At EIT Urban Mobility, our mission is to accelerate change towards a sustainable mobility model for liveable urban spaces. In the current context of climate emergency, our objective is to support our community of innovators to develop solutions that help mitigate and adapt to climate change and, at the same time, are able to improve the quality of life of our cities, create jobs and strengthen the European mobility sector.

To this end, the primary emphasis of our Innovation Programme for 2023-25 is to radically advance commercially viable solutions/services/products that support this mission and those goals.

Since 2020, we have a growing portfolio of projects to support agile and collaborative mobility projects across Europe. We work with innovators in city administrations, research organisations and businesses, to strengthen the urban mobility ecosystem.

The focus of our 2024 Call is on three Challenge Areas: Sustainable City Logistics, Energy and Mobility, and Future Mobility. Whilst addressing these challenges, we seek proposals that tackle the most pressing issues facing public, private or hybrid mass transit providers. Nonetheless, we remain open to excellent proposals from other providers within the urban mobility arena.

In this Call, we align with the aims and objectives of the Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. The EU Mission challenges cities to accelerate their digital, energy and mobility transformations through urban mobility experimentation supporting the race to Net Zero. Moreover, we support active alignment with the European Technology Platform – ALICE in relation to the Sustainable City Logistics challenge area.

We look forward to broadening our partnership and our portfolio of entrepreneurial innovation projects.

Main features of the call (aim and challenges)

The overall purpose of the Innovation Programme is to resolve challenges facing European cities in improving citizens’ lives, by bringing innovations to market. We support projects that are close-to-market, capable of testing new solutions in real-life city demonstrations and that can attain commercial viability by the end of the project. 

The EIT Urban Mobility Business Plan 2023-2025 defines nine Challenge Areas that stem from over 250+ urban mobility challenges identified by cities across Europe. For this Call, three Challenge Areas are prioritised:

• Sustainable City Logistics
• Mobility & Energy
• Future Mobility

Within these Challenge Areas, we encourage the participation of public, private or hybrid mass transit providers to drive pan-European innovation, testing and validating of new transport services and improved operations.

We also align with the  objectives of the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. As such any of the 112 cities committed to Net Zero climate neutrality by 2030 are encouraged to apply. Transport and mobility are one of the main sectors cities must address to reach climate neutrality. In alignment with the Cities Mission’s cross-sectoral and demand-led approach, we support citiesto act to deliver on their commitments and action plans laid out in their Climate City Contracts.

Contact details

Events-Webinars

EIT Urban Mobility hosted online information sessions from 17 to 20 of April 2023 focused on the Call content, the challenges, and requirements, as well as on the general procedures, such as the submission and evaluation process and the PLAZA submission tool:

• General info session
• Meet the cities
• Sustainable City Logistics
• Mobility & Energy
• Future Mobility
• Commercialisation and Financial Sustainability
• Guidance to applicants
• Proposal writing

Call summary

[1] Please note that this calendar is indicative. Dates might be subject to slight changes.

In this article, you will understand:
– how we have the ability to address urban mobility professionals’ upskill needs and to guide them every step of the way, from discovering specific mobility challenges to overcoming them with industry experts and peers.
– how the pandemic taught us to tailor our online and on-site learning to fully benefit urban mobility professionals
– how we developed an extensive and diverse portfolio of courses and methodologies suitable for a variety of audiences.
– how we developed courses on a wide array of other urban mobility-related subjects, with perspectives ranging from social and tech to environmental. View our full catalogue here.

A high percentage of the urban mobility jobs we’ll do in 2030 haven’t been invented yet – does that fact excite and inspire you? Do you want to be a trailblazer, leading the way towards a better future in a career you love? Do you have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge?  We can help.

Now more than ever, we are changing the way our cities and transport are planned: think breakthroughs in new technologies, digitalisation of the industry and championing zero-emission cities. Mobility professionals know the importance of delivering thriving and attractive living environments to citizens of the cities they work in. They also know that their line of work demands learning and implementing new skills and gaining a better understanding of the swift and sometimes abrupt changes this sector faces.

Here at EIT Urban Mobility, we want to be at the forefront of knowledge sharing for urban mobility professionals every step of the way. We are constantly developing state-of-the-art applied training courses that empower sector professionals, decision makers and businesses at every level across Europe to upskill in a way that suits them.

We offer courses perfect for a variety of different people, from local authorities and transport providers to those in the mobility industry, academia and beyond – so if you are looking to upskill, chances are we can help.

As Jim Moran once said, “The future belongs to those who prepare for it” – are you ready to own the future?

From Micro-Mobility and Electric Vehicles to Last Mile Logistics: What Will Become Your Specialisation?

