Networks and cities' news

"The Urban Industry 4.0 Talent Ecosystem: 7 Challenges"

"The Urban Industry 4.0 Talent Ecosystem: 7 Challenges" by Willem van Winden, URBACT Lead Expert

In many European cities, manufacturing industries are still important drivers of their economy. But the sector is in a process of transformation, under the influence of new technologies (robotisation, digitalization, new materials) and the urge to produce in a sustainable way. This transformation puts new demands on the skills and competences of people that work in the industry, but also on educational institutes in the city that educate the new talent flowing into the sector. How to create a local/urban talent ecosystem that is future proof? This article identifies seven key challenges that industrial cities face in this respect. It is based on in-depth interviews with companies, educational institutes, policymakers and experts in four industrial cities united in the AS-Transfer project: Bilbao, Bielsko-Biala, Tartu, and Timisoara.

RiConnect in 100 words

A brief overview on the RiConnect project: its vision, goals and partners - including a collection of content for broader information on each topic

Summary of Learning - Alytus

Alytus City Municipality together with the project partners: Barnsley (United Kingdom), Novska (Croatia), Rzeszow (Poland), Roeselare (Belgium) is implementing the TechRevolution 2.0 project wchich is co-financed by EU URBACT III program. You can read more about it at https://urbact.eu/tech-revolution-20

Summary of Learning - Roeselare

In mid-September, Bo and Gino defied the English weather and roads to meet, for the first time, with the partners of this URBACT Transfer Network. We got to know each other but also learned more about the “Good Practice” of Barnsley. Barnsley worked in collaboration with different stakeholders on the local economy of the future. On basis of their experiences of successes, methods and challenges during the project, Roeselare  made our own transfer plan including a provisional schedule and goals for the coming 18 months. In other words, Roeselare left Barnsley after three days full of inspiration for Roeselare. The knowledge gathered during the kick-off meeting triggered a cooperation with Art Economy where 20 colleagues of the city interacted with artists to enhance out-of-box approaches to innovation and technology and how to improve the ecosystem.

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Barnsley's Fierce Love Holds You Forever in it's Heart

These are the words, lit up in neon that welcome you when you walk into Barnsley’s new public space in the town centre. 

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems – a few pieces do not a jigsaw make….

Over the years I’ve worked with URBACT networks, I have written - and read - various articles on the key success factors of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, most recently co-authoring Ten Top Tips with Ceri Batchelder as part of the AS Transfer network. As I travelled to Roeselare, Belgium in March 2022 for TechRevolution 2.0.’s Transnational Event, I found myself wondering what I would learn that would add value to work already undertaken.

Fast forward a few days and once again I was in awe of our partners who - against a backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing humanitarian crisis, which meant that two partners were not even able to travel to Belgium - once again embraced everything we threw at them to both deepen their understanding of entrepreneurial economies and build their ‘ecosystems in a box’ out of lego, pipe cleaners and glue.