mayors. In addition to the high-profile political event on 20 September, thematic workshops will be organised on19 September.
In particular, the workshop “Research for Sustainable Urbanisation – Turning Challenges into Opportunities” will discuss the research dimension of the EU-China Partnership for Sustainable Urbanisation through the contributions of three initiatives supported by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation:
- The Research Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe,
- The European Energy Research Alliance Joint Programme for Smart Cities,
- The FP7-funded project URBACHINA: Sustainable Urbanisation in China: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Mega-trends towards 2050.
The event will delve into the issue of sustainable urban development in Europe and in China and it will present new approaches to addressing the challenge of urbanisation both from a technological and a socio-economic perspective. Innovative systemic and integrative solutions will be highlighted, ranging from scientific foresight and evaluation to new methodologies and implementation, with a focus on the energy field. The event will also aim to strengthen the EU-China collaboration on sustainable urbanisation in the research and policy domains, as well as to create an effective science-policy dialogue between actors from the two sides.
For more information, including the events agenda, and to register visit the conference website: www.euchinamayorsforum.eu
In case of questions please contact MEDIA CONSULTA’S conference office at EUChinaMayorsForum@media-consulta.com
Related links:
– ‘Green Digital Agenda in Smart Cities – European and Chinese cities leading by examples’ – NiCE panel at East-West conference, Nicosia, 4 September 2012
– NiCE activities to engage with Chinese cities
ITU together with TechAmerica Europe is organizing the second Green Standards Week from 17 to 21 September 2012 in Paris, with the main purpose of raising awareness of the importance and opportunities of using ICT standards to build a green economy.
Alongside other sections all highlighting the importance ICT plays in building a sustainable society, one session directly focus on cities.
Co-organised by the European Commission, the Forum on “Greener Smarter Better Cities” will first examine how cities can assess their GHG emissions and energy consumption, also providing an overview of international standards, indicators and tools for measurement.
Three Green Digital Charter signatory cities – namely Amsterdam, Manchester and Bristol – will present their experiences in measuring their ICT footprints.
The session will then discuss the need for a possible regulation versus the implementation of voluntary standards to reduce GHG emissions and energy consumption in cities.
For more information:
– ITU-EC Forum on “Greener Smarter Better Cities”
The internet is now much more than a communication system; its impacts can be felt in the socio-economic, environmental and cultural spheres. In this context, DG CORDIS’ Future Internet Research and Experimentation Initiative (FIRE) initiative was launched in 2008.
FIRE is investigating and experimentally validating innovative ideas for networking and service paradigms. Ultimately, FIRE aims to provide a framework in which European research on Future Internet can flourish and establish Europe as a key player in defining Future Internet concepts globally.
The last FP7 FIRE Call published on 10 July 2012, with a deadline of 15 January 2013. The European Commission recently released a consultation addressing the objectives, scope, and the approach of FIRE and its role in the Future Internet.
The consultation is open for input from all interested parties and aims to gather views on the role of the FIRE initiative under the Horizon 2020 funding scheme. Particularly, the consultation is looking for responses related to issues such as:
- How could we increase the interactions/exchange between the FIRE facilities and other EU projects?
- How could we improve the user experience when experimenting on the FIRE facilities?
- Taking into account Digital Agenda for Europe it is needed to develop ICT for rural and remote or otherwise communication challenged areas. We propose to develop a concept of ‘smart villages’ to fill this need.
The deadline for response to the consultation is 14 September.
Following the consultation a workshop on “FIRE in Horizon 2020” will be held in Brussels on 21 September.
For more information on the consultation please visit: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/consultations/2012/fire-in-h2020_en.html
Download:
- Agenda
- Presentations
- GDC & NiCE, Giulia Campodonico
- Introduction to carbon footprint, Mike Berners Lee (part 1 & part 2)
- ITU standards, Jean Manuel Canet
- NiCE ICT reporting tool, Vin Sumner
- Bologna: How green is my ICT?, Giovanni Farneti
- Related articles on website
This brokerage event on 11 July 2012 offered an opportunity for EUROCITIES member cities to develop consortia and project ideas ahead of the Smart Cities call for proposals in the 2013 Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Work Programme, expected to be published on 10 July. This event was organised back-to-back with the Commission’s Smart Cities & Communities stakeholder platform event on 10 July 2012. It also complemented the official European Commission FP7 Energy Research information day, which will took place on 4 July 2012.
