Cities have always been at the forefront of change and innovation, and so it is in the 21st century. Europe has pledged to lead on climate action and aims to be a carbon neutral continent by 2050. The ambitious set of goals and directives is called The European Green Deal.

Big things are achieved in chunks. A milestone goal is to cut 55% of emissions by 2030. To reach this, 100 forerunner cities have been selected to lead the way to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

These 100 cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to other European cities to follow. The program highlights the importance of Smart City solutions in reaching climate-neutrality. Which is why the mission is officially called the EU Mission: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.

From Finland, 6 pioneer cities are selected on the mission: Espoo, Helsinki, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, and Turku.

These 100 cities around Europe are calling for sustainable Smart City solutions. But the solutions are not created and scaled alone.

Decarbonized Cities accelerates exporting solutions

Decarbonized Cities program assists companies and organizations in creating and scaling the change-making solutions. Managed by Business Finland, the program aims to accelerate the development and exporting of the solutions to the 100 cities of the EU mission.

The program connects the essential networks and cross-sectoral actors to a vital partner network. The aim is to create long-term close cooperation with cities, large and small companies, researchers, and other stakeholders.

The cooperation covers i.e. events, trips and networks around the world, along funding advising and market insights. The special focus is in partner cities Madrid, Los Angeles and Singapore. Read more about the introduced opportunities in Madrid and Los Angeles.

Decarbonized Cities assists in taking Finnish solutions to the global markets - which are calling for high quality solutions.

SCIC connects the solution-makers to the opportunities

Smart City Innovation Cluster has a crucial role in coordinating tangible leads to the cluster members. In close cooperation with Business Finland and the programs above, SCIC brings opportunities into challenges and facilitates the solution co-creation process. SCIC is the connecting actor between the public programs and organizations that hold the crucial competence to create the solutions.

The EU Missions create a remarkable market for Smart City solutions, to export the Finnish know-how and reduce the carbon footprint. SCIC with Decarbonized Cities operations aim to realize the opportunities, and take Finnish solutions worldwide.

SCIC works as a platform for cooperation between the cluster members, and creating sustainable and scalable Smart City solutions. Learn more about the SCIC Vision, the unique co-creation model and what SCIC Challenges mean.

In case of questions, please contact CEO Pertti Kortejärvi for further information:

Pertti Kortejärvi pertti.kortejarvi@scic.io

CEO

Smart City Innovation Cluster