Green Digital Charter
Currently viewing the tag: "Horizon 2020"
February 2018 saw the end of the GuiDanCe project, a H2020 support action for EUROCITIES’ Green Digital Charter initiative. The Green Digital Charter (GDC) is a political declaration, committing 53 European cities to promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to tackle climate change and improve quality of life in cities.
For three years, GuiDanCe supported the effort of signatory cities to implement policies and projects as part of their commitment to the Charter. From peer-learning to the exchange of best practices, high-profile promotion events and a variety of publications, GuiDanCe activities were designed to promote collaboration among cities in promoting the use of digital solutions to improve energy efficiency, reduce cities’ overall carbon footprint through innovative public services and involve the citizens in the making of future cities.
Capacity building
One of the GuiDanCe objectives was dedicated to building cities’ capabilities and empowering local administrations to face the technological and societal challenges associated with digitalisation and the implementation of their digital and smart city strategies.
Different formats were adopted:
- onsite technical trainings (e.g. GDPR Training – 22 Jan)
- webinars (GDC – Webinars – 2017)
- ‘work-shadowing’ visits which enabled city data experts to learn from concrete measures implemented in another signatory city (Work Shadowing visit in Edinburgh – 30-31 May and GuiDanCe – Bratislava visits Reykjavik).
Lessons learnt and recommendations produced throughout the training process resulted in the publication of a guidebook on ‘peer-to-peer learning for cities’ (GDC guidebook Peer-to-peer learning for cities).
Raising cities’ voice
Giving voice to the GDC signatories and how they design and implement smart city projects was another objective of the project. GuiDanCe ensured that concrete developments in signatory cities were widely shared through its active participation in:
- Europe’s largest gatherings (GuiDanCe – CEBIT – 2017 and GuiDanCe – Barcelona SCEWC 2017)
- its own conferences (Cities in Transition & 2017 GDC Awards Ceremony and Imagine the Urban Future & 2018 Awards ceremony)
- and a series of videos and interviews (GDC videos)
Publications such as the three annual collections of GDC case-studies (GDC 2017 case studies) and the two GDC monitoring reports (GuiDanCe 2017 monitoring report) validate the evolution of European cities towards a smarter and more sustainable future.
For more information, contact:
Nikolaos Kontinakis, GuiDanCe project coordinator at Nikolaos.Kontinakis[at]eurocities.eu
Twelve smart city projects covering almost 60 cities across Europe came together at the 7th Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona from 14-16 November – the biggest edition to date –to show how cities are leading the way in driving sustainable and smart innovation.
Christophe Colinet, Bordeaux Métropole
Under the conference theme ‘Empower Cities, Empower People’, these smart city projects, also known as Lighthouse city projects, presented how they are putting smart technologies to the test, and how these work in practice when it comes to reducing environmental impact and improving citizen’s lives.
‘The Lighthouse Projects Stand’ was part of the three-day international event on smart cities at the Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue which gathered 700 cities worldwide as well as 675 exhibitors and 420 speakers.
The Stand hosted a number of discussion sessions, ranging in topic from district heating solutions to smart waste collection, providing an opportunity to share experiences of mobilising the public sector, business communities, civil society and academia in the creation of smart cities and regions.
The twelve projects have all received funding through the EU’s Horizon 2020 framework programme as part of the EU’s long term ambition to create a low-carbon economy and ensure continued competitiveness in the global market.
Head of Unit for new energy technologies and innovation at the European Commission, Andreea Strachinescu said: “Innovation drives Europe’s competitiveness and is the best way to transition to a low-carbon economy. Thanks to these projects and partnerships, high efficiency heating and cooling systems, smart metering, real-time energy management, or zero-energy buildings neighbourhood solutions can be tested and shared with other European cities.”
The European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities, also featured at the stand, was launched in 2012 by the European Commission to support the development urban technology solutions in and energy, transport and ICT and stimulate their uptake to enable the transition to a more sustainable Europe.
This article was originally published (in French) here (copyright: Valérie Noriega, Les Petites Affiches)
The metropolitan area of Nice (in French : Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur) just won one of the new European projects funded under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This new project, untitled ReUseHeat, will benefit from 4 million € to develop an experimental urban heating and cooling network in the new neighbourhood of Grand Arénas. The project will start immedialy in October 2017.
http://icapital.nicecotedazur.org/ – the official website for Nice candidacy to the iCapital Award 2017
“Nice Côte d’Azur, one of the ten finalist cities for the iCapital Award, a competition awarding the most innovative city in Europe, just won the European project ReUseHeat focused on energy efficiency. (…) Nice Côte d’Azur shares this new success with well-known partners at the European leael: the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, the London School of Economics, the University of Aalborg and the European network Euroheat and power.
Thanks to ReUseHeat, we will be able to go further on the ground of innovation and energy efficiency. With our industrial partner EDF-DALKIA and the scientific and technical centre on buildings (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment), we will develop a heating system exploiting the waste-water management public network in the Metropole. In parallel, we will generate locally a powerful digital tool designed to improve electric grids’ efficiency in the new neighbourghood of Grand Arénas. (…)”
– Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice and President of Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur
rauba capeu terrasses des ponchettes quai des etats unis
The Smart Cities Information System (SCIS) published recommendations on how to improve European policies and funding opportunities in the areas or urban innovation and smart cities projects.
They can be consulted at http://bit.ly/2oqDrsb.
Recommendations, developed by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) are classified into four main types:
- Specific recommendations for Horizon 2020
- Recommendations for stakeholder engagement and communication of projects’ results
- General policy recommendations
- EU Support Coordination
What comes next?
SCIS is building on this initial assessment by collecting more lessons learned from projects, by conducting studies on replicability of projects and by identifying additional experiences from local, national, regional, and EU level.
Sharing your story will help providing recommendations to policy-makers to address market gaps in the smart city sector. Please contact igor.taranic@ceps.eu
Innovating cities with nature
H2020 Smart Cities & Communities 2016 call and nature based solutions 14 October 2015, 10.00 – 16.00 EUROCITIES office, Square de Meeûs, 1, 1000 Brussels (tbc)On 14 October, during the Brussels open days, we will organize our fourth brokerage event on smart cities, which will focus on the 2016 Horizon 2020 Smart Cities & Communities call for funding.
Merce GRIERA-I-FISA, DG CONNECT, will present the Horizon 2020 Smart Cities & Communities 2016 call and the lesson learnt from the previous round of smart cities applications.
Marie YEROYANNI and Ugo GUARNACCI, DG Research & Innovation, will look at the topic of nature based solutions and smart cities, the focus of the 2016 call for projects.
In the afternoon, will follow a Green Digital Charter technical training focusing on ICT solutions.
The event, third of its kind, follows a successful series of brokerage events attracting more than 100 city officials: see here for the documents and results of the 2014 event and here for the 2013 event.
The Horizon 2020 Smart cities calls are expected to be officially published in December 2015, but the draft version of the document has already been made available on the HORIZON 2020 website.
Horizon 2020 Smart cities 2016-2017 calls
