We are delighted to participate in the Smart Cities and Communities Action of the European Commission as a Consortium member in the project SPARCs.
SPARCs project officially launches The SPARCs project, a smart city initiative, which brings together 31 partners* with the common goal of creating a network of Sustainable energy Positive & zero cARbon Communities.
The project is officially kicking off on October 1st, 2019. Following the kick-off, the project partners will gather at a General Assembly in Espoo, Finland, on October 11th, 2019.
The project will provide systematic support for urban transformation and community engagement in two Lighthouse Cities – Espoo (Finland) and Leipzig (Germany). The solutions developed in the Lighthouse Cities will be closely followed in five Fellow Cities: Maia (Portugal), Kifissia (Greece), Reykjavik (Iceland), Kladno (Czech Republic) and Lviv (Ukraine), with the aim of further replication.
SPARCs is set to trigger urban transformation while keeping a high quality of life for citizens in the 7 cities. The 5-year project will support the participating cities in developing a shared bold City Vision 2050, with a focus on digitalisation, sustainable energy, improved air quality, electro-mobility solutions, and a framework for performance monitoring of the developed solutions. A top priority will be to set up inclusive management and planning models, as well as ecosystems and processes, together with companies, city planning and technical departments, research organisations, and most importantly, with the citizens. In SPARCs, citizens are at the centre of the decision-making process and the project ensures that citizens are aware of all the activities taking place.
“By enabling, informing and supporting efficient urban transformation in the Lighthouse Cities, we anticipate that the SPARCs project will have a major positive impact on driving forward the sustainable energy and zero carbon agenda, and generate targeted and effective solutions that can be replicated across and beyond Europe,” said Project Coordinator Francesco Reda.
For more information you can visit the website.
© European Union, 2019
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 864242. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this press release lies entirely with the authors.
