Winning EU-application: Millions to project for climate-smart solutions
2017-10-02
Gothenburg has together with six European cities been granted 18 million Euros (just over 175 million Swedish Crowns) by the EU, for a five-year project. The application is rated number one by the EU commission.
– To have a good project idea isn’t enough if you want to receive a high score. You also need to have an excellent plan for the realisation of it and a clear picture of expected impact on society, says, Magnus Andersson, partner at IMCG and one of the key people in the creation of the winning application.
The IRIS project will develop smart solutions for energy, sustainable transport and develop the use of open data. Both residents in Gothenburg and in the rest of EU will benefit from the results.
– IMCG acted lead part in the development of the application concerning innovation and business development, which lead to a strong break-through and spread of project results. The application has been sent in before, but never won. IMCG was asked to become a partner in the project and supported the work to create a top notch application. The project was rated number one in the European evaluation, says Magnus Andersson.
The goal is to make sure innovations that are developed within the IRIS project will be of gain for society and be replicated in several cities – both within and outside the EU.
The innovations will be of gain for society
The project will include developing new solutions in renewable energy, how it can be stored and managed, as well as sustainable transport. Utrecht in the Netherlands, for example, has come a long way in introducing electric vehicles in the city and they are adept at transferring energy from the vehicles into the national grid.
– IMCG’s goal is to make sure the innovations that are being developed within the IRIS project will be replicated at several places. Both in cities inside and outside of the EU. We will, among other things, work on and implement methods to enhance the capacity within the cities’ innovation management.
Open data beneficial for many
In the City of Gothenburg, data is collected about such as road construction, waste management and air quality – data that is available for anybody to use. Now one wishes that more cities will collect data and share it free-of-charge in the same manner in the whole Europe.
– We would, for instance, want Gothenburg residents to be able to get information about how much waste each and every person in the city creates, and how much a Utrecht or Nice resident creates. Companies, associations and private individuals should also be able to access the data and make better choices or create informative services – such as an app – that others can benefit from, says Kim Lantto, Development Manager for Digital Service and Coordinator for Open Data in the City of Gothenburg.
FACTS | IRIS
IRIS stands for Integrated and Replicable Solutions för Co-Creation in Sustainable Cities. In Gothenburg, there are nine collaborators – City of Gothenburg, Johanneberg Science Park, Akademiska hus, Chalmers University of Technology, HSB, Metry, Trivector, Tyréns och Riksbyggen.
RISE och IMCG are also part of the project and will work on a more comprenhensive and international level.
EU Smart Cities & Communities och Lighthouse
The project is financed by Smart Cities & Communities, Lighthouse project with the Horizon2020 programme. Read more >>