The event gave participants the opportunity to:
- Learn more about the call from a representative from the Commission
- Meet other European cities interested in the call
- Network with project partners from all over Europe in view of developing joint projects
- Interact with experts from EUROCITIES office for fine-tuning your project idea
During the event participants were able to present their city profile/project idea, which contributed to proactive matchmaking between potential projects.
The European Commission will release its Communication on Smart Cities and Communities on 10 July. The Communication will set a reinforced EU policy framework across the three sectors of energy, transport and ICT in support of sustainable urban development.
The European Commission is also organising a Smart Cities and Communities Conference which will take place in Brussels on 10 July to correspond with the release of the Communication. The Conference will include, amongst other things, speeches from Commissioner for Tranpsort, Siim Kallas, and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, and a discussion on the Convergence and integration of energy, transport and ICT sectors for urban systems.
Registration is open until 3 July. For more information on the event, including the agenda and registration, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/technology/initiatives/20120710_smart_cities_conference_en.htm
The reduction of a city’s ICT footprint by 30% is a key commitment of the Green Digital Charter and the NiCE project has decided to dedicate the first of five training sessions to this aspect.
The training “Measuring Green IT” which took place on 19 June in Belfast has therefore been designed to help cities with measurement of their ICT footprint and to highlight winning actions which contribute to the commitment.
Representatives from both signatory cities and potential ones, have been given a broad introduction to the subject of carbon footprinting by Mike Berners Lee, leading expert in carbon footprinting and director at Small World Consulting. Participants have then been updated by Jean Manuel Canet, representing the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), on latest developments in international standards for measuring ICT footprints.
Vin Sumner – partner in the project – has introduced the work of the NiCE project, presenting the ICT reporting tool which aims at providing cities with a flexible technique to enable the measurement, comparison and report on ICT’s direct carbon footprint at a city level.
Bologna - How green is my ICT?
group work - green ICT actions in cities: examples and barriers
A city case concluded the round of presentations. Giovanni Farneti has reported the experience of the Municipality of Bologna, presenting the measures undertaken to greening the city ICT.
The participants have then participated to focus group to discuss examples and barriers to Green ICT actions in cities, analyzing in particular the infrastructure, procurement and regulations points of view.
Delegates has left with a greater understanding of what needs to be done to measure the ICT footprint of a city, as well as being introduced to relevant methodologies and tools.
The IREEN project organised a workshop in the context of the Innovative City Convention, which took place the 6th of June 2012 in Nice.
The workshop was a good occasion to learn more about IREEN and other related projects and connect with the other experts in ICT for Energy Efficiency from all over Europe.
Download:
Presentation of Green Digital Charter and NiCE project, Giulia Campodonico
Download:
- NiCE presentation (part of an introduction to EUROCITIES green actions), Giulia Campodonico
- Agenda
- Photos
- Other presentations
View:
- Programme
- Programme of “Reducing the ICT footprint” session
- Programme of the “Integrated urban solutions in smart cities and communities” session
- Key documents
- Videos
Download the presentations from the “Reducing the ICT footprint” session:
- Mr Jan Viegand, Partner, Viegand & Maagøe
- Mr Ola Nord, Head of the EU Office, city of Malmo
- Ms Cristina Bueti, Programme Coordinator, ITU
- Mr Jaak Vlasveld, Program Manager, Green IT Amsterdam Region
Download the presentations from the “Integrated urban solutions in smart cities and communities” session
- Mr Joan Batlle Montserrat, Head of Department of International Cooperation, Urban Habitat Unit, Barcelona City Council, Spain
- Mr Niels Carsten Bluhme, Director for Environment and Techniques, Albertslund City Council, Denmark
- Mr Christian Gustavsson, City Commissioner, Linköping Municipality, Sweden
On Wednesday 4 July 2012, the European Commission will host an information day for a number of energy-related calls under FP7, planned to be published on 10 July.
