Urban Innovation
About
The Urban Innovation Working Group (WG) aims to address the challenges faced by cities in creating and maintaining effective, inclusive and dynamic urban ecosystems. Its central objective is to strengthen ENoLL’s presence in the urban innovation landscape as the support partner for urban ecosystems, offering its living lab methodology and expertise with a view to initiating, maintaining, scaling up innovative solutions for societal challenges through living labs. The central position of ENoLL within the Living-in.EU movement is an additional driver for the WG.
The WG is dedicated to identifying the needs of members working on innovation in an urban context across various themes and developing the necessary support and support structures to further innovation addressing key urban challenges. The WG will ensure alignment on contents with other thematic WGs such as mobility, energy, social, etc, while avoiding overlap
The WG sets out to achieve a strengthened role for ENoLL as a dynamic network that shapes the future of urban innovation by responding to urban challenges through the Living Lab approach, stakeholder engagement, and co-creating innovative solutions across various domains. ENoLL places significant emphasis on working directly with local communities.
By working together through the Urban Innovation Working Group, ENoLL members can share common challenges, best practices and innovative solutions, to better integrate Living Labs into the policy-making process in urban contexts.
Actions
- Knowledge hub, methodological support and best practice exchange: Regular meetings will be organised, where members can share their experiences, success stories, challenges, and solutions in the realm of urban innovation.
- Presentation of the calls from the European Commission: The WG will monitor and present relevant calls and opportunities released by the EC. Members will be notified of these opportunities, and they might initiate collaborative projects that bring together multiple members to work on proposals.
- Focus on specific themes: Apart from the general scope of urban innovation, the WG will have focused sessions on new themes, such as 'Citiverse'. Such themes will be chosen based on relevance, member interest, and global trends.
Related projects
Go Li.EU supports the governance of the Living-in.EU community to build the European way of digitally transforming cities and communities. The project will engage a broad range of different stakeholders and will support the co-creation of an extensive variety of activities. It will aim to find synergies for adequate funding, tackle any legal gaps, contribute to technical alignment and interoperability across sectors and places, as well as helping cities to build capacity. The results of these activities will be measured and communicated, ensuring a higher level of visibility and impact for the benefit of all.
CommuniCity conducts many innovation pilots in many local communities, urban, peri-urban and rural, including two EU capitals, aiming to empower hard-to-reach and marginalized communities. It creates three cycles of increasing size, building on two dynamic networks of local administrations and living labs of all sizes.
CommuniCity devises an inclusive, community-driven, agile innovation and experimentation model. With this model it runs a large co-creation process, first involving local communities in the challenge definitions, then developing innovative solutions through open calls promoted at the European level as well as locally. It will create new insights into local community innovation processes as well as principles and models of how to scale these insights in inclusive and sustainable manners. In addition, CommuniCity will produce a large number of novel innovations anchored in the needs of the local communities, and an exemplary approach that is followed throughout Europe.
The aim is to push the frontier of community-driven innovation much deeper in society and to the margins of society so that the development and testing of novel innovations better serve the needs of the whole society, based on European values, in the world.
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VITALISE opens up Living Lab Infrastructures as a means to facilitate and promote research activities in the Health and Wellbeing domain in Europe and beyond by enabling in-person Transnational Access to 17 Living Lab research infrastructures and by supporting remote digital access to datasets (Virtual Access) of rehabilitation, transitional care and everyday life activities through harmonized processes and common tools.
ENoLL coordinates the project with the aim of creating a large thematic Living Lab ecosystem of virtually interconnected research infrastructures in the Health and Wellbeing domain which will be made available to a wider research community. ENoLL is also in charge of implementing a Harmonization Framework for Health and Wellbeing Living Labs that will be self-sustainable beyond the project lifecycle and provide a wider, simplified, and more efficient access to Living Lab Infrastructures.
VITALISE contribution to the European Research Area is summarized in two basic points:
- impact user-centered knowledge and approaches to researchers in the Health and Wellbeing domain
- facilitate their work through harmonized procedures and e-infrastructures. Research conducted with Living Labs often yields unique knowledge that is otherwise difficult to achieve.
