Networks and cities' news

Transfer Story: Salerno Italy

The Municipality took a strategic decision quite early on in the organisation of their activities to integrate a Blue Growth Entrepreneurship Award into an existing high-profile Business Plan Competition which is held annually in the city (the business plan competition, which is organised by the Industrial Union of Salerno, as part of the large annual festival of innovation and entrepreneurship is now in its 13^th year).

BluAct Final Event May 2021

A hybrid online-offline format event, with live connection and simultaneous venues in 7 port-cities!

Network of 5 European port cities come together to promote innovation in the blue economy

The BluAct Network aims to inspire the four new partner cities in the Second Wave of the Network to learn from the experience of Piraeus and hold entrepreneurship competitions to support local businesses in the blue economy.

Transfer Story – Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia

The Municipality of Banská Štiavnica joined the transfer network in order to explore volunteerism in the town and abroad and to learn from the experience of others. At the time, we thought that volunteerism is not active in Banská Štiavnica and our aim was to start volunteering activities in our town but as the time passed and the ULG was established, we realised that volunteerism is in practice on high level however is not visible or promoted.

v

France’s ÉcoQuartier label, an initiative to support communities for sustainable city planning

The concept of “écoquartier” - the term is a contraction of the two French words “quartier” and “écologique” (ecological neighbourhood) - was inspired by Northern European countries experiences of eco-districts.

By creating a Label, delivered in four stages and according to urban sustainable development criteria, the French State wanted to push the approach one step further. The approach was successful in France, now also opened to other neighbourhoods and cities throughout the world.

Eco-districts: historical background of the concept and first projects in Europe

Cities and digitalisation: “Adapt or die”

How can cities benefit from digitalisation?  With dramatic headlines about jobs being destroyed by digitalisation, and many policy makers resisting change, Alison Partridge argues that the 4th industrial revolution, and industry 4.0, are best seen as an opportunity, not a threat, for Europe's towns and cities.

First, some definitions…

For many this is a complex, unfamiliar and somewhat bewildering landscape. So here are a few explanations of key terms before delving deeper.