“From Dream to Reality”: Leading Smart City Projects to Share Results in Brussels at EU Regions Week 2019

On 8 October 2019, from 14:30-17:00, the first three Smart Cities and Communities projects GrowSmarter, Remourban and Triangulum, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, are hosting the session “From dream to reality: sharing experiences from leading European Smart Cities” at the European Week of Regions and Cities.

As explained by Lisa Enarsson, Project Manager of GrowSmarter, the session is dedicated to sharing the projects' key lessons learnt and will touch upon technical and political aspects of creating smart cities: “At the session, the three sister projects GrowSmarter, Remourban and Triangulum will give examples of actions needed to speed up the transition to smart and sustainable cities through energy efficient refurbishment, mobility and integrated infrastructure. Mayors from our cities will highlight what is needed on the EU level to facilitate replication of these actions in your cities! You need to be there to bring this back home!” she says.

The event will take place at the Committee of the Regions, room VM3, Rue Van Maerlant 2 in Brussels from 14.30 – 17.00. You can read more and register for the event at the European Week of Regions and Cities Website.

The European Lighthouse community

The European Lighthouse community currently consists of 14 projects that are driving the smart and sustainable city movement in Europe and beyond. In 40 Lighthouse and 53 Fellow Cities, private and academic partners work on implementing innovative solutions in the fields of energy, ICT and mobility.

By organising a joint session in the context of the European Week of Cities and Regions, the three projects will show their impacts achieved in terms of energy efficiency, smart mobility, ICT interconnectivity, governance and social acceptance and will provide policy makers and experts with valuable insights for replication in other European cities and beyond.

"From Dream to Reality" Agenda

The session on October 8 will feature practitioners from cities such as Manchester, Eindhoven, Stavanger, Cologne, Valladolid, Seraing, Barcelona, Nottingham and Stockholm, as well as political representatives from selected cities to discuss the European impact on local implementation.

I PART

• Welcome and Introduction: Gustaf Landahl (Project Coordinator GrowSmarter), Georg Houben (DG ENER).
• Political panel on new governance approaches: Katarina Luhr, Vice Mayor of the City of Stockholm (GrowSmarter), Dr. Ralf Heinen, Vice Mayor of the City of Cologne (GrowSmarter), Stijn Steenbakkers, Alderman for Digital Transformation of the City of Eindhoven (Triangulum), Deborah Geradon, Councilor for Territorial and Commercial Development City of Seraing (Remourban).

II PART

• Projects' Results, main impacts and replication potential: Lisa Enarsson (City of Stockholm/GrowSmarter), Miguel Á. García-Fuentes (CARTIF Technology Center/Remourban), Trinidad Fernandez (Fraunhofer IAO/Triangulum).

III PART

• Key success stories and unavoidable failures by Lighthouse Cities: Gonzalo Cabezas (City of Barcelona/GrowSmarter), Julia Egenolf (City of Cologne/GrowSmarter), Rosa Huertas (City of Valladolid/Remourban), Dave Tetlow (City of Nottingham/Remourban), Gerd Seehuus (City of Stavanger/Triangulum), Mark Duncan (City of Manchester/Triangulum).
• Interactive Q/A session
• Networking event - from 17:00-18:00, just outside the session room.