The information day will include calls focussing on ICT in topics related to Smart Cities.
If you are unable to make it to Brussels you can also watch the event streaming live.
For more information and links to the agenda and registration please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/energy_infoday/infoday_energy_en.htm
If you are interested in the Smart Cities call you may also want to participate in a brokerage event co-hosted by NiCE and EUROCITIES on 11 July. See here for more information.
Download:
- Presentations
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Don’t forget that the seventh edition of EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) kicks off in just a few days! If you’re planning to attend, then register online now – before Thursday 14 June. Otherwise, you can easily register onsite during the week itself.
Register online: http://eusew.eu/energy-week-brussels
If you miss the online registration deadline and want to register onsite, you just need to make sure you bring your passport or another form of valid ID.
Registration desks are located in the Charlemagne and Committee of the Regions buildings:
In the Charlemagne building (ground floor):
Monday 18 June from 14.00 – 18.00;
Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 from 08.00 – 18.00.
In the Committee of the Regions building:
Tuesday 19 June only, from 08.00 – 16.00.
The EU Sustainable Energy Week is the key annual event of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign which contributes to achieving the EU 2020 climate and energy targets with regard to greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
Five years of growing success have proven that the Week is the reference event for sustainable energy issues in Europe and beyond. Also this year, the Week will feature hundreds of events across Europe.
The Week is organised by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy.
On 3-4 May 2012, the European Commission organised a two day conference on sustainable ICT, smart grids and smart cities, which was opened by Neelie Kroes, Commission vice-president and Günther Oettinger, commissioner for energy.
The conference brought together policy makers from local and European level and stakeholders such as telecoms companies, energy providers, regulators and consumer organisations.
Participants exchanged ideas on how ICT can help make cities greener. During the panel on ‘integrated urban solution in smart cities and communities’, Barcelona and Eindhoven presented ICT-enabled solutions designed to support them in achieving their Covenant of Mayors commitments. We co-organised and chaired the session on ‘reducing the ICT footprint in cities’, which focused on the other aspect of ICT for sustainability: greening ICT itself. Malmo presented its sustainable ICT plan developed in line with its Green Digital Charter commitments.
Did you miss the conference? You can now watch the videos and photos of the main sessions online.
See also: Access the Conference materials online
The NiCE project and the Green Digital Charter have been presented during the international conference “Local and Regional Authorities in the Process of Sustainable Energy Development” organised by the City of Zagreb on 16 May 2012 in the context of the 3rd Zagreb Energy Week.
Mayor Bandic, Zagreb Energy Week
Milan Bandić, Mayor of the City of Zagreb launched the conference: “The City of Zagreb administration is determined to actively implement the planned measures and processes energy for sustainable development to achieve the vision, ‘the City of Zagreb – a city of sustainable development’, in collaboration with all relevant entities in the country and abroad. The organization of our third Zagreb Energy Week revealed a high degree of mutual understanding and cooperation of all stakeholders in an effort to present our citizens together real problems and solutions and capabilities to ensure a better future for our children.”
At the conference, panelists have presented new initiatives and projects at national and international levels in which the city of Zagreb is actively involved. Amendments to legislation, possibilities of economic development and the role of local and regional governments in the process of sustainable energy development of theRepublicofCroatiahave also been presented by national and local institutions and stakeholders.
Among the various projects presented, EUROCITIES introduced the Green Digital Charter and NiCE project, highlighting the importance of the initiative and benefits for cities following the tools developed by the project and remarking the active role and involvement of the City of Zagreb. This was the occasion to present the other projects and initiatives for Energy Efficiency in which EUROCITIES is involved: the Cascade project and the Covenant of Mayors.
Visit the conference website to download and view all the presentations and pictures.
