We want to extend a warm invitation to all of you to take part in the Action Cluster Meet & Greet on 2 December (16:30-18:00 CET). The Smart Cities Marketplace officially closes its round of Action Cluster Meetings with this get-together.

The third episode in a series of four our podcast about Smart Cities has been published. Learn all about deal-meetings and matchmaking from Eelco Kruizinga & Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida (Matchmakers for the Smart Cities Marketplace), Jessica Stromback (CEO of Joule Assets) and Malvine Socaci (Deputy Mayor of Vulcan, Romania)

The Smart Cities Marketplace team made the most out of this year’s CIVITAS Forum Conference 2021 – Discover smart routes towards climate-neutral cities that took place in a hybrid format: on-site in Aachen and online via an event platform.

What is the Smart Cities Marketplace and how do our Action Clusters, the Investor Network, and the Smart Cities and Communities Cluster of Horizon projects all work together in one market-changing undertaking bringing cities, industries, SMEs, investors, researchers and other smart city actors together?

The Smart Cities Marketplace is searching for cases to showcase the possibilities of private financing to deploy smart city solutions. Share your successful case to highlight different forms of private finance.

The Smart Cities Marketplace Circular Cities booklet provides an overview of what circularity can mean for cities and other urban stakeholders. With circular solution examples from different sectors, lessons learned and links to important resources, it aims to provide the tools that will facilitate the transition of cities to a circular economy.

oPEN Lab is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 33 partners from 7 countries are collaborating to revitalise urban areas across Europe to lead the transition to Positive Energy Neighbourhoods.

NetZeroCities (NZC) is part of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme in support of European Union’s Green Deal. It will support Europe in its ambition to achieve climate neutrality before 2050.

The European Commission launched five new EU missions, including its mission on 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. They aim to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment, and to achieve ambitious and inspiring goals in these areas.

We would like to draw your attention to the funding opportunities under LIFE Clean Energy Transition to support projects accelerating investments in energy efficiency and renewables. EUR 95 million are available in the next call for proposals, closing on 12 January 2022.

The European City Facility (EUCF) assists municipalities with fast and simplified financial support of EUR 60,000 for developing investment concepts delivering local sustainable energy projects. More than EUR 12 million of funding are available through a series of regional calls to support over 200 municipalities over the next two years.

On 5 November 2021, 48 European municipalities, cities and districts received the European Energy Award Gold in Ravensburg - the award for local authorities particularly ambitious, active and successful in their local climate and energy policy.