Innovation for and with Cities

EU Research & Innovation for and with Cities

Yearly Mapping Report, September 2017

Executive Summary

This document provides an overview of the main EU Research and Innovation (R&I) actions for and with cities, promoted both at the European and international level to foster sustainable urban development.

Cities face unprecedented challenges in terms of economic, social and environmental resilience, governance and management. At the same time, cities are hubs of innovation and wealth creation, and magnets for an ever increasing urban population.

The aim of the EU R&I agenda is to support cities and urban regions in becoming actors of open innovation and being open to the world as ambassadors of the European excellence in research and innovation. This will help them to accelerate the transition to sustainable, low-carbon societies.

An integrated Research and Innovation Framework for Smart and Sustainable Cities intends to:

• Better co-ordinate, streamline and focus the existing and future research and innovation activities and initiatives on urban issues across Horizon 2020 and future Framework Programmes.
• Enable a sustainable and systemic approach to innovation, by fostering co-creation, co-development and co-implementation with different actors and citizens in cities across the Union and worldwide.
• Develop new business and governance models, mobilise new partnerships and investments, and facilitate market uptake of visionary solutions and approaches needed to enhance urban resilience.
• Provide the knowledge and evidence base to inform decision on investments in key infrastructure for cities and urban regions as well as to inform policy-making, planning and land use management.

Europe can capitalise on over 30 years of investment in transnational EU Research and Innovation (R&I) on sustainable urban development. This document provides a comprehensive overview of current actions and projects funded through Horizon 2020 and the past three framework programmes.

The EU investment in urban related projects alone in the first four years of Horizon 2020 amounts to around 1.7 billion EUR for 612 projects across the three pillars of Horizon 2020, Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges. The investment in FP7, FP6 and FP5 were respectively 1.9 billion EUR; 0.4 billion EUR and 0.5 billion EUR.

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