Registration to the first NiCE training to allow interactive learning to support cities in the implementation of the Charter commitments is now open.
The reduction of a city’s ICT footprint by 30% is a key GDC commitment and the first NiCE training session is designed to help cities with measurement of their ICT footprint and to highlight winning actions which contribute to the commitment.
The training is open to all cities, Green Digital Charter signatories and beyond, and will include:
– a broad introduction to the subject of carbon footprinting,
– an update from the ITU on latest developments in international standards for measuring ICT footprints,
– an introduction to the NiCE ICT reporting tool,
– city experiences in measuring their ICT footprint,
– networking and experience sharing opportunities.
Delegates will leave with a greater understanding of what needs to be done to measure the ICT footprint of a city, as well as being introduced to relevant methodologies and tools.
Registration is open now at http://nicetraining_measuringgreenit.eventbrite.com
Please see the registration link for more details on the programme, logistics and conditions for cost reimbursements.
For more information please contact: Giulia Campodonico, project coordinator, giulia.campodonico@eurocities.eu, +32 (0)2 552 05 46
Linkoping and Venice signed the Green Digital Charter on 4 and 5 May 2012 respectively. The number of signatories to the Charter, through which cities commit to reducing their carbon emissions through ICT, now stands at 28.
Christian Gustavsson, Linkoping City Commissioner
Christian Gustavsson, Linkoping city commissioner, signed the charter during the ‘Smart Energy & Sustainable ICT’ onference on 4 May in front of the European Commission representatives, other European cities and stakeholders. He said:
«Linkoping has come a long way, but we are happy to join forces with others for a better, sustainable future. Signing the Green Digital Charter is an important statement but also an important part of our zero footprint strategy».
Gianfranco Bettin, Venice Councillor for Environment and Digital Citizenship
Venice signed the Charter the following day during ‘Notte Verde Venezia’ (Green Night), an event focusing on sustainability and involving cities and boroughs in the north-east of Italy.
Gianfranco Bettin, councillor for environment and digital citizenship, signed on behalf of Venice. He said:
«Cities play a crucial role in reaching the objectives of the fight to the climate change inEurope, working in cooperation with the European institutions and the Member States. The plans of economic recovery undertaken to face the actual financial crisis ask cities to take a leadership role in tackling the climate change through innovative technological solutions».
The commitments of the Green Digital Charter have been further advanced by the FP7 project NiCE – Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency –through the provision of technical tools, training and support to signatory cities.
Building on this experience and on best practices identified in cities, the NiCE project is now accepting proposals for the organisation of study tours showcasing ICT/EE projects to facilitate the on-site knowledge transfers between cities. Hosts are expected to be leaders in the field of ICT/EE projects and to present innovative projects around the fields of action of the Green Digital Charter. However, they do not necessarily have to be Charter signatories.
The study tour programme should run over 1 or 2 days and include short presentations, site visits and demonstrations, opportunities for testing technologies and peer-to-peer discussions with experts from the host city.
If you are interested in showcasing your city’s digital achievements, please fill in this questionnaire and send it back to Giulia Campodonico by the 31st of May 2012.
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The NiCE project is organising the first technical training “Measuring green IT” which will be held in Belfast on 19th June, in connection to the Summer meeting of the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum.
The training aims at allowing interactive learning to support cities in the implementation of the Green Digital Charter commitments.
Participation is free of charges. The invitation is open to all cities, Green Digital Charter signatories and beyond but travel and accommodation costs can be reimbursed to GDC signatories only.
More detailed information, including agenda, registration and cost reimbursement procedures, will be made available soon.
The European Commission is organising a conference on sustainable ICT, smart grids and smart cities.
The two-day conference will be opened by Commissioners Günther Oettinger and Neelie Kroes. It will bring together policy makers and stakeholders such as telecom companies, energy providers, regulators and consumer organisations.
