On 19 January the ELISE network – one of the EU’s artificial intelligence networks of excellence – is convening a workshop exploring how AI could contribute to the development of sustainable, smart cities. The EU’s Cities Mission, aims to deliver 100 climate-neutral, smart cities by 2030, creating innovation hubs that will support all European cities to achieve climate neutral status by 2050. Achieving these goals will require action to improve urban planning, increase the sustainability of urban mobility, and deliver clean energy districts, amongst other interventions.

Advances in AI are intertwined with European ambitions for a healthier, wealthier and more sustainable society. Last year, ELISE published its vision for a European AI, setting out its roadmap to create AI technologies that are technically advanced, robust in deployment, and aligned with social values. This workshop will explore how AI can help, identifying where further AI research and policy development can unlock innovation.

Workshop programme

13.00 – 13.30 – Introduction and opening perspectives 

Jessica Montgomery, Director, AI@Cam, and Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning, University of Cambridge 
Christina Martinez, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission, Mission Cities 
Jennifer Schooling, Director of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC), at the University of Cambridge. 

13:30 – 14:45 – Discussion sessions: Aspirations for AI in building climate neutral and smart cities with AI 

14:45 – 15:00 – Break 

15:00 – 16:00 – Roadmapping: Achieving progress in the use of AI in Building climate neutral and smart cities with AI 

Register here

In the context of the ChemClimCircle project, municipalities are presenting their experiences with Green Public Procurement (GPP). On 13 February, Environmental Economist Ann Faber Ginness will give a presentation on behalf of the Municipality of Gentofte (Denmark).

Ginness will focus on:

• Criteria and implementation of Green Public Procurement in Denmark and Gentofte
• Criteria related to ChemClimCircle aspects
• Actual effects from certain sustainability criteria or political decisions, what impact do purchasing choices have?

After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session. The meeting will be moderated by Anne Lagerqvist from Stockholm municipality and can be followed via the Zoom link below.

ChemClimCircle is a SEED project that wants to address the important gap in policy integration that must be tackled but which is not yet on the European, national, and regional policy agendas: the linkage between Chemicals, Climate and Circularity issues. the consortium will conduct an analysis of the cause-and-effect chains linking chemicals, climate, and circularity, including “no-regret solutions” avoiding undesirable outcomes. It is planned to find pilot cases about successful approaches to connecting the three dimensions and organize think tank seminars.

On 27 and 28 February 2023, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission will host the 2023 European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference in hybrid mode. The sixth Conference will bring together Europe's biggest circular economy stakeholders to focus on the role of the circular economy in driving sustainable recovery, open strategic autonomy and resilience. The two-day event will be an opportunity to present the circular economy as a key factor in building resource independence and resilience while ensuring that policy objectives are linked to sustainable consumption and production.

Circular economy principles allow for sustainable development by decoupling economic growth from resource use and environmental impact. The principles of ‘do no harm’ and ‘build back better’ couldn’t be more in line with the circular economy, which contributes to economic and social resilience as well as to the green and digital transition. EU initiatives on circularity, ecodesign and waste prevention will also bolster efforts to achieve the zero pollution, biodiversity protection and restoration, and climate goals.

The European Commission will host Day 1 of the Conference (27 February 2023). The event will include a focus on the main issues at the heart of the negotiations taking place in 2023 and look back at the initiatives adopted in 2022 by the Commission. The plenaries will present innovative regulations and initiatives, showcase best practices of EU-funded projects and schemes and explore future developments in circular economy policies in the EU. To conclude the European Year of Youth, a youth representative will provide a perspective from a different generational angle.

The afternoon's technical parallel sessions will discuss the transition to safe-and-sustainable chemicals, the European automotive industry driving towards circularity and the environmental and social impacts of global textiles value chains. Participants will be able to follow the plenary sessions and parallel sessions, broadcast live from the Commission’s Charlemagne building in Brussels (with speakers and moderators on stage).

The EESC will host Day 2 of the Conference (28 February 2023). The event will focus on stakeholders' views in a series of sessions and two interactive workshops. The sessions and workshops will be grouped under two main topics: Biodiversity and climate and Resilience for Europe. Day 2 also hosts the Networking Village, online and onsite. The Networking Village is an exhibition space where a selection of Circular Economy stakeholders can highlight their good practices and pitch their projects to a broad audience.

DG GROW is organizing a series of webinars entitled ''Driving Markets through Public Procurement: the Big Buyers Project''. The first of these webinars, taking place on 28 February, will focus on the Working Group that learnt how to procure a ''Zero Emission Construction Site''.

During the webinar representatives of the group on ''Zero Emission Construction Sites'' will present the state of play of the seven pilot projects that were launched in different cities, among which Berlin, Eindhoven and Barcelona, as well as the Joint Statement of Demand asking for a green shift in the construction market. The statement is currently signed by five cities: Bodø, Oslo, Copenhagen Helsinki and Vantaa.

The objective of the Big Buyers project was to promote collaboration between public buyers across the EU in implementing strategic procurement for sustainable solutions. A bottom-up needs assessment of participants resulted in the creation of four working groups, dealing with Zero Emission Construction Sites, Circular Construction, Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles, and Digital Solutions in the Healthcare Sector. Webinars focusing on the achievements of the rest of these working groups will be announced soon.

For more information on the first webinar, and to register (EU login required), click here.

The first European Commission’s Helpdesk service on GPP webinar of 2023 will address the public procurement of green and circular skills. This webinar will analyse how public procurement can be used as a strategic tool that can support the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce and help to futureproof the European Economy.

Agenda:

- Welcome and Introduction from the EU GPP Helpdesk, Ivan Azevedo, Unit B.1, Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission

- Presentation of the European Skills Agenda, Felix Rohn, Unit B.2., Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

- Procuring refurbished IT Products: The ReBOOT project, Manuel António Ferrinho Semedo, Porto Municipality (Portugal)

- Procuring refurbished furniture: Lessons learned from the ProCirc project, Christian Tangene, The Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management

The workshop will be facilitated by Helena O'Rourke-Potocki, ICLEI

Register here

Cities are important actors in the circular economy and essential facilitators to promote and support local repair. However, how to start?

Join the webinar and learn how the city repair toolkit, developed in the context of the Interreg project Sharepair, can guide you towards becoming a repair city in Europe.

The webinar will focus on the following topics:

• toolkit for cities to encourage repair
• how to strengthen repair communities
• campaigns for changes at individual, societal and political level
• digital tools to make DIY, repair café or professional repair solutions more accessible
• long-term vision on repair as part of a more circular economy

Register here for the event

The toolkit can be downloaded here

This 2-hour workshop will showcase procurement cases on construction, infrastructure security & energy innovations in ICT related projects. The cases will address relevant innovations implementing ICT solutions, sustainable aspects and security measures to safeguard infrastructure. This workshop is hosted by the iProcureNet 2023 Advanced Security Procurement Conference. The workshop is hybrid and can be attended both online as well as physically in Bratislava.

The workshop will focus on questions such as How to embed good practices in your procurement to obtain innovative and sustainable solutions, and jow to formulate functional requirements to implement ICT innovations in construction, infrastructure security & energy projects

Among the presented case studies will be:

• The Sustainable Reconstruction of the Motorway A6 presented by Jeroen van Alphen from Rijkswaterstaat – Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, The Netherlands
• The joint-cross border Pre-Commercial Procurement of breakthrough solutions for 100% renewable energy supply in buildings presented by ProcuRE.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions before and during the webinar. To find out more about the webinar, and to register, click here.

On March 21, 2023, the second World Sustainable Procurement Day will take place, covering the full range of important and current sustainable procurement challenges, ranging from Child Labor & Forced Labor, to Supplier Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Living Wages, Human Rights, Conflict Minerals & Mining, Human Trafficking, Scope 3 GHG Emissions, SME suppliers, Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability, Social Procurement, and many more.

The event will provide a multitude of different online sessions, presented by the Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP) Team, SPP Chapters & Champions, partners, and friends with only one goal – to empower and equip Procurement Practitioners with knowledge, best practice approaches, and practical solutions to sustainability challenges.

More information about the event, the organisers and World Sustainable Procurement Day 2022, can be found here

Do you want to accelerate your project idea? Are you exploring options to make your city or town climate-neutral and truly smart?

Join the Smart Cities Marketplace on March 21 for this year's spring online matchmaking event, where the programme will cover a variety of investment and financing topics for Smart City projects.

ICLEI is hosting a session on accelerating city-business cooperation through public procurement in smart and sustainable investment projects.

Cities are facing the new energy market reality and remain crucial to speed up the deployment of renewable energies and improve energy efficiency. However, they often lack the right technical and financial capacity to take advantage of all opportunities available.

The Smart Cities Marketplace (SCM) provides essential assistance and is an ideal platform to accelerate the implementation of the REPowerEU plan and support cities and small and medium-sized municipalities on their journey towards a clean energy transition.

The SCM matchmaking process facilitates and supports the development, financing, uptake, and upscaling of proven solutions in the areas of clean energy, sustainable mobility and ICT to help communities, towns and cities accelerate the transition towards climate neutrality.

The SCM matchmaking focuses on knowledge sharing, capacity building, providing guidance and practical advice with the support of its community and its expanding Investor Network. The matchmaking includes several ICLEI supported activities such as 1-to-1-consultancy deployed locally by the Consortium's legal, financial, technical and governance experts, peer-to-peer exchanges, “Deal” meetings with investors, Financing Masterclasses, Matchmaking webinars and Matchmaking online info days, as well as Matchmaking events.

Please register here.

The European Conference for Waste Management and the Circular Economy will take place from 18-20 April in Bergamo, Italy. ICLEI Europe is a partner of the conference, which is bringing together industry leaders, innovators, buyers, regulators and government to network, collaborate and debate the future of waste management and the sustainable eco-friendly solutions urgently needed by our planet.

WME 2022 took place in Bergamo with excellent participation for many leading experts in the waste management sectors, including government and policy representatives shaping legislation. It attracted more than 2,000 attendees, 100 exhibiting companies, dozens of partner associations and organisations, and over 200 conference delegates coming from Austria, Germany, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain and United Kingdom.

WME presents the ideal opportunity to showcase products, technologies, innovations and solutions to the waste management and circular economy community. It is also a convening platform to engage in debate and thought leadership, share ideas and solutions to drive towards a greener and carbon neutral environment.

For more information, and to register, click here.