Where small cities learn to scale
Through SHIFT-R, small and medium-sized cities are discovering that innovation
ecosystems grow stronger when they connect with other cities, networks and European
alliances.
For small and medium-sized cities, innovation is rarely only about ideas. It is also about scale.
A city can create a co-working space, launch a startup programme, regenerate an old building
or attract a technology company. But if these initiatives remain isolated, their impact may stay
local and fragile. To compete with larger metropolitan areas, smaller cities need more than
individual projects. They need connected ecosystems.
This is one of the main lessons emerging from SHIFT-R, the URBACT Transfer Network led by
Fundão (PT). The project explores how small and medium-sized cities can become more
innovation-friendly by connecting talent, entrepreneurship, digital skills, public spaces,
governance, housing, quality of life and European cooperation.
But the first months of SHIFT-R have also shown something equally important: a transfer
network becomes stronger when it looks beyond itself. That is why the encounters with the
URBACT METACITY Network in Fundão and Cities in Transition Europe (CITE) during
Society Expo 2026 in Skellefteå were not side events. They were central moments in the
learning journey of SHIFT-R partners.
