Iris Smart Cities

Across Europe, cities are accelerating their transformation towards cleaner, friendlier places able to respect and use resources more efficiently. IRIS - Integrated and Replicable solutions for co-creation in Sustainable cities - is proud to be identified at the forefront of this change and announce itself as part of the European Commission Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) lighthouse projects Beginning in October 2017, IRIS, a five-year European funded project, will harness user-demand driven energy and mobility services; encourage more collaborative and effective urban planning and governance; as well as validate business model and technical innovations to fuel smart sustainable city aspirations across the continent. These initiatives will be lead by lighthouse cities of Utrecht (NL, Project Coordinator), Gothenburg (SE) and Nice Côte d’Azur (FR) and their follower cities Vaasa (FI), Alexandroupolis (GR), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (ES), and Focsani (RO). Each city will draw upon a mix of universities and research organisations, local authorities, innovation agencies and private expertise to accelerate entire communities to adopt ambitious energy, mobility and ICT initiatives. At the heart of the project, IRIS is organised around five key challenges − energy positive districts, smart energy management and a smart e-mobility sector, a digital city innovation platform, plus citizen engagement and co-creation − with a mix of 16 targeted solutions supporting their delivery. Priorities in implementing these in each of the lighthouse and follower cities have been made after extensive analysis and capitalise on a selection of regional, national and European initiatives that have been building towards this landmark funding opportunity. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme