Two million Swedish kroner for the Innocities programme
Now Smart Innovation Norway's smart city model will be developed and offered in Sweden.
Under the name Innocities, Smart Innovation Norway together with Sweco, Mälardalen University and SIQ - Institute for Quality Development - will develop and adapt the Norwegian smart city model to a Swedish context and accelerate the transition to a sustainable society in municipalities, ports and other publicly owned organizations.
- In the grant, Vinnova writes that the project has great potential to succeed and together create a solution that is adapted to the needs of the target group, as well as that the project strengthens the innovative capacity of partners through collaboration. That is exactly what we want, and we enter this project with enthusiasm, high expectations and a big smile on our faces, say Ulrika Holmgren and Marcus Lind Nerhoel - senior advisors for Smart Cities and Communities at Smart Innovation.
Holmgren is project manager and operationally responsible for Innocities.
It is Smart Innovation in Sweden that will lead the project, which has now received funding from Sweden's innovation authority, Vinnova . In the start-up meeting with Vinnova, Sara Hugosson, supervisor at Vinnova, began by saying that "we will experiment together in a new way and create something that helps to change the world!".
The smart city model
Innocities is based on the smart city model that has been developed by Smart Innovation Norway's Smart Cities and Communities department together with 15 Norwegian municipalities, publicly owned ports and energy companies with which they have collaborated since 2011. Through the 15 collaboration programs they have built up a portfolio with over 120 specific innovation projects that all contribute to meeting local sustainability challenges.
- By further developing the model in Sweden (and the Nordic region), the project will contribute to developing the innovation and collaboration capacity of several municipalities, publicly owned ports and energy companies. Innocities will offer a systematic innovation process and methodology for local operational interaction. The purpose is to accelerate the transformation work to achieve the 17 global sustainability goals in Agenda 2030 and contribute to a smart and sustainable social and business development where players in the public sector, academia, business and citizens must increase the pace of the transition together, says Holmgren.
The project is now looking for public actors who want to speed up their green transition. In 2022, it is planned to be able to offer Innocities' innovation program to all Swedish municipalities.
- No single actor is able to solve the challenges we face. With Innocities, we are creating a new way of working together. We increase the capacity for innovation and interaction in the cities' ecosystem, and in that way we create better conditions for managing the transition to sustainable cities and societies, says Elisabet Spross from Innovation Lead Sweco.
FACTS
Smart Innovation in Sweden is part of Smart Innovation Norway, a research and innovation organization located in Halden.
Vinnova - society's innovative solutions: A program that finances InnoCities.
Total budget: SEK 1,998,436.
Project period: 15 October 2021 – 15 March 2023.
Partners: Sweco Sverige AB, Mälardalen University and SIQ – Institute for Quality Development, Smart Innovation in Sweden