Pilot Projects

THIS SECTION REFERS TO EU COOPERATION WITH INDIA AND CHINA

In this section we give an overview on the state of the art of cooperation between the involved cities and regions from the European Union, India and China. Whereas the management part of the project (number of events, quality of events, number of participants, media coverage, dissemination, etc.) can be seen in the corresponding sections, success of the World Cities project has to be measured regarding the potential impact that has been achieved. This impact has been channeled through pilot projects that have been identified by the cooperating cities and regions in India, China and the EU with strong support of the World Cities team (GIZ team).

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EU-China

Currently there are 24 Pilot projects between European and Chinese cities in a wide range of areas including environmental technologies, urban development (smart-city), university & research cooperation, aerospace, health care, agribusiness, food certification, energy efficiency/low carbon development, etc. As of today, 14 MoUs have been signed (additionally to the more than 20 from the CETREGIO cooperation). Many of them are B2B (e.g. Fira de Barcelona – Tianfu New District for Chengdu Smart City Congress). For further details, please contact Mr Pablo Gándara at pgandara@world-cities.eu.

1.   West-Midlands – Guangzhou / Tianjin

Issue 1: Green (Environmental) Technology Cooperation

  • SMEs missions to Tianjin. Cooperation with the UK-China Biotech Fund
  • Energy Efficiency and Low Carbon Development through District Heating (Keele Univ)
  • Possible support by British Embassy through the UK-China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund (also Newton Fund). Contact with UK Embassy in China

Issue 2: Infrastructure and Smart City Cooperation

  • Cooperation with Tianjin Airport Economic Area with Wolverhampton Aerospace Cluster & Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone towards

Issue 3: Health Care and BioTech – the Bridge model

  • Cooperation between WM universities and businesses to access biotech sector in China (includes medical research & technology). -Cooperation of Medilink (UK Medical Association) and Chinese companies

 Issue 4: British Week in Tianjin

  • Tianjin DRC wants to run a this British Week within the Tianjin International Trade fair. Event to include, B2B matching events, cultural activities, lectures & seminars
  • Next Step: West Midlands Mission to China (Sept 2016): http://www.wmeuropeanservice.eu/china/missions/mission-to-tianjin-guangzhou-24th-september-1st-october-2016

       

2. Barcelona – Wuhan / Chengdu

Issue 1: Smart City Cooperation

  • Smart City World Expo: Fira de Barcelona cooperation with Tianfu New City of Chengdu towards the establishment of Smart City Expo World Congress in China
  • Support to SMEs and Innovation: Cooperation between the Catalonian Regional Agency ACCIO and the DRC Sichuan and DRC Wuhan on green city, smart city and industry 4.0.  

Issue 2: Industrial cooperation

  • Automotive cooperation – mission to China (April 2016)
  • Cooperation between the Association of Small and Middle Size Companies in Catalonia, the Barcelona Design Center and Wuhan and Shantou.

Issue 3: Academic Education & Research

  • Cooperation between ESCI-UPF School of International Studies, the University of Blanquerna and Wuhan University.

       

3. Dublin – Wuhan / Chengdu

Issue 1: Smart City Development

  • Exchange of Dublin smart-city strategy with Chengdu and Wuhan 
  • IT SMEs from The Digital Hub; software companies Maithu and Pixel Soup
  • ICT solutions, big-data cooperation: Exchange of best practices (apps, etc) from Dublin, Chengdu and Wuhan

Issue 2: University and R&D cooperation

  • Dublin City University cooperation with Sichuan and Shantou Universities
  • Institute of Technology Blanchardstown cooperation with Shantou professional training institutions

Issue 3: Green Technology & Innovation cooperation

  • DCU Cleantech Innovation Campus cooperation with Chengdu Economic & Technology Development Zone (CETDZ)
  • The Green Way cluster with clusters in Wuhan and Chendgu

Issue 4: Tourism cooperation between Fingal and Chengdu

  • Discussions with Sichuan Province Private Association of Travel Service (SAPTS) and with Chengdu Tourism Bureau towards establishing special tourism routes for Chinese travelers to Europe.

4. Lyon – Guangzhou

Issue 1: Cooperation of Start-Ups / Clusters

  • Support to start-ups of cluster LyonFrenchTech by Guangzhou Development District (GDD) – networking, matching Chinese market 
  • Mission to China in June 2015. Following innovative start-ups from Lyon travelled to China:
    • Evotion (robotics – www.evotion.fr), 
    • Navya (autonomous, driverless electric vehicles), 
    • Bidul and Co (accessories for smart phones and tablets – www.bidulandco.com), 
    • My Blue Ship (smart mobility chips – http://www.myblue-ship.com/) 
    • Forcity (3D modelling services for urban development – www.forcity.com/).
    • 2 companies of these were involved in follow-mission to China in March 2016

Issue 2: Smart City Technologies

  • Bringing smart city companies from Lyon to China. Involving Lyon smart-city in the development of the Sino-Singapore Knowledge City in GDD

Results:

  • The robots company EVOTION (http://www.evotion.com/fr/) started a cooperation with the Chinese company ARTIGENT ROBOTICS from Chengdu during the March mission to China.
  • MoUs were signed on tourism cooperation as well as between the Chambers of Commerce of Lyon and Guangzhou.
  • Cooperation envisaged on smart city technologies with Smart Electric Lyon

5. Andalucía Smart City Cluster – Shantou

Issue 1 – Smart City to Shantou

  • Elaboration of concrete projects for the new coastal city of Zhugang New Town (Huaqiao Xinjin Section of East Coast New Town – the reclamation area). Areas include design of energy-saving buildings, waste and water treatment and waste treatment and smart transportation system. 4 Companies from Andalucía visited Shantou.

Issue 2 – Port Cooperation 

  • Visit of Shantou representatives to Málaga in June 2015
    Promising exchange of ideas and experiences on cruise and cargo
    Andalucia Smart City Cluster represented the Port of Málaga in Shantou in March 2016 and renewed the interest for this bilateral cooperation

Next Step: Visit of Shantou delegation to Málaga in June/July 2016. Preparation of report for EU-China Summit in July 2016

6. Tianjin – Lazio

  • Italian Week in Tianjin (see also here)
  • Fiuggi – Tianjin vocational education cooperation (Hotel Management High School IPSSEOA)
  • