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AIT expert Klaus Kubeczko at panel discussion on “Smart & Sustainable Cities” in Brussels

21.07.2017

On 28 June 2017, AIT Senior Expert Advisor Klaus Kubeczko (Center for Innovation Systems & Policy) was invited to a joint hearing on “Cities as Actors of Open Innovation”, co-organized between The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and European Commission, DG Research and Innovation.

Over the last two years, cities have been recognized as key actors for achieving the targets set by major international agreements such as the Paris Declaration on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover, a dedicated agenda with priority actions for cities has been developed both at the European and at the international level.

The three panel discussions in the context of the hearing on “Cities as Actors of Open Innovation” focused on cities not merely as a spatial scale but as systems of systems, analyzing multi-level, multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial interactions between different stakeholders involved in the co-creation, co-design and co-implementation of integrated and innovative solutions for urban and peri-urban areas.

In the panel “Smart & Sustainable Cities – R&I for Accelerating the Transitions”, chaired by Parkku Markkula (President of the CoR), Klaus Kubeczko was asked to discuss current activities by JPI Urban Europe and the Open & Agile Smart Cities Initiative from an RTI policy perspective, also referring to the foresight project BOHEMIA.

Klaus Kubeczko: “In order to develop sustainable solutions for decarbonization, the most successful cities will establish innovation zones as testing grounds for future-oriented framework conditions.”