We believe learning should happen in three steps:

1. Discovering – Your introduction to urban mobility, helping you to uncover the different aspects of this field and discover what you find most interesting
2. Understanding – Delving deeper into the topics you enjoy the most and developing an in-depth understanding
3. Overcoming – This final step takes your learning to the next level, bringing you together with experts and other industry peers to overcome specific mobility challenges

We have the ability to guide urban mobility professionals every step of the way, from discovery to implementation. Our Urban Mobility Explained initiative and our online courses facilitate keen students to learn at their own pace, allowing them to properly solidify their knowledge of urban mobility – they are the ideal for the discovery and understanding steps.

The overcoming step is where our applied courses come into play. They are a fantastic way to empower urban mobility professionals to overcome mobility challenges together with industry experts and peers. These courses bring people together, both online and on-site, allowing learners to take the knowledge they’ve gleaned and put it into action.

Our applied courses can take place on location (ideal for experiencing local infrastructure, workshops, networking), online (good for theory or to get together without having to travel) or a mixture of the two. They are the final step in truly and deeply understanding urban mobility while addressing your challenges at work.

The impact of the pandemic

We took away three key lessons from the pandemic:

1. The understanding part of learning can be done at home, at your own pace
2. Some of the overcoming step will always need to be done on-site, especially when we are looking at infrastructure and transportation – for example, each specific city will have its own unique features to discover
3. Parts of on-site courses can also be moved online, but they have to be completely re-thought to achieve the benefits and impact our students deserve – a ‘copy and paste’ approach just won’t work

All this means that we have been able to tailor our online and on-site learning to fully benefit urban mobility professionals like you. No matter where you are in the learning process, we understand exactly what you need – and how to give it to you.

Bridging an Educational Gap with Our Cycling Courses

One great example of how we’ve taken a learning opportunity from discovery to implementation is our cycling courses.

We know that there has been a rapid increase in cycling as of late, as individuals move towards more active mobility post-pandemic. Now is the time for cities to update their infrastructure to make it more inclusive and accessible for all types of travellers.

Cycling is of the utmost importance in urban mobility for a variety of economic, social and environmental reasons, and is changing cities and lives. By collaborating with leading European experts and organisations to develop impact-oriented courses, we are empowering a new generation of ambitious professionals to find the solutions we need to make our mobility greener and our cities more sustainable.

By researching what is important in the world of urban mobility today and discovering and bridging an educational gap, we’ve been able to give learners what they want and need: a proper understanding of cycling in relation to urban mobility.

The lifecycle of our cycling courses

We identified a need for cycling-friendly cities, which was exacerbated during the COVID pandemic. We wanted to empower urban mobility professionals of all levels, as well as spark a change in society, so we developed an extensive and diverse portfolio of courses and methodologies suitable for a variety of audiences.

Our goal? Easy – to make cycling a bigger part of city mobility.

Some of our cycling courses include:

• An online MOOC on cycling, disseminating the unique cycling experience and expertises of The Netherlands and Denmark; good for beginners
• A custom blended course for Transport Malta, taking the local infrastructure, mindset and current capabilities into careful consideration to ensure it was as beneficial for this city as possible; ideal for local professionals
• An open course on designing the cycling city in Rotterdam, based on the content from the original MOOC; excellent for design professionals and mobility students
• Two courses developed by other providers on the topic of cyclologistics: one in Belgium (next held in April 2023) and one in Italy (2023 date to be confirmed); great for urban mobility professionals
• A course based on the Danish experience/school of cycling, designed and run by the provider Copenhagenize: held in Copenhagen in English and Paris in French; generally for design and engineering professionals, graduate students and those with a personal or professional interest in bicycles
• The original MOOC on the cycling city offered to a Slovakian audience with online workshops, held over the summer; good for local professionals

And cycling is just the beginning! We’ve also developed courses on a wide array of other urban mobility-related subjects, with perspectives ranging from social and tech to environmental, such as:

• Planning for Autonomous Vehicles – Delving deep into how to plant or autonomous vehicles
• Mobility and Digitalisation – It’s key to understand the role new technologies play in an urban environment
• Virtual Reality – How does virtual reality fit into the world of urban mobility?
• And much, much more!

View our full catalogue here.

Take Learning to the Next Level with EIT Urban Mobility

Are you ready to take on the future and carve out the perfect role for yourself in the world of urban mobility? Take the first step today with EIT Urban Mobility.

If you are an individual looking to upskill, why not view our full selection of educational opportunities here? If you are looking for tailored training for your corporation or city, please get in touch with us to discuss how we can create the ideal course for you.

Translation: German / Spanish / Català / Slovak/ Hungarian

Twelve European cities from ten countries join the third edition of the competition Rapid Applications for Transport (RAPTOR) programme by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. RAPTOR is an agile, challenge-based programme that swiftly creates and tests solutions to answer niche urban mobility challenges identified by the cities. The competition sees start-ups and SMEs propose promising innovative and impactful solutions to answer these challenges. Winners are awarded funding (35 000 euros) and customised mentoring to develop and pilot their solution across the five-month project period in the city.