During the panel “Reducing the ICT footprint in cities” on the 4th, the Green Digital Charter signatories Malmo and Bologna will explain how they are planning to attend the commitments of the Green Digital Charter of reducing their ICT carbon footprint by 30% by 2020. What tools do they have at their disposal to do so? How can they measure the reduction of the carbon footprint of their ICT?
Registration is free of charge, but obligatory and is now open: https://smartenergy2012.regware.be.
Until today, 26 European cities have committed through the Green Digital Charter to use ICT as enabler and main driver to energy efficiency.
Aiming at promoting and increasing the visibility of Charter signatories’ actions in the field, the NiCE – Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency is now looking for proposals for the organisation of three “Green Digital Charter Roadshows”.
These showcase events will focus on visibility and profiling partnerships between Charter signatories and external stakeholders, showcasing different aspects of the Green Digital Charter:
Roadshow 1: Green Digital Charter and EU policies/funding
Roadshow 2: Public-private cooperation on Green Digital Charter commitments
Roadshow 3: Energy & Technology
These events aim to showcase benchmarks of excellence and encourage cities and their partners to take the lead on further development of the Green Digital Charter.
The call for applications, open to Charter signatories only, provides more detailed information, profiling all the requirements, selection criteria and application procedures.
If you are interested in hosting one of the Roadshows and showcasing your city’s digital achievements, please fill the questionnaire included in the call for application and send it back to j.keys@manchesterdda.com by the 15th of June at 5pm (GMT).
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Barcelona signs the Charter: Vice-President Kroes and Mayor Trias
The number of signatories to the Green Digital Charter rose to 26 in February 2012 after Barcelona and Eindhoven signed up to the initiative.
Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona, signed the Charter on 28 February in the presence of Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda. The signature ceremony took place inBarcelonacoinciding with the Mobile World Congress.
“Barcelona is making a determined bid to become a smart city,” explained Xavier Trias, “the signing of the Green Digital Charter will help position the city at European energy levels.”
Mayor Rob van Gijzel signs the Green Digital Charter
The following day, Rob van Gijzel, Mayor of Eindhoven, confirmed his city’s commitment to reducing emissions through ICT by also signing the Charter at a local ceremony in Eindhoven city hall.
The mayor declared, “the ambitions [of the Green Digital Charter] fit with Eindhoven’s strategy on energy consumption and with the digital agenda as well, particularly when it comes to increasing the benefits of our citizens. To sign the Green Digital Charter is only the next logical step in furthering innovation to address the energy challenge we all face.”
To fulfill the objective of implementing the Green Digital Charter, the NiCE project is developing a set of tools to support cities in the reporting and implementation of their activities. The first version of these tools is now available for comment and feedback.
The Green Digital Charter action tools catalogue provides cities with a list of proposed tools to support green digital activity.
The three Green Digital Charter reporting tools have been designed to assess cities’ statuses and compare their performance around Charter activities: 1) the Green Digital Charter implementation progress reporting tool provides cities with an initial set of qualitative and quantitative indicators for assessing the progress towards the Charter goals; 2) the ICT footprint reporting tool provides access to existing standards and methods to enable cities to measure, compare and report on ICT’s direct carbon footprint at city level; 3) the Green Digital Charter-Covenant of Mayors reporting tool presents recommendations with a view to enabling cities to highlight the ICT dimension of their efforts to reach Covenant commitments, without creating an extra burden through separate processes.
The Charter tools will reviewed, tested and validated by the NiCE reference cities group until June 2013, when the final tools will be published.
The first version of the tool development process is available for download on the Green Digital Charter portal.
3 – 4 May 2012, The Square, Coudenberg 3, 1000 Brussels
The European Commission is organising a conference on sustainable ICT, smart grids and smart cities.
The two-day conference will be opened by Commissioners Günther Oettinger and Neelie Kroes. It will bring together policy makers and stakeholders such as telecom companies, energy providers, regulators and consumer organisations. It will provide a platform for discussions on the challenges faced in deploying smart grids, be they technical, regulatory, financial or linked to public acceptance.A new EU Communication on Smart Cities will be presented and it will be investigated how ICT can make our cities greener by an exchange of best practices. It will also touch upon the important issue of how to deliver transparent metrics around the positive contribution of ICT to solving our energy and climate problems.