SCORE outlines a co-creation strategy, developed via a network of 10 Coastal City Living Labs (CCLLs), to rapidly, equitably and sustainably enhance coastal city climate resilience through an Ecosystem Based Approach (EBA) and sophisticated digital technologies. SCORE will establish an integrated coastal zone management framework for strengthening EBAs and smart coastal city policies, creating European leadership in coastal city climate change adaptation in line with The Paris Agreement. The project will involve citizen science in providing prototype coastal city early-warning systems and will enable smart, instant monitoring and control of climate resilience in European coastal cities through open, accessible spatial ‘digital twin’ tools.
The Coastal City Living Lab (CCLL) is a new concept that expands the Living Lab approach to coastal cities and settlements. SCORE is establishing a network of 10 coastal city ‘living labs’ that will involve citizens, scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders in providing prototype coastal city early-warning systems. These CCLLs will learn from each other in different frontrunner and follower roles, ensuring engagement, empowerment and learning throughout the process. The 10 cities that are part of the project are: Sligo and Dublin (Ireland), Oeiras (Portugal), Vilanova i la Geltrù and Benidorm (Spain), Oarsoaldea (Basque Country), Gdańsk (Poland), Piran (Slovenia), Samsun (Turkey), and Massa (Italy) – see the map.
SCORE will develop and deliver a new generation of tools and methodologies, as well as validated EBAs, to enhance citizen engagement, improve climate and erosion monitoring and projections, facilitate knowledge sharing and enable exploration of different mitigation actions and risks. EBAs cover the sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems that can generate social, economic, and environmental benefits (e.g. restoration of forests, floodplains, wetlands, and peatlands; creation of wetland corridors; improvement of coastal protection infrastructure).
Through CCLLs and smart technologies, the project will not only prove the technical feasibility of EBAs in real life settings, but also demonstrate the socio-economic viability of EBA prototypes, thus accelerating their systematic adoption. Find out more in this video.
ENoLL role: ENoLL is mostly supporting the set-up of the CCLLs by creating a Methodology and Framework that can be implemented by all 10 cities, and to be replicated beyond the project.
Contact person: Marta De Los Ríos White – marta.delosrioswhite@enoll.org
The aim of the oPEN Lab is to identify replicable, commercially viable solution packages enabling the achievement of positive energy neighbourhoods within existing urban contexts that are seamlessly integrated into the local energy system as an active micro-energy hub, and to test these technologies and package as an integrated solution at neighbourhood scale.
Over the duration of the project, oPEN Lab will focus on identifying and demonstrating replicable, commercially viable solution packages enabling to achieve positive energy buildings and neighbourhoods. Three open innovation living labs in the cities of Genk (Belgium), Pamplona (Spain) and Tartu (Estonia) will test combinations of different close-to-market ready technologies and services and study their performance as a unique operating system.
Contact person:
Francesca Spagnoli – francesca.spagnoli@enoll.org
Marta De Los Ríos White – marta.delosrioswhite@enoll.org
LIFE-BECKON (Boosting Energy Communities massive deployment by equipping local authorities with comprehensive technical assistance cooKboOk, integrated services and capacity buildiNg) stimulates and boosts the deployment of energy communities across Europe by developing and delivering comprehensive support mechanisms for public authorities, promoters and Local Action Groups to better equip them to facilitate the creation of energy communities, therefore answering to clear needs and known barriers.
The comprehensive support mechanism includes
- A Technical Assistance cookbook to enable the creation of Technical Assistance Offices,
- A Capacity Building program via a Train-the-Trainer approach to increase the expertise and knowledge of all stakeholders involved
- and integrated services via a One-Stop-Shop platform to facilitate access to information, tools and guides as well as matchmaking among actors along the value chain.
The support mechanism will be validated in 3 supramunicipal areas in Avila (Spain), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Copenhagen (Denmark) and replicated in 15 EU local authorities.
