1. EU R&I for Cities of the Future - High-Level Expert Group on ‘Innovative Cities’ - Horizon Europe EUROCITIES Economic Development Forum meeting Florence, 27 March 2019
Fabrizio Colimberti
Policy Officer
Unit B1
Directorate-General for Research & Innovation (DG RTD)
European Commission

2. High-Level Expert Group on ‘Innovative cities’
Today’s urban challenges to address
Better meet the diverse urban needs of citizens, business and industry; offer more and more attractive choices
Reduce negative impacts: climate change, congestion, road accidents, air and water pollution, wastes and health issues
Launched on 12 June 2018 to assist the EC in formulating a ‘Strategic Research & innovation Agenda’ (SRIA) to foster a systemic and cross-sectorial ‘urban ecosystem’ framework to guide investment in EU R&I actions for cities
The Group consists of 9 experts and 2 observers covering urban thematic areas (e.g. mobility; energy efficiency; climate change; social inclusion & social innovation; food systems; circular cities; resource efficiency; digital cities; resilience; etc.)

3. High-Level Expert Group on ‘Innovative cities’
Report expected to be delivered in July 2019
It accounts for targets set out at international urban-relevant policy frameworks: COP21 Paris Agreement, 1.5 IPCC for cities, UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably Goal 11 (Sustainable cities and communities)
It aligns with the ongoing Strategic Research & Innovation Agendas (e.g. EU SRIA on Urban mobility, Strategic Agenda of JPI Urban Europe, Fab City Manifesto, Global Covenant of Mayors ‘Innovate4Cities’ Agenda, etc.
Contribution of strategic partners such as EUROCITIES (with Experts Marton Matko and Nathalie Guri)
Charles Landry as Chair of the Group (‘The Creative Bureaucracy’)
Shift to ‘human-centered city’: citizens as makers, shapers, ‘right to the city’ (active citizenship)

4. High-Level Expert Group on ‘Innovative cities’ – some draft points
Two critical issues related to urban infrastructure
Decarbonisation & 1.5% global temperature increase limit – planning; renewables; energy production & storage; efficiency; construction; mobility and shared mobility
Circularity & sharing: reuse and recycle; recyclability by design; adaptive reuse; eco-friendly planning & design logic; imaginative waste & sewage systems
Sketching R&I priorities
Building resilience (‘future proofing’): develop skills; strengthen institutional capacity; expert staff; engage citizens; identify incentives (nudges)
Prosperity: human-driven development & finance for innovation; creativity, culture, skills & unequal distribution of opportunities; mixity and diversity; economies and diseconomies
Governance: reinforce testing grounds & experiments; support city-led governance initiatives (possible with research entities as a sounding board); connect to the public innovation movement; measuring impact & move beyond GDP

5. Horizon Europe: The future framework Programme for R&I
Under Horizon Europe ( ), urban R&I actions will be funded under the ‘Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness’ pillar, from several clusters (macro areas)
Cluster 4 on ‘Climate, Energy and Mobility’ foresees an intervention area on ‘Cities and Communities’
An integrated approach encompassing research, innovation, policy and socio-economic studies and circular economy models will be necessary
Co-creation, co-development and co-implementation with involvement of all relevant actors and citizens in cities across the European Union and worldwide