The beautiful city of Budapest was the chosen location to gather for the first time our 12 EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hubs. During a two day face-to-face and semi-online event taking place between 8-9 March 2022 in the EIT Community Hub office, representatives from Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Turkiye get to know each other and the EIT Urban Mobility Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) Team.

On the first day, marked by International Women day, the EIT Urban Mobility CEO, Maria Tsavachidis, made the inauguration speech, dedicated to the given day, and specially to the situation in Ukraine. The RIS Manager, Bence Huba, welcomed all the participants, highlighting the importance of their commitment and the mission they are performing in the RIS countries where we aim to improve urban mobility and reinforce the synergies between local knowledge triangle actors.

During the initial session the RIS business activity plan was addressed, and the hubs could introduce themselves, as well as their consortia and activities. The first day of the summit ended with a workshop from our Business Creation thematic area.

On the second day, it was the turn to get to know better all the details for the Innovation calls for the next Business Plan 2023-25. During the Academy session, the RIS Hubs learnt how to run a citython and the opportunities we offer in our Competence Hub.  Also, the new EIT Urban Mobility partnership model was presented with the new opportunities that our organisation can offer to different types of stakeholders.

After the presentation on Communication, the summit culminated with a cross-Hub workshop led by Ákos Dervalics, from EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Hungary. The goal of the initiative is to build a resilient ecosystem for the future and economical sustainability of the RIS Hubs. Different working groups have been created to work on how to educate the community, provide opportunities for innovators and help them to scale and provide access to finance using a unique platform.

This was the first EIT UM RIS Hub Summit but more will come during the year connected to the different activities and topics related to the business plan.

Learn more about RIS and its work!

The transport sector is responsible for about 25% of the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions. The European Green Deal, the EU’s plan to be climate neutral by 2050, aims for a 90% reduction in transport emissions during this period by prioritising cleaner and healthier means of transport.  

Contributing only 0.4% of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, and as the safest mode of land transport, rail is both a safe and sustainable means of transport. Despite this, only about 7% of passengers and 11% of goods in Europe currently travel by rail. Increased use of rail will significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions and pollution coming from EU transport. To promote rail transport – both passenger and freight – the EU has designated 2021 as the European Year of Rail.  

2021 is the first year of implementation of the EU’s Fourth Railway Package, which aims to remove institutional, legal, and technical obstacles to achieve its vision of creating an integrated European railway area. One such obstacle to passenger rail transport is the fragmented local and/or regional Mobility as a Service (MaaS) providers across Europe. 

Led by Achmea, the project UMOS aims to overcome this by building a pan-European open service platform for optimised, customised, and seamless mobility for the traveller. As a mobile and web application it will be a one-stop platform, integrating various mobility services to provide real-time service data.  Digital technology innovation, as seen by the UMOS application, plays a critical part in removing obstacles to rail use and increasing the attractiveness of train transport. 

Do not forget to register for our Future Mobility Open Innovation Day (18 February, 13.30-15.30 CET) to hear from thought leaders and get inspired by corporate and organisational pitches on technology innovations impacting urban mobility. 

To address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic EIT Urban Mobility has launched the “EIT Urban Mobility Accelerator programme SPECIAL: COVID-19” to support startups developing mobility solutions for COVID-19 related problems. 

From a pool of over 100 applicants, 23 startups have been selected for the programme, which hail from Spain to Sweden and all the way from Ireland to Israel. For the next three months they will receive a tailored programme including one-on-one coaching, mentoring, peer-to-peer learning, training, workshops, access to international startup and mobility events, and unique access to transport providers, cities and investors. The participating ventures will also profit from a specifically designed COVID-19 impact assessment, which is headed by Dr. Ursula Mühle, who is currently helping the German government to manage the effects of the Corona pandemic. 

The EIT Urban Mobility Accelerator programme SPECIAL: COVID-19 has kicked off successfully on 3 September 2020, and partners are excited to accelerate these 23 promising startups and scale-ups culminating with the final presentation at UnternehmerTUM’s ultimate demo day at the end of November. The programme is co-run by four European acceleration partners: Futurebox (DK), PoliHub (IT), Technion DRIVE Accelerator (ISR), and UnternehmerTUM (DE). 

Introduction to the selected startups:  

AxilionSmartMobility: “Reduce Traffic Congestion & Carbon Footprint with Disruptive AI & SaaS based Technology.”  

BlinkIn: “BlinkIn enables people to be there without going there.” 

CitySwift: “SwiftConnect provides passengers with predicted public transport vehicle demand and capacity information, allowing passengers to plan their journeys.” 

Dashfactory GmbH: “Dashbike is the first valid dashcam for cyclists that also has a StVZO conformal daytime running light and collects infrastructure data.” 

Elonroad AB: “Elonroad develops a high-tech electric road system – it auto charges all types of electric vehicles when parked as well as when driving.” 

European Health Group: “Our coating service prevents bacterial growth on highly used surfaces & all materials, killing viruses & bacteria & making our environment safer.”  

Hawa Dawa: “Digital tools to de-risk pollution + guide healthy routing choices among respiratory vulnerable groups using AI & datascience, IoT + satellite imagery” 

Isarsoft: “We make every camera count – Accurate video analytics solution for your business”  

Keyless Technologies: “Nothing to remember. Nothing to steal. You are the key.”  

Meep: “Meep creates mobile applications that integrate all available transport to and encourage a modal shift towards more sustainable and connected cities.” 

MOTIONTAG: “MOTIONTAG fuels innovation in the mobility sector to solve the climate challenge” 

MUV B Corp: “MUV turns safe & sustainable mobility into a Sport. It rewards responsible habits, certifies CO2 savings and helps Organizations to improve the World” 

Nemi “Flexibilizing public transport to make it more efficient, sustainable and inclusive”. 

Nielsen Concept: “Service B2B of electric bikes and connected bike shelters, 100% green with the concept of circular economy”  

The mission of Nielsen Concept is to improve the practice of individual and collective electric mobility and above all warn of the increase in carbon emissions 

NÜWIEL GmbH: “eTrailer is the first electric trailer for bikes with patented technology that enabling smart synchronized movement”  

Odo: “Sustainable and smart first/last mile solution that collects data about the city”  

PentaLock: “The ultimate bike security system inside the crank to prevent thefts” 

RideBee: “The default platform for your daily commute.RideBee is developing a platform for companies that supports the formation of carpools for employees and simplifies their daily organization.” 

Roll2Go: “The data-centric platform for mobility data fusion and predictive analytics”  

Saanize: “We develop simple solutions to the challenges our users meet every day”  

Scan Unic: “Our innovative research and design network develops all our technologies from concept to prototype stage.” 

UrbanRadar: “Mobility data analytics to beat congestion and improve air quality”  

VONZU Tech: “Empowering digitalization in the urban distribution of goods”