11-14 October 2021

The European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek) is the biggest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to cohesion policy.

It has grown to become a unique communication and networking platform, bringing together regions and cities from all over Europe, including politicians, administrators, experts and academics. Over the last 18 years, it has done much to promote policy learning and the exchange of good practice.

The purpose of the EURegionsWeek is to discuss common challenges for Europe’s regions and cities and examine possible solutions, to provide a platform for capacity-building, learning and exchange of experience, to facilitate cooperation and networking between regions and cities, and to feed into the debate on EU cohesion policy in a wider context.

The themes for the 2021 edition are Green Transition, Cohesion, Digital Transition and Citizens engagements.

At the European Week of Regions and Cities, VTT will promote a workshop, “Fair and inclusive citizen engagement towards a new city vision in the energy transition”, and will present the first results and approach for the citizen engagement in RESPONSE.

Find more: https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/home_en

24-25 June 2021

This hybrid event (in-person and online), which took place in Gabrovo on June 24^th and 25^th,  got together over 200 experts and policy makers from Bulgaria and EU, who debated over key topics such as: accelerated building stock decarbonization, development of sustainable urban ecosystems, innovative financial instruments, etc. Among the key speakers at the event were: Markku Markkula – First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions; Iskra Mihaylova – MEP and Chair of the Regional development commission at the European Parliament; Frederik Boyer – Covenant of Mayors head of office; Ivaylo Alexiev – Executive Director of the Bulgarian Sustainable Energy Development Agency, etc. The event showcased best practices and innovative ideas and solutions in areas such as: the Renovation Wave, Energy poverty and energy cooperatives, the EU Green deal, etc. The RESPONSE project – its scope and key objectives was presented by the representatives of MoG during the second Conference day as part of the “Energy management at municipal level” panel.

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Nordic Edge Expo is a unique meeting place for decision-makers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors with smart city ambitions. Here, the public sector meets private businesses and organizations to share experiences, discuss challenges and present solutions. 

The 7th edition of Nordic Edge Expo & Conference, the leading Smart City event in the Nordics, will be a hybrid version in 2021. 

While “It’s Tomorrow” is the theme and red thread of this year’s conference programme, topics such as Come Clean, On the Move, Spaces and Places and Life Actually will be addressed by speakers and panelists in the four–day conference programme. Each day will also have 6 exclusive workshops linked to the topics. The Nordic Edge Expo & Conference will dive into the challenges of today and tomorrow; and will be discusses showcase best-practice solutions, and find new collaborations.

In addition, there will be side events with KnowHow EdTech, Nordic eSport, City Centre Conference hosted by Norwegian Cities Association, Gründer Academy, Youth Achievement and a Smart City Symposium Research Day.  

The mission of the 7th edition of Nordic Edge Expo & Conference is to deliver the most valuable Smart City meeting place in the Nordics. Together with the partners from the private sector, public sector, academia and start-up community the Nordic Edge will work hard to bring people together and deliver an insightful event.

We are living in bold and incredible times. In one year, mountains have been moved to design and manufacture vaccines against COVID-19. How can the pandemic mindset be applied to a more looming threat: climate change?

Our goal during these two days is to explore the future of cities in the face of climate urgency and fair social and ecological transitions. The future is already here, embedded in innovative projects and initiatives. We don’t bet only on long-term visions but focus on practical and promising innovations that shape the future of cities.

The global online and local event is a joint event of four H2020 Lighthouse smart city projects that comprises the Final event of Smarter Together joined by its 2016 sister projects – Replicate, Sharing Cities and SmartEnCity and presenting their recommendations. Following streaming from local studios in Lyon, London, San Sebastian and Sonderborg the global online audience is going to participate in the activities and the role of the SCALE Secretariat. The SCC-LG family, cities, stakeholders, industry partners, researchers and beyond are all welcome to join in all sessions.

Main sessions

The event is a two day event with an ambitious agenda that is composed of several key sessions. 

We will kickstart the two days with the Final event of Smarter Together.

The Joint event will present high-level political representatives from cities of the “Four” 2016 Smart Cities projects who will focus on What comes next for cities? Desirable futures and climate neutrality. 

To deepen the debate, each project will broadcast live from a local studio : 

• Smarter Together Studio based in Lyon
• Replicate Studio based in San Sebastián 
• Sharing Cities Studio based in London
• SmartEnCity Studio based in Sonderborg 

Each will look at one of the four themes that will make the future of cities:

• The future of Energy Communities
• Investment, accessing finance, and scaling-up
• The Roadmap2025-project
• Smart districts

With the help of a panel of experts, the ”Four” will use the business, organisational and technological models to reach their desirable futures. 

The European Commission SCALE initiative will present its portfolio of activities to foster replication and scaling up of smart solutions as well as to create sustainable communities of cities and practitioners.

We will close with the SCALE Secretariat hosting a number of sessions on upcoming topics of Call for Experts & Peer-to-peer learnings, City Coordinators Group, Roadshow, Smart City Brand and a meeting of the Board of Coordinators as well parallel individual sessions for each Task Group.