+CityxChange Success!

On 6 July, the +CityxChange proposal was formally invited by the European Commission to become a new smart city lighthouse project, under the Horizon2020 LC-SC3-SCC-1-2019 “Smart Cities and Communities” call. The proposal was rated as the best among eleven competing proposals.

For the next five years, the cities of Trondheim, Limerick, Alba Iulia, Pisek, Sestao, Smolyan and Voru will experiment on how to become smart positive energy cities, that use digital services to improve quality of life for and together with all of their citizens, generate more energy than they consume, and exchange experiences with cities across Europe to learn faster, together.

Under the leadership of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, these seven cities will develop and test new solutions together with an impressive list of 11 large entreprises, 9 SMEs, 3 non-for-profit organisations and 2 universities, covering the entire value chain: IES R&D, Powel AS, University of Limerick, Energy Agency of Plovdiv, Future Analytics Consulting, Research2Market Solutions, ISOCARP, TrønderEnergi Kraft AS, ABB Norway, ATB, AVIS Budget Group, Statkraft Varme AS, ESB Innovation RoI Ltd, ESB Networks, Ove Arup & Partners SAU, FourC AS, R.Kjeldsberg, Smart MPower, Space Engagers, Colaborativa.eu, Officinae Verdi, IOTA Foundation, NHP Eiendom, and GKinetic Energy Ltd.

In its evaluation, the European Commission commends the proposal for demonstrating and substantiating actions that will contribute to the wide scale roll out of Positive Energy Districts across Europe, with a convincing approach to make local governments an active and integral part of the energy solution, engaging citizens in the city transformation, and involving the entire district energy value chain, extending to high level policy makers and cities, universities, large enterprises, distributed network operators, SMEs, and not for profit organizations.

At Colaborativa.eu we are truly delighted to be part of this fantastic opportunity to redefine how citizens and local communities lead a transition to more energy efficient cities in Europe.