Événement à la une
Du 26.09.2024 au 05.11.2024
Horizon Implementation Days
La Commission européenne organise entre septembre et novembre trois demies journées dédiées à la mise en œuvre des projets Horizon Europe.
ExpectedOutcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
Scope:
The topic addresses the objectives of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, hereafter referred to as the Cities Mission, to (1) support, promote and showcase 100 climate-neutral and smart European cities by 2030 and (2) make these cities act into experimentation and innovation hubs to put all European cities in a position to become climate-neutral by 2050. The topic will thus contribute to the twin green and digital transitions promoted by the European Green Deal and will lead by example on how to speed up the necessary transformation towards urban climate neutrality, including in a human-centred way.
Cities are natural testbeds for innovative integrated solutions and for showcasing the different possibilities for achieving climate neutrality and zero pollution objectives. Early mover cities towards climate neutrality and zero pollution by 2030 will pave the way for all cities to follow by 2050. They should therefore lead the way towards an overarching strategy aiming at climate neutrality for cities.
The concept of Lighthouse and Fellow cities[4] pioneered under Horizon 2020 yielded good results and a similar project structure is encouraged[5].
Since Positive Clean Energy Districts are a crucial element of the climate-neutral cities of the future, the concept of scale and of representativeness of the various socio-economic contexts/groups of citizens are of highest importance for effective and impactful urban transformation, taking into account cross-sectoral impacts, interdependencies and co-benefits. The expertise acquired at district scale - by facilitating and analysing the intricate interactions between all involved layers and actors - is essential for subsequent scale-up to city scale. This is again paramount if we want to meet the 2050 climate and zero pollution goals where cities play a pivotal role. The scope of the projects will therefore be to:
Projects are also expected to collaborate with and contribute to the specific objectives of the SET Plan action 3.2 - Smart cities and communities - focusing on positive-energy blocks and districts (PED).
Proposals are expected to demonstrate very good knowledge of the European Smart Cities and Communities ecosystem and to pay specific attention to synergies with relevant policies such as the Renovation Wave and with other relevant initiatives such as the European Partnership on Driving Urban Transition for a sustainable future (DUT)[7], the European Partnership for People-centric Sustainable Built Environment (Built4People)[7], the Covenant of Mayors, the Smart Cities Market Place[9], Living-in.EU, Clean Energy Transition (LIFE), EIT InnoEnergy, the upcoming European Urban Initiative of Cohesion policy, the Urban Agenda for the EU, as well as relevant projects such as the Lighthouse projects of the New European Bauhaus initiative and relevant smart specialisation partnerships.
The projects funded under this topic must establish a collaboration agreement, to identify clear links among themselves and ensure complementarity, coordination and exchange on relevant linked activities. The selected projects should also foresee active collaboration with relevant and related projects funded under this call in order to address synergies and complementarities between the projects of the Cities Mission portfolio. In particular collaboration with the Mission Platform (HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03) is essential and projects should ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing this collaboration are included in the workplan. Detailed description of the specific activities and common actions that will be undertaken is not required at proposal stage and can be further defined at a second stage during the lifetime of the projects. The collaboration with the Mission Platform should be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the projects starting date.
To facilitate replication and reuse of the solutions developed as part of these actions, use of open source software, open standards and technical specifications[10], re-use of building blocks and interoperability solutions[11], and sharing of data through EU data spaces are encouraged where appropriate.
To facilitate replication, upscaling and up-taking of the generated outcomes and to foster capacity building/upskilling of public authorities, local actors and communities, the projects should engage in ambitious outreach, communication, dissemination and training activities in coordination and complementarity with the Mission Platform.
Cross-cutting Priorities:
Artificial IntelligenceDigital Agenda
[1]Refer to definition of Positive Energy Districts as elaborated under SET Plan IWP 3.2: https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/ped/
[2]Based on existing city-wide diagnosis and strategies, to enhance coherence and alignment with the city' urban transformation long-term vision of, as well as acceptance among citizens.
[3]In this context, a ‘district’ is a designated administrative unit within a city that is managed by a local government.
[4]Indicatively 2 (leading) Lighthouse cities and 2-5 fellow cities. However, if deemed more appropriate also other constellations are admissible)
[5]Horizon 2020: LC-SC3-SCC-1-2018-2019-2020: Smart Cities and Communities - https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-energy_en.pdf.
[6]https://smart-cities-marketplace.ec.europa.eu/scale
[7]https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/european-partnerships-horizon-europe/candidates-climate-energy-and-mobility_en
[8]https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/european-partnerships-horizon-europe/candidates-climate-energy-and-mobility_en
[9]https://smart-cities-marketplace.ec.europa.eu/
[10]For example, the Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs Plus) developed by Living-in.eu (https://living-in.eu/groups/commitments/technical) and the European Interoperability Framework
[11]These include the assets and solutions available through CEF Digital Building Blocks and ISA2 and which will be made available on Joinup under the DIGITAL Europe Programme Work Programme 2021-2022