• The European Innovation Council (EIC) announced the 12 cities from 10 countries that have advanced to the semi-final stage of the ninth edition of the iCapital Awards. The cities aim to become the 2023 European Capital of Innovation or the European Rising Innovative City.
  
  
• Supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, the prize recognises cities’ role in shaping the local innovation ecosystem and promoting game-changing innovation.

The city of Lisbon has taken another step in the race to become the European Capital of Innovation 2023 by being chosen as one of the six semi-finalists for this honour awarded by the European Commission. The Portuguese capital is now competing with two other Ukrainian cities – Kiev and Lviv -, two Turkish cities – Istanbul and Basaksehir – and one Polish city, Warsaw.

Lisbon’s application, presented under the title Lisboa Unicorn Capital, is based on the idea of the city as a “home and space for all those who believe, take risks and innovate, undertake and endeavour to make the impossible possible, while at the same time contributing to improving the community’s quality of life”, says a statement from the municipality. To this end, the city presented the jury with a dossier of the work carried out so far, particularly in the environment, culture, economy, and mobility.

For the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, this choice reflects the city’s commitment to establishing itself as a Unicorn Factory: “Innovation is fundamental to the growth, competitiveness, and development of our society. Lisbon is today a recognised stage in innovation and has had an enormous capacity to attract companies and professionals from all over the world. Being part of this selection by the European Commission is proof and recognition of the intense work done to be at the forefront and place Lisbon as a city of innovation.”

The European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital) was established in 2014 to reward those European cities that are courageous enough to open their governance practices to experimentation, to boost innovation, to be a role model for other cities, and to push the boundaries of technology for the benefit of their citizens.

In addition to the monetary reward, the prize brings high visibility through renewed public interest and increased media coverage.

Past winners include Barcelona (2014), Amsterdam (2016), Paris (2017), Athens (2018), Nantes (2019), Leuven (2020), Dortmund (2021), Vantaa (2021), Aix-Marseille Provence Metropole (2022) and Haarlem (2022).

(Original article published at Smart Cities Cidades Sustentaives)

EIT Climate-KIC has launched a call for ideas on sustainable, inclusive and aesthetic solutions for New European Bauhaus challenges. Open to EU teams participating in the 2021 EIT Climate-KIC Climathon and hackathons of EIT Digital, EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility, the call will be open from 25 October to 15 November 2021 and will offer prizes of up to €10,000 in seed funding. 

Led by EIT Climate-KIC, the Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus is engaging with European innovators to overcome fragmentation in the European innovation landscape, increase collaboration with universities to identify challenges and solutions, and ensure the engagement of civil society in the movement. The initiative will directly support the European Union’s New European Bauhaus (NEB), announced by President von der Leyen in her 2020 State of the Union address, that aims to create beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive places, products and ways of living. 

The initiative is now calling out to EU-based teams participating in the 2021 EIT Climate-KIC Climathon and hackathons of EIT Digital, EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility, to submit ideas that address one or more NEB challenges.

New European Bauhaus challenges include: 

• Green transition through architectural, cultural and historic sites:  
• Green roofs, green walls and other green infrastructure to reduce the heat island effect, enhance air quality and advance new aesthetic value in the urban environment.  
• Urban, regenerative agriculture to reduce emissions and foster stronger relationships between city dwellers and farmers.  
• Towards circularity and urban resilience: 
• Enhancement of the public realm, green areas and biodiversity, as well as their inclusiveness, accessibility and interconnection through active mobility, to improve physical and mental health.   
• Circular economy actions based on the principles of the food waste hierarchy and efficient reutilisation of bio-products and bio-waste, achieving emissions and waste reduction and fostering the second life of products.  
• Ensuring affordability and accessibility to all: 
• Energy communities to ensure comfortable living at affordable prices through multi-disciplinary service models.   
• Digital open data platforms to ensure transparency and reliability of data.  

The NEB Ideation awards will offer an excellent opportunity to join a network of stakeholders making the New European Bauhaus’ ambition a reality on the ground, and enable actors to connect and collaborate on key issues. This will in turn contribute to the EU NEB strategy and enable participants to join a pipeline of ideas that will be shared with the European Commission and used in future Cross-KIC activities.  

Winning teams will be announced on 30 November, 2021 and will get the chance to win €10,000  in seed funding to implement their idea in 2022. Other prizes include €3,000  and a study visit to the World Design Capital 2022 event in Valencia (Spain); three Jury Awards (€3,000 , €2,000  and €1,000 EUR) and one Audience Award (€1,000 ). All winning teams will be granted a study visit to Valencia to participate in person to the Award Ceremony on 15 to 16 December, 2021. 

How to apply? 

1. Download the NEB Ideation Awards Guidebook to access more details on the call. 
2. Download and carefully download the application form. We will be accepting applications from 25 October to 15 November, 2021, 18:00 CET. 
3. Record a video of maximum three minutes pitching your idea. Please briefly introduce your team indicating your location, define the NEB challenge addressed and concisely explain your solution integrating sustainability, inclusiveness and aesthetics. Explain potential benefits and impacts deriving from that solution. The video can be the same as the one used at your local Climathon or hackathon, or a different one. Design of the video is free style.  
4. Send both the application and video together using the file-sharing platform Wetransfer to XKICNEB.IdeationAwards@climate-kic.org 

If you have any questions please contact Natalia Vera, Cross-KIC NEB Project Manager at EIT Climate-KIC: natalia.vera@climate-kic.org. 

Mobility in urban environments is changing rapidly. By simplifying access to mobility information, Veomo wants to provide cities and businesses with a solution that makes it easier for people to access new forms of mobility.

Over the past decades, the industry has ramped up production facilities and managed to make vehicles affordable and accessible to everyone. The resulting individual transport has changed our understanding of mobility and the appearance of the city.

For many, traffic jams, bad air and lack of living space have become the norm. However, this development is slowly coming to an end and needs to be changed. A new awareness of sharing, usage and sustainability and new digital technologies have enabled new mobility services to be introduced to the market. The multitude of new services is making it difficult for many to switch to shared and sustainable mobility. The availability and business areas are often only found in the app or on the website of the respective provider.

“This makes it difficult to compare different services. Furthermore, there are many potential users who have not yet dealt with new mobility services and who follow their daily commuting routine”, says Dominik Radic, CEO of Veomo.

The above is the rationale for the foundation of Veomo. Its founders are convinced that the transition to new mobility is essential for liveable and sustainable cities.

Their software Veomo informs about the availability of mobility in real time on large monitors at high frequent places. Veomo visualises the full transparency of the new mobility, such as departure times of the public transport, distances to car – bike – scooter sharing, waiting times for ride-hailing, car-pooling, real time traffic information, company shuttles and more – all at a glance.

In order for them to succeed in transforming mobility, they need to reach the broad masses. Their information platform is made for the people. Regardless of age and digital understanding – everyone can find out about the wide variety of mobility in their environment without access to smartphones and/or the Internet.

Mobility involves different and changing needs. That is why “Veomo believes that understanding the end user’s needs is crucial for success and failure. To accelerate the transition to the new mobility and build a successful business, we need quick and easy solutions for our customers. For us, venture means being able to quickly and easily test a product idea in the market, while keeping an eye on scalability. Therefore we follow the Lean Start Up approach with our software solution“, says Radic.

Veomo successfully applied to the EIT Urban Mobility Scale Up Hub and were accepted into the programme. Together, we are working on a solution for the EIT Challenge 5 – Data exploitation. In addition, and we are delighted of presenting them as our Venture nominee for the the EIT Awards.

We are crossing our fingers for you, Veomo!