On Tuesday, April 23rd the Cities 4.0 Final Event “Empowering Mission Cities: addressing Energy Poverty and future challenges” took place in Bologna, one of the four Cities 4.0 innovation ecosystems. 

The objective of the CITIES 4.0 project - Climate Innovation Through Interactive Ecosystem Summits is to create synergies among the 4 urban ecosystems of Bologna, Eindhoven, Leuven and Turku, which are part of the 100 European Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. The Final Event was a great opportunity to promote Cities 4.0 process and results and to explore new innovation paths with the great collaboration of the University of Bologna and the students of Advanced Design. 

The session focused on energy poverty, an urgent and increasing issue that may hinder the path towards climate neutrality by 2030 if not addressed properly. At first, the two project partners from Brainport Eindhoven and Business Turku presented good cases on tackling energy poverty in Helmond and Turku, followed by an insight on Rete Assist and its engagement on fighting energy poverty in Italy. 

Then, the Master’s students in Advanced Design from the University of Bologna pitched their innovative project cases on energy and mobility poverty for Bologna. From renewable energy communities to the use of new digital tools such as AI and the Digital Twin, the students presented groundbreaking ideas to empower Bologna’s community in facing  energy poverty.

Thanks to the Final Event, the Cities 4.0 innovative ecosystems discovered new tools to fight energy poverty with joint forces, fostering the synergies created for the upcoming months and making an important step forward towards climate neutrality by 2030. 

In the upcoming weeks, a final overview of the Cities 4.0 process and results will be published.

To stay updated on the project, please follow us on LinkedIn.