Registration is free of charge, but obligatory and will open in mid-March.
Contact: EC-SMART-ENERGY@ec.europa.eu
More info: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=7845
Green Digital Charter and Covenant of Mayors signatories are invited to take part in the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards Competition. Open for applications until 29 February 2012, it presents local authorities with a unique opportunity to promote their project(s) or Sustainable Energy Action Plan . The competition, which was launched by the European Commission in 2005, rewards outstanding and innovative initiatives in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The award scheme is also an opportunity for cities to better showcase their commitment to local sustainable energy, benefit from institutional recognition, increased media attention and visibility.
The ceremony is to take place on 19 June 2012 in Brussels in the framework of the EU Sustainable Energy Week.
Projects are to be submitted under five different categories:
- Communicating: Projects in this category include all types of communication activities that create awareness and aim at changing the perception and behaviour of stakeholders and citizens.
- Consuming: Projects promoting a more efficient energy management aiming at reducing energy consumption from both production and end-user side.
- Learning: Projects carried out to improve knowledge and skills related to energy efficiency and renewables. They are usually carried out by official training and education bodies, such as schools, universities, training centres, etc.
- Living: Projects aiming at making buildings more energy-efficient or integrating the on-site generation of renewable energy.
- Travelling: Projects related to sustainable mobility, clean transport and fossil-fuel free initiatives from public authorities or transport companies.
For more information: http://www.eusew.eu/awards-competition
Active ageing, inclusion, sustainable growth and innovative services are key priorities for the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) in 2012. The programme offers attractive funding options for cities.
This year again, cities, regions and stakeholders are invited to submit project ideas and proposals that respond closely to the priorities set out in the call for proposals. The call documents available from 1 February on and proposals can be submitted till May 2012.
Project funding is foreseen under the following key themes:
THEME 1: ICT FOR “SMART” CITIES
The Digital Agenda for Europe highlights the importance of ICT for energy efficiency and a low carbon economy; the role of ICT for smart mobility as well as the development of a new generation of web-based applications and services that leverage standards and open platforms.
THEME 2: DIGITAL CONTENT, OPEN DATA AND CREATIVITY
The Digital Agenda for Europe promotes the creation, production and distribution of digital content and services for a vibrant single market. This theme contributes to the design of added-value products and services across Europe based on high-quality digital content.
THEME 3: ICT FOR HEALTH, AGEING WELL AND INCLUSION
The objectives proposed under Theme 3, ICT for health, ageing well and inclusion, are inspired by extensive consultation with stakeholders, in particular via the European
Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA) and the eHealth Action Plan23. The work planned in this area takes into account all stages in the life of citizens that impact their active and healthy ageing, namely: 1) prevention and health promotion; 2) care and cure, and 3) independent living and social inclusion of elderly people.
Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA) and the eHealth Action Plan23. The work planned in this area takes into account all stages in the life of citizens that impact their active and healthy ageing, namely: 1) prevention and health promotion; 2) care and cure, and 3) independent living and social inclusion of elderly people.
The full work programme for the ICT Policy Support Programme can be downloaded here:
During a networking lunch organised by the NiCE project in the European Parliament on 29 November 2011, the leader of Bristol City Council, Barbara Janke, presented the city’s efforts in tackling climate change through information and communication technologies (ICT).
Barbara Janke, Bristol
The event offered an ideal opportunity to premiere Bristol’s video, ‘Green and Digital –FutureCity, the Covenant of Mayors in Bristol’. Produced by the Covenant of Mayors in collaboration with the city of Bristol and the local sustainable TV and production company Footprint, the video showcases the city’s concrete achievements towards the Covenant goals.
The city of Bristol, signatory to both the Green Digital Charter and the Covenant of Mayors, hopes to become one of the greenest and smartest cities in Europe.