ENoLL role: Within the project, ENoLL will be in charge of WP2 Capacity Building via Train-the-Trainers, the objective is the training/mentoring for the development of skills and competencies in co-design and citizen-centred co-creation methodologies, to promote collaboration & mutual learning across sectors, citizens and stakeholders participating in the creation of local Energy Communities.
Contact person:
Francesca Spagnoli – francesca.spagnoli@enoll.org
Marta De Los Ríos White – marta.delosrioswhite@enoll.org
The TRANSFORMER project considers entire regions as living laboratories, Transition Super-Labs, in which new ways of transformation towards a climate-neutral future can be developed, tested and implemented.
The TRANSFORMER is an H2020 project that works with four regions, the Ruhr Area, DE, Emilia Romagna, IT, Lower Silesia, PL and Western Macedonia, GR, on the transition from fossil-fuel-based to zero-carbon local economies. TRANSFORMER Super-Labs bring together all relevant stakeholders of a region: universities, municipalities, companies, and civil society organizations to work in new cooperation formats and design project ideas for transformation to long-term climate neutrality.
The project aims at developing a roadmap per region that will include milestones for implementation, financing and funding opportunities for other Super-Labs to be developed and replicated, to serve as the core of a regional climate neutrality concept.
TRANSFORMER will create a self-sustaining community of Super-Lab practitioners replicating the concept of Transition Super Labs further, with the aim to build a path towards climate neutrality.
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Data Space For Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities is a preparatory action for the creation of data space for smart communities as an enabler of the EU Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goals. The project aims to:
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Develop a multi-stakeholder data governance scheme by bringing together European cities and their local stakeholders to collaborate on use cases relevant to Green Deal objectives. This will be done through operational local data platforms, via a “data governance core group”.
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Create a blueprint for the European Data Space for Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities (DS4SSCC).
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Bring a set of priority datasets into conformity with the new blueprint by delivering a catalogue of domains, use cases, and related data sets for DS4SSCC.
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Develop a roadmap and action plan towards a mature, connected pan-EU DS4SSCC.
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Shape and implement the data space on local, regional, national and EU levels, taking into account their different levels of maturity.
The aim of the project Digital Transformation for Regions – DT4REGIONS project is to launch a European Platform for Regions to enable AI and Big Data collective solutions, namely a unique challenge-based innovation platform for the development of tools and services of public interest and to enhance public administration efficiency and effectiveness in user-centric services.
Led by Emilia-Romagna Region, the DT4REGIONS platform project will be based on the real needs of a network of regions supported by technical partners to make the platform a sound and effective environment for the development of the next era of AI and Big Data for the digital transformation of the public administration.
Specific objectives of the project are:
- Raise awareness and knowledge about AI and big data applications for public services within the PA and the regional ecosystem.
- Stimulate peer to peer knowledge sharing among regions.
- Increase and enlarge policy discussions on topics of specific public interest.
- Serve as a hub of a wide variety of data-related topics, such as open data, smart cities, digital skills.
- Foster innovation through practical exercises, including two hackathons, based on the concrete needs of public administrations and citizens.
Within this context, public administrations will be engaged in defining the platform services and will benefit from dedicated capacity building and mutual learning activities to make the best use of the platform itself. Regional innovation ecosystem actors will contribute to the identification of the platform functionalities and contents, as well as of the future of public services developed and delivered using AI and Big Data solutions.
The Urban Nature Labs project will demonstrate innovation nature-based solutions in cities that are facing challenges of climate change and urbanisation. Through the project locally-attuned innovative water management systems will be co-create and demonstrated in the context of an integrated urban ecological approach: the Urban Nature Lab (UNaLab).
Website: http://unalab.eu/
ENoLL’s latest outputs
About UNALAB
Cities around the world are undergoing significant transformations and are facing substantial challenges in the form of urban densification and extreme weather conditions, due to climate change and the ongoing urbanisation. Nature-based solutions (NBS) present an approach to address urban challenges through working with nature, in order to achieve ecological and resilience objectives, while creating opportunities for social and economic innovation concurrently.
