One of the greatest challenges facing the EU is how best to design and adapt cities into smart intelligent and sustainable environments. By launching a Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership (SCC) the European Commission aims to boost the development of smart technologies in cities - by pooling research resources from energy, transport and ICT and concentrating them on a small number of demonstration projects which will be implemented in partnership with cities.

The Smart Cities and Communities Initiative was launched in 2011. In the first year (2012), € 81 Million has been earmarked for this initiative, covering only two sectors: transport and energy. Starting from 2013, the budget has been increased from € 81 Million to € 365 Million, covering three areas instead of two: energy, transport, and ICT. In addition, each and every demonstration project financed under the scheme must combine all the three sectors. Pooling the sources together also means using synergies. With this Smart Cities Partnership, the EU will help to establish strategic partnerships between those industries and European cities to develop and roll out the urban systems and infrastructures of tomorrow.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/technology/initiatives/doc/2012_4701_smart_cities_en.pdf