Each of the cities identified a unique challenge they face, ranging from freight pollution, access to electric vehicle charging and cycling safety.  The participating cities for the 2023 edition are: Akureyri (Iceland), Ankara (Türkiye), Ajka (Hungary), Barcelona Metropolitan Area (Spain), Capital Region of Denmark (Denmark), Debrecen (Hungary), Dubnicka nad Váhom (Slovakia), The Hague (Netherlands), Helsingborg (Sweden), Mechelen (Belgium), Munich (Germany), Stuttgart Region (Germany).

Gareth Macnaughton, Director of Innovation, EIT Urban Mobility: “RAPTOR uses agile, innovative solutions to solve concrete urban mobility challenges in European cities. The programme promotes innovative European start-ups and SMEs to partner with Cities to find and test solutions to their challenges.  RAPTOR brings innovation to a local level freeing cities up from their dependence on big consulting or technology multinationals companies. EIT Urban Mobility welcomes these twelve new cities in their active role as driving force and enablers of faster mobility innovation.”

EIT Urban Mobility and cities are launching the open competition next week, for European start-ups and SMEs to propose solutions that address these challenges. The niche mobility challenges for each of these cities will be explained and detailed during the call information day happening on 15 March 2023, to support the SMEs and Start-ups in getting ready for the competition.

• Akureyri – How can intermodality between public transport and micro-mobility solutions be optimised? 

Iceland’s current government has committed to cut emissions by 55% by 2030 (according to ESR 2005 numbers) and to become carbon-neutral by 2040. Today, the transport sector is a significant source of emissions, in 2021, it accounted for 31% of all emissions. The town of Akureyri is by far the largest urban area outside the capital area with just under 20.000 residents (about 8% of the population). In Akureyri, public transport is available via a free-of-charge bus system. However, most residents prefer to travel by private car and average ownership is more than 8 private vehicles for every 10 residents. Apart from the free public transportation, the town launched an app and a website which show the time it takes to walk or cycle from one location to another. Although it clearly reveals that cycling across town only takes about 15 minutes, the introduction of these measures has not yet proven fruitful. 

• Ankara – How to increase efficiency in e-bike field operations?

In the city of Ankara, Türkiye, the existing electric bike sharing system includes more than 500 bikes, 40 charging stations, management, and end-user mobile applications. Bicycle charging stations are located at the metro exits. The implemented free-floating e-bike sharing scheme provides the availability of bikes at various stations within the system. Compared to the station-based scheme, it represents the more flexible model by enabling users to pick up and drop off e-bikes at any desired station with available bikes or parking spaces. However, the system lacks a decision-support feature, making it incapable of automatically optimising field operations. Field operations consist of collecting, balancing, replacing batteries, on-site maintenance, returning to workshop etc. and these are done by carrying vehicles. Since such operations create the highest costs to the budget the route optimisation of the vehicles is important and required for an efficient and smart management. Therefore, the goal is to establish an optimisation system for the e-bikes field operations through an integrated software that includes parameters derived from the existing system such as location, charge status, availability of e-bikes.

• Ajka – How can we optimize public transport routes using the possibility of a new bridge? 

The city in Hungary, historically 6 villages that were merged, is today a central hub for work, health, and educational services. Today, more than 14 000 citizens commute to Ajka city centre every day. Over the last 10 years the number of cars in the city has increased by 24%. For this reason, Ajka has decided to re-organize and optimise the public transportation system to address the local and regional mobility issues that arise from high congestion rates and insufficient public transportation routes. The study of the possibility of the construction of a new bridge in the city is at the heart of this challenge as it will restructure the public transportation network and improve mobility flows in the city.

• Barcelona Metropolitan Area – How might we leverage data collected in loading/unloading zones to improve city logistics policies in the metropolitan area?

AMB Barcelona is facing several challenges in getting the most value from the data collected by their own app (SPRO) to monitor loading/unloading zones. One of the major problems is the complexity and volume of the data collected. Another problem is the need to ensure the privacy and security of the data collected. This is particularly important when the data contains sensitive information such as personal information or business-critical data. Furthermore, AMB Barcelona needs to prioritise investments in the right technology and infrastructure to support the use of data collected through the app. This includes data storage and processing capabilities, as well as tools for data visualisation and analysis.

• Capital Region of Denmark – How can overpriced EV charging be avoided and price transparency be ensured for users? 