The UNaLab consortium is comprised of 28 partners from 10 cities across Europe and beyond, including municipalities, research, business and industry. The UNaLab partner cities commit to addressing climate and water related challenges within an innovative and citizen-driven paradigm. The UNaLab cities aim to develop smarter, more inclusive, more resilient and increasingly sustainable societies through innovative nature-based solutions
UNALAB mission
UNaLab’s three demonstration cities, Tampere, Eindhoven and Genova, will implement urban living lab demonstration areas within the cities. They will address identified urban climate and water related challenges by co-creating nature-based solutions with local stakeholders and end users, using an innovative systemic decision support tool. The project aims at using the feedback from the urban living lab demonstration areas to create a widely applicable toolbox consisting of user-friendly handbooks, models and instruments to guide cities across Europe in developing and implementing their own co-creative nature-based solutions.
The UNaLab project sets out to provide a framework for future upscaling of nature-based solutions in the demonstration cities, as well as replicate the solutions in seven replication cities. The European replication cities Cannes, Prague, Başakşehir, Castellón and Stavanger, as well as the non-European replication cities Buenos Aires and Hong Kong, will therefore work in collaboration with the demonstration cities to develop individual NBS roadmaps in a co-creation approach. The city Guangzhou and the Network of Brazilian Intelligent Cities will serve as observers and actively learn from the European NBS approach, which will enable the creation of a global NBS marketplace.
ENoLL’s role
ENoLL is leading a Work Package on co-creative tools and methods, with the help of UNALAB partners. To facilitate and develop trainings, ENoLL is engaging experts from the network.
Living Lab Series: Sign-up
Urban Living Lab Playground: The Game
By playing the game the participants learn:
1. What is an ULL and how does it function in a simulated real-life environment
2. How can a city employ an ULL to connect with the quadruple helix stakeholders, including citizens
3. Wide range of co-creation tools and methods that can be used to work together with the citizens
4. How does co-creation work when addressing complex urban challenges and developing NBS and PCS
5. How can the gamified approach facilitate shared understanding and storytelling
9 October 2019, 09WS498 – Urban Living Lab Playground The Co-Creation GamerBelgium – Brussels – October 2019r© EU/UE
ENoLL Members participating in the project
Botnia Living Lab, Basaksehir Living Lab, Espaitec, Brainport Eindhoven
URBANOME aims at building a common EU Framework for evaluating comprehensively multi-sector policies in urban settings supporting the “Health in all Policies” approach of WHO. In this light the overall objective of URBANOME is to promote urban health, wellbeing and liveability, through systematically integrating health concerns in urban policies and the activities of urban citizens, on the basis of detailed and comprehensive evidence on environmental health determinants, the spatial distribution of these in the city, and the social distribution of their impact among different population groups, accounting for different life styles and behaviours. Integration of health concerns, environmental stressors and social equality in public and private activities help alleviate a wide range of contemporary urban challenges, specifically social cohesion and health inequality, and promote the transition of European cities to sustainable, climate proof, smart and inclusive urban economies.
URBANOME brings together the complete set of environmental, social, and functional features of a city in an integrative analytical framework that would facilitate the identification of the main determinants of urban health and wellbeing and support co-creation and testing of policies and precision interventions designed to improve urban health and wellbeing through Urban Living Labs.
The URBANOME approach will be applied through pilots built by the Urban Living Labs in Aarhus, Athens, Aberdeen, Madrid, Milan, Ljubljana, Stuttgart, Paris and Thessaloniki tackling various levels of environmental exposures, age-dependent susceptibility windows, inter-individual variability, gender differentiation of exposure, and socio-economic disparities. These will allow us to draw conclusions regarding the determinants of urban health and wellbeing that will be translated into evidence–based policy recommendations considering socio-economic and environmental factors leading to urban health inequalities.
ENoLL Members in the project:
Thess-AHALL