Bristol was one of the first cities to identify the role of ICT for tacking climate change. Since 2009, the city has implemented a number of projects around ‘smart’ themes. These included mapping the carbon footprint of the business use of ICT in the city, a project which was shortlisted for the European Commission’s ‘Best ICT for Energy Efficiency’ award.
Bristol is fully aware of the importance of engaging in knowledge transfer platforms such as NiCE (Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency), to exchange experiences with other leading cities across Europe.
In the words of producer Scott Jones, “sustainability is at the heart of what we do, in the office, on location and in the stories we tell on screen. The story of Bristol is exactly the kind of story that we loves to tell – to inform and inspire people about the positive change now taking place.”
Click here to see the video.
Green Digital Charter signatories at the 2011 Covenant's ceremony
On 29 November, Sir Richard Leese of Manchester City Council presented the Green Digital Charter to the Covenant of Mayors signatories during the Covenant’s annual ceremony.
As the city that initiated the Green Digital Charter in 2009,Manchesterwas selected to represent the Charter signatories and their commitments to reducing emissions through Information and Communications Technologies.
The Green Digital Charter was presented in the European Parliament’s Hemicycle to over 1100 participants, including Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions, and European Commissioners Štefan Fϋle (Enlargement and European neighbourhood policy), Janez Potočnik (Environment) and Johannes Hahn (Regional policy).
Richard Leese, Manchester
Sir Leese explained the evolution of the Green Digital Charter, now supported by the NiCE project, and how the cityManchesteris currently implementing their commitments. He also publicly congratulated with the city ofZagrebthat signed the Green Digital Charter on the same day, bringing the number of signatories to 24.
Of the Green Digital Charter signatories, 22 are also committed to the Covenant of Mayors. Sir Leese underlined how the Charter scope is closely linked to the Covenant of Mayors. Both the Green Digital Charter and the Covenant of Mayors support the reduction of CO2 emissions in cities: the Charter focuses specifically on ICTs, while the Covenant addresses energy efficiency more widely.
In the same session of the Covenant of Mayors, the leaders of the GDC signatories Malmo and Genova presented what they have achieved so far.
More photos: www.greendigitalcharter.eu/events/29.11.2011-CoM
More information on the event: www.eumayors.eu
Zagreb signs the Green Digital Charter
The city of Zagreb signed our Green Digital Charter during our networking event on 29 November 2011, committing to use ICT as a driver for improving energy efficiency, and raising the total number of signatories to 24.
Milan Bandić, Mayor of Zagreb, formally signed in October 2011.
During the local ceremony he stated: “Global warming and climate change are inevitable difficulties with which the world, every state and every city faces today. The actual condition requires rapid and effective responses to local and national levels, but also the close cooperation and synergy in the international level. The Green Digital Charter is evidence with which the European cities have expressed a strong desire for cooperation in dealing with the consequences of climate change by introducing ICT, not only as a tool to increase energy efficiency and sustainable development of cities, but also as a tool for reducing CO2 emissions. The City ofZagrebis proud to be part of this initiative which proves its strategic orientation and the primary goals of energy policy, and which, together with other European cities, recognize the importance of applying new technologies and exchange of experiences in public and private sectors.”
Organised by the Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) project at the European Parliament in Brussels, under the patronage of Oldřich Vlasák MEP, the event was an ideal opportunity to confirm the commitment at European level.
Marijan Maras, head of Zagreb’s office of energy, environment and sustainable development, stepped in for the mayor by symbolically signing in front of representatives of the European institutions and other signatories.
NiCE event
Participants also exchanged on using ICT for energy efficiency, learning from two signatory cities already implementing the charter commitments: Barbara Janke, leader of Bristol City Council, premiered ‘Green and digital – future city’, a video recorded by the Covenant of Mayors on how green digital technologies contribute to energy savings, while Miguel Angel Camara Botia, Mayor of Murcia, explained the different activities implemented by Murcia and the active role in promoting the charter in Spain.
More photos: www.greendigitalcharter.eu/events/29.11.2011
Download the documents from the event: 2011.11.29 – NiCE networking lunch