Denmark has a goal to electrify more than a million vehicles by 2030. For that, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and its accessibility and transparency is key for the EV driver to make the right decision. When using a private electric vehicle, charging can happen at home, at work or at public charging stations. The public and on-street charging infrastructure in Denmark is well developed and is frequently located throughout the Capital Region of Denmark in parking lots, along streets and at various other locations. The price of EV charging in the Capital Region of Denmark is regulated by charging operators themselves, rather than by the government. There are several different charging operators and providers in the Capital Region of Denmark and each has its own pricing policy. The consequence of this is that the price of charging an electric vehicle in the Capital Region of Denmark can vary a lot, depending on factors such as the time of day, the amount of energy used and the type of charging station, operator and roaming policies. There is currently no solution that provides a holistic, real-time overview of the price of charging of all different EV charging operators, and this often results in EV drivers paying too much.  

• Debrecen – How to connect citizens from low density areas to the public transport network through active mobility?

Debrecen, Hungary is quickly expanding which means even more pressure on urban travel and road congestion which makes everyone’s lives more difficult and frustrating. As excessive car usage and road congestion are key challenges for Debrecen, any useful and effective incentives are welcome, especially if they have worked well in other cities already. The city needs to support the citizens’ ability and options to use sustainable modes of travel instead of car rides. For these efforts relatively low cost and smart solutions come very useful.

• Dubnica nad Váhom – How to create safe bicycle parking possibilities for people from the housing estate? 

Dubnica nad Váhom is a city in central part of Slovakia, with a population of around 25 000 inhabitants. It is an industrial city. Conditions of the city are rather favourable for higher rate of active mobility and the city is currently building its first bicycle infrastructure while working on a more strategic and long-term approach to increase the bicycle modal share. Therefore, the challenge is to provide a safe and accessible bicycle parking infrastructure for people living in the wider city centre.

• The Hague – How do we improve the in-city customer journey to the main Scheveningen recreational area by modes of sustainable transport on peak days?

Scheveningen beach in the Netherlands is a highly popular recreational area, especially on nice weather and event days. On these peak days, large amounts of visitors can be a challenge (think of crowded public transportation and long traffic jams). On peak days, it is noticeable that most out-of-city visitors skip sustainable modes of transportation and last-mile solutions. The beach area has many different sustainable models of transport, like cycling highways, free bike parking, but it can also accommodate car drivers by having garages close to popular spots.

• Helsingborg – How can the city of Helsingborg establish a bicycle culture?

Despite substantial investments in infrastructure, the climate crisis and high fuel costs, the people of Helsingborg in Sweden are travelling by bicycle to a lesser extent than people in same-sized cities. The focus of this challenge is to understand the behaviours of citizens and be able to develop a “bicycle culture” in Helsingborg, including ways to define and measure it. 

• Mechelen – How to measure the CO2 emissions and its possible reduction for freight transport?  

The city of Mechelen in Belgium has signed a covenant with 33 logistics service providers and interest organisations to realise zero emission city logistics by 2030. Yet currently there is no collection or analysis on data levels of the goal of zero emission city logistics, so the transition isn’t being monitored. Therefore, the city is looking for a solution to be able to start with this monitoring, define a baseline and follow the evolution in CO2 emissions. 

• Munich – How can individual mobility patterns in a city like Munich be identified based on a data model?

The city of Munich with 1,5 million inhabitants is facing environmental and traffic challenges due to growing numbers of inhabitants and of private vehicles causing an increase in CO2 emissions. Approximately 400.000 commuters from surrounding areas come to Munich daily. The only data available that is collected from devices installed in public transport is the count of passengers getting on and off the subway/bus/tramway at the stations. There is no evaluation of other means of transport. Only 15-60% of all public transport vehicles are equipped with counting devices. Mobile providers can show streams of movement almost in real-time, but do not record short distances (under 1 km) and are not able to differentiate the means of transport. Whereas app-based solutions very often have the problem that there are not enough users and in addition to that, those users are not representative of the residential population and the tourists.

• Stuttgart Region – How can we change the arrival and departure culture to big events, what can be done to diversify transportation options, and relieve congestion on such events?  The Stuttgart Region with its 179 municipalities is an innovative business location and one of Germany’s top-ranking locations for labour, competitiveness, dynamism and quality of life. Stuttgart Region hosts many events throughout the year. Large events can have a significant environmental impact, especially if transportation options are not sustainable. By diversifying transportation options and promoting sustainable modes of transportation, we can reduce the environmental impact of large events. 

The third Call for Proposals for the HEI Initiative (Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education) will remain open until 28 February.

This call aims to increase the innovation and entrepreneurial capacity in higher education by bringing together HEIs in innovation value chains and ecosystems across Europe.

The call will select up to 16 consortia, who will receive a maximum of EUR 750 000 with up to EUR 350 000 for Phase 1 (May−December 2023) and up to EUR 400 000 for Phase 2 (January−July 2024). This call for proposals is open to all types of stakeholders. For the first time, the call is open to both new organisations and existing partners from the Pilot Call and the second call for proposals.

The selected consortia should show how they will build innovation capacity through the integration of deep tech talent-fostering activities. They must also demonstrate how their applications align with the Deep Tech Talent Initiative and contribute to deep tech innovation.

The goal of the Deep Tech Talent Initiative is to develop and offer pan-European talent and skills development programmes to skill, re-skill and up-skill at least 1 million talents in the coming next three years (2023-2025). In this way, the Europe’s labour force is expected to be expanded in high growth companies working in deep tech fields, encompassing advanced materials and manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, blockchain, robotics, aerospace, photonics, electronics, quantum computing, sustainable energy and cleantech. The Deep Tech Talent initiative is led by EIT under the new European Innovation Agenda adopted by the European Commission in 2022.

Consortia must submit their applications until 28 February 2023, by 17:00 CET. The selected projects will be announced in May 2023.

Networking and Matchmaking platform

For organisations that would like to apply to the initiative but are missing participants for creating a full cohort, the initiative has a Conversation Starter platform available exclusively for this Call 3. Register in the platform to meet and match with other organisations whose HEI proposal concepts are aligned.

 Registration link.

Further details and supporting documents

The HEI initiative is an activity part of the cross-KIC portfolio. The KICs participating in the HEI initiative are: EIT RawMaterials, EIT Health, EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Manufacturing, EIT Digital, EIT Food and EIT Climate-KIC.

• For further details about the HEI Initiative 3 Call: HEI Initiative website
• For general questions about the call, contact hei@eitrawmaterials.eu. EIT HEI Call 3 text
• Frequently Asked Questions
• EIT HEI Initiative List of KIC partners

Transport and mobility services are an important part of the EU economy, accounting for at least 5% of total value added and employing approximately 10.5 million people[1].  As transport transitions to climate neutrality, it will continue to be the base of Europe’s economy. EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, invested in more than 60 start-ups in 2022 alone. By funding solutions with a variety in mobility subsectors, European regions, and team diversity, EIT Urban Mobility accelerates the innovation needed to reach climate neutrality.

As a result, passenger mobility is undergoing major changes and shifts to new paradigms and there is growing concern about the long-term sustainability of major transportation systems, particularly those in cities. Ride hailing (23%), and ridesharing (12%)¹ are the most used new mobility services in Europe in 2022, while the electric vehicle market still a much smaller sector, is exploding. The Electric Vehicles market in Europe is projected to grow by 17.05% (2023-2027) resulting in a market volume of US$332.80bn in 2027.

Fredrik Hånell, Impact Ventures Director: “Europe leads not only in green and green-digital innovation, but also in innovation overall. To keep this up, EIT Urban Mobility boosted its investments to fund these 60 early-stage start-ups, which not only create a possible financial return but allows for us to also push for a strong focus on team and regional diversity, and environmental and social impact. European start-ups need to consider diversity and impact, to keep ahead of the curve, and defend our worldwide advantage.”

A closer look at 5 start-ups that are making an impact across Europe in electrical mobility: 

Elonroad (Sweden)

• Elonroad’s disruptive technology is the first electric road with a ground level feeding system tested in an urban environment with a city bus and other vehicles in the city of Lund. Their solution is enabling the reduction of the vehicles batteries size, making electric vehicles more sustainable and accessible and creating the most significant impact in the direct reduction of GHG emissions. 

Circu Li-Ion (Luxembourg)

• By 2030, the EU will become second in demand for batteries worldwide yet increasing the number of new batteries isn’t a sustainable option. Circu-lion is upcycling batteries for the mobility sector and maximizing the value of each lion cell and consequently reducing the need for new batteries production. Not only does their solution have a positive environmental footprint, but they are also creating a significant impact on the circular economy in the battery industry. 

Waybler (Sweden)

• Waybler is accelerating the Electric Vehicle adoption and its infrastructure. By having an intelligent load balancing and phase distribution technology, they are directly creating a positive impact in energy savings and efficiency. 

Chainge (Denmark)

• Chainge is replacing diesel vans with electric cargo bikes in last mile logistics. Due to the decrease on the number of vehicles around the city (no road congestion) and consequently massive reduction of hazardous emissions produced and air pollution, their product has a positive environmental impact. 

Inbalance Grid (Lithuania)

• Inbalance grid is focusing on electric vehicle charging with the goal of making charging available everywhere. Their cloud balancing solution improves energy efficiency as well as reduces environmental impact of cities in terms of air quality by indirectly contributing to the reduction of GHG emissions. At the same time, their solution promotes the adoption of clean technologies and reduces the material consumption/waste due to extending the grids’ lifetime.

More information about these start-ups, and our other  33 start-ups working on electrical vehicles, and the complete EIT Urban Mobility portfolio can be found: Portfolio – EIT Urban mobility 

In 2022, a staggering 87% of all VC funding in Europe continues to be raised by male-only founding teams, while the proportion of funding raised by women-only teams has dropped to 1%, according to the State of European Tech. Within EIT Urban Mobility’s portfolio, 40% of the total funding is assigned to female-led and co-led start-ups.   

More information 

By focusing on investing in all European regions, EIT Urban Mobility supports innovation to improve urban mobility and the creation of livable cities for all European citizens. Examples of these new geographical investments are Estonia (Lightcode and Fyma), Hungary (M3ter and FolderGo) and Lithuania (Walk15 and Inbalance Gri). In 2022, EIT Urban Mobility also diversified its portfolio with investments in new verticals, e.g. ConTech (Propergate), InsurTech (GoCleer), Hydrogen (Digas) and Water Mobility (Hyke and Zeabuz).  Mioo Cycling solution enables easy access to bicycle repair and maintenance, which creates a positive impact on people’s health and safety. By encouraging active mobility, they are also contributing to a positive environmental impact.  EIT Urban Mobility keeps looking for the most prominent entrepreneurs to disrupt the European mobility industry. The next open call for investments will open in March. Sign up to receive a notification when the call opens.

[1] 2022 New Mobility Patterns in European Cities Task A Final report.pdf (europa.eu)

Madrid, Monday, January 16, 2023. EIT Urban Mobility invites you through the Madrid City Council and EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, to the presentation of #ChallengeMyCity Madrid.

The objective of the initiative is to facilitate multimodal urban connectivity between different means of sustainable transport and for this purpose seven pilot projects have been selected. EIT Urban Mobility will test for six months to analyze the environmental, economic and social impact of the solutions.

• Solum: charging station using solar energy for electric scooters and bicycles.
• Vadebike: safe and digitized parking for bicycles.
• Dashfactory: detection system for cyclist road safety black spots.
• SmartPoint: digitized e-commerce parcel collection points.
• Vianova: monitoring system for coexistence between pedestrians and micromobility.
• Parking for shared scooters: new parking for shared electric scooters.
• Parking point for electric vehicles: favors the use of rideshare services and electric vehicles.

The 2022 edition of #ChallengeMyCity has facilitated the implementation of 9 innovative solutions from 7 start-ups in 3 European cities: Milan, Toulouse and Madrid.

Below, you can find the details of the launch event:

• DATE AND TIME: Monday, January 16, 09:30-11:00
• PLACE: Hotel Chamartín The One (C/Agustin de Foxa, s/n. 28036. Madrid.)
• To confirm attendance or with any questions, you can write to media@eiturbanmobility.eu

EIT Urban Mobility is excited to announce that the URBANE project has officially kicked-off and EIT Urban Mobility is involved in its implementation.

URBANE (Upscaling Innovative Green Urban Logistics Solutions Through Multi-Actor Collaboration and Physical Internet (PI) – Inspired Last Mile Deliveries) is a 42-month project co-funded by the Horizon Europe Programme with a budget of around 9 million EUR.

It aims to develop novel last-mile delivery solutions combining green automated vehicles and shared space utilisation models. Leading European cities, research experts and knowledge partners, solution providers for shared, connected, and automated operations, and industry leaders in logistics services, kicked off the project in September 2022.

The project will be implemented by a consortium of 39 partners and an external partner from 12 different EU Member States, led by INLECOM.

EIT Urban Mobility will contribute to the definition of business models and the commercialisation of tested solutions in the Living Labs and will also contribute to communication and dissemination activities.

Why do we need innovative last-mile delivery solutions?

The e-commerce industry has seen continuous economic growth—a tendency that has been significantly
bolstered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes with a vast transformation of the e-commerce sector,
presenting enormous issues in urban supply chains.

In this light, Europe urgently needs to identify and scale-up novel last-mile transportation solutions. At the same time, as e-commerce expands more quickly, so will the issue of sustainability become more and more crucial. The last mile of e-commerce deliveries is the portion of the delivery that produces the highest emissions, and more demand causes this.

URBANE aims to tackle the negative trends associated with the pressure on last-mile deliveries. Its
ambitions are in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, the Paris Agreement, and the Green
City Accord, towards the fast adoption of zero-emission urban logistics solutions by 2030, achieving
improved efficiency of road transport and logistics systems.

How will URBANE contribute to Europe’s sustainable last-mile deliveries?

URBANE’s goals are part of the wider European Commission’s goals towards achieving “Zero Emission Last Mile Deliveries”, as components of the European Green Digital Coalition and the European Climate Pact goals.

The project will support the transition path towards effective, resilient, safe, and sustainable last-mile
transport, through four Lighthouse Living Labs (LLs): Helsinki (FI), Bologna (IT), Valladolid (ES), and
Thessaloniki (GR), that will demonstrate efficient, replicable, and socially acceptable innovative last-mile
delivery solutions (Wave 1 solutions), building on existing assets.

Hands-on lesson learning at the European level will be primarily facilitated by an Innovation Transferability Platform. This will comprise Digital Twinning Tools, open models, smart contracts governed by blockchain technology, and a data-driven Impact Assessment Radar that will enable the adaptation and replication of Wave 1 solutions in two Twinning LLs in Barcelona and Karlsruhe (Wave 2 LLs), demonstrating their solutions within the course of the project.

URBANE’s commitment to upscaling is further strengthened by the engagement of six early adopters
(Follower Cities – Aarhus (DK), Antwerp (NL), La Rochelle (FR), Mechelen (BE), Prague (CZ), and Ravenna
(IT)) in innovations’ adoption feasibility studies, thus stimulating the formulation of new Living Lab
communities across Europe.

Who is part of the URBANE project?

The consortium comprises 39 partners and an external partner from 12 different EU Member
States, led by INLECOM, a leading digital innovation provider, responsible for the twinning
infrastructure and open models’ library of the project. The URBANE consortium includes:

• City Stakeholders & Urban Planners: COBO, KARL, VALLAD, HELS (with their affiliated
entity FVH), ITL, RCM, AMB, RAV, MECH, AAKS, PRAHA, ANTW, CDA
• Last-mile Logistics Value Chain Operators: VAN, DBSCH, ACS, TYP, DTS
• Physical Innovation Providers: SOBEN, LMAD, EUDRIVE, IFEVS
• Sector Associations and Impact Strengthening Partners: ALICE, AENET, EITUM, POLIS
• Business innovation consultancies: FIT, TRV
• Research organisations: KLU, NORCE, TUD, UOC, CERTH, CIDAUT, SKEMA
• Innovative ICT solution providers: KON, GEL, VLTN

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How do we design our urban spaces to be and feel safer? It’s not as simple as installing cameras everywhere to watch over everyone. In this episode, our wonderful host Brittany Atkins chats with expert guests Marianne Weinreich, Debbie Dekkers, and Dan Campsall about how the presence (or absence) of safety in mobility and urban planning can be affected by gender, age, lifestyle, and more.

Marianne Weinreich is a Market Manager of Smart Mobility at Ramboll, a Danish (but international) engineering and design consultancy that aims to create sustainable solutions across transport. She has spent the last 20+ years working in mobility as a consultant and manager, and is also the co-founder and chairman of the Cycling Embassy.

Debbie Dekkers is a Programme Manager and “innovatiemanager” at the Innovation Office for the city of Amsterdam. The organisation aims to make the city more efficient and evolved for the benefit of its residents, using the power of technology to prepare for future mobility. As a programme manager, Debbie works mainly within smart mobility with a focus on MaaS, trends analysis, and anticipating new mobility concepts.

Dan Campsall is the Chairman of Agilysis, a transport behaviour and safety consultancy, with the goal to transform lives through healthier and safer communities via intelligent solutions. He also is the Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for transport safety in the UK, and has been involved in the transport safety sector of mobility for about 20 years.

This episode delves into the complex subject that is safety in urban design and urban mobility, and examines it from a variety of different angles and perspectives.

A main theme our guest spoke on was how safety and the perception of safety in urban mobility can vary based on a number of demographics – Marianne spoke about how automotive safety features are structured to accommodate the average man, leaving women out of the safety equation. Debbie notes how not all urban infrastructure bears in mind the elderly or the disabled, who might need longer time and digital assistance at crosswalks and complex road crossings. Dan also commented how minorities and those living in deprived communities can be at greater risk of road injury, as well as facing lower quality infrastructure. However, they all note that there is still a sense of excitement and ambition as newer, smarter technology and strategy come to light as  solutions to these existing issues.

This is just the surface, and there are so many more levels of discussion and conversation on this episode – that we are proud to sponsor. You can hear the full discussion on Apple Podcasts, as well as anywhere else you find your podcasts.

Are you a female founder of an urban mobility startup? Did you know that of the €3.2 billion of venture capital (VC) invested in the Nordic countries 6% went to mixed gender founded teams, and only 1% to founding teams made up entirely of women? And these numbers are not new, they have been this low for years. Through years of experience, the founders of Position99 know that female founders are out there, they want to raise capital, and have an enormous potential to help solve our societal challenges. 

Aiming to be the reference in the market for supporting and funding gender-balanced startups, EIT Urban Mobility has recently partnered up with Position99, to identify 99 female founders in urban mobility in the Nordics and help them get access to venture capital through increased visibility and match making. 

Over the next months, EIT Urban Mobility and Position99 will give several workshops in Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia to bring more awareness about the topic and to introduce the list of 99 female founders. Follow our journey via https://www.linkedin.com/company/eit-urban-mobility  Become part of the list and apply via https://www.position99.com/en 

“Research show that female founders are perceived differently, and that the VC-world is full of outdated cultures and norms. It is also a question of communication and investors seldom have the time or will to change their own perspectives. This is unfortunate since it is our firm belief that without a gender diverse innovation scene, we will not be able to solve the climate crisis”. Something which got confirmed by the theme of the United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day 2022: “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. 

Anna Branten, initiator of Position 99

During the last two years, EIT Urban Mobility has made gender-balance a key objective when selecting startups to invest in. Since this active focus, the number of female-led ventures in the EIT Urban Mobility portfolio has grown from 16% to 27%. At the same time, the share of gender-balanced startup investments has improved from 28% to 52%. 

“With this partnership we are taking the next step to give female founded startups better chances to receive funding. More than half of our investments last year were in gender-balanced startups. Although good, this is not enough, and initiatives like this will lead the way to changing the investment scene by improving visibility for female founders and the deal flow for investors“. 

Fredrik Hanell, Business Creation Director at EIT Urban Mobility

The Scale up programme, financed by EIT Urban Mobility, opened up a call to identify the 12 most promising startups with solutions for sustainable urban mobility. The programme aims to take the selected startups to the next level by helping them find funding and partnerships through attendance at major European events, giving them visibility to potential investors, and bringing them closer to implementing their solutions in real environments. The application period is open until 12 June 2022.

The programme supports the startups in the introduction of their solutions to the market through two different paths.

Path A: will provide international growth to startups with attendance at high-impact events, networking opportunities, increased visibility, and additional services valued at 25.000€ to 5 selected startups.

Path B: includes the benefits of path A and aims to implement seven pilots with industry and city partners with the opportunity of being funded up to 50.000€ by EIT Urban Mobility.

When applying for path B, participating startups have the opportunity to solve one of the 15 challenges raised by top European cities and industry companies from the urban mobility sector. The startups will get support from the public authorities and organisations that have raised the challenges, and from the consortium members developing the Scale up programme.

The Scale up programme is led by CARNET, with the collaboration of PowerHub, Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research, UnternehmerTUM, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Niedersächsisches Forschungszentrum Fahrzeugtechnik (NFF), Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg and the City of Hamburg, Xpreneurs, UnternehmerTUM Digital Hub Mobility.

For more information about the Scale up programme, the description of the challenges, and to apply for the programme, visit https://www.eiturbanmobility.eu/business-creation/scale-up-programme/

What are the key elements enabling EIT Urban Mobility’s vision of creating more liveable urban spaces in cities? Did you know that: they range from improving cooperation between private and public entities,

• to supporting targeted investments aligned with cities’ goals,
• to exploring emerging technologies that offer solutions to urban mobility challenges,
• to assessing the impact of solutions deployed by our supported startups.

These and many other points are covered in the last issue of polisMobility magazine, which features EIT Urban Mobility in the article: “Paving the way to liveable urban spaces in Europe“, addressing the importance of “impact” in curbing transport sector emissions and making urban mobility cleaner and safer.

The article by Judith O’Meara, Director of Innovation Hub Central, discusses the transition to sustainable mobility, in line with the EU Green Deal objectives, and looks into how EIT Urban Mobility’s strategic approach to impact investing supports European cities in this ambitious environmental and technological transition.

Curious to know more about how we accelerate change towards a sustainable model of urban mobility? Catch us at polisMOBILITY 2022, where EIT Urban Mobility will be actively participating!

The following activities will provide citizens and organisations with the opportunity to learn more about our programmes and mobility innovation marketplace:

Session: “EIT Urban Mobility session: An initiative to create more liveable urban spaces” – Friday 20 May at 13:30 – 14:30 (CEST), visionSTAGE.
Networking meeting: Closed event, upon invitation only addressed to our partners and potential partners – Friday 20 May at 15:00 – 16:30 (CEST).
Talk and discussion: Addressed to citizens and civil society organisations, focusing on implemented solutions that increase the potential of redefining the public realm in our cities – Saturday 21 May at 12:00 – 12:45 (CEST), openSTAGE.

Join us at polisMOBILITY 2022, to know more about EIT Urban Mobility’s activities and solutions for sustainable cities!

Applications are now open for the Portuguese edition of Get in the Ring, promoted by Vodafone Power Lab,  and organised by BGI – Building Global Innovators, in partnership with EIT Urban Mobility, as our EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Portugal and Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, trough Made of Lisboa.  

Do you have a smart idea for some of these topics? 

• XR Solutions – Solutions that take advantage of augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technologies applied to the most diverse sectors.    
• Automation & Gamification – Solutions that take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, as well as solutions that use game mechanics promoting and enhancing their use.     
• Smart Mobility – Solutions that improve the efficiency of urban mobility and that can be applied to both large cities and smaller urban areas.  
• Big Data – Solutions that develop innovative methods for the efficient and safe collection and processing of a large volume of data, creating useful tools for the development of different types of business. 

Get the chance to win a prize up to €20.000, exclusive meetings with mentors, investors, potential clients, and the possibility to make business partnerships. Book your calendar for the live event on 30-31 May.  

Interested entrepreneurs can now apply for one or more challenges until 29 April.  

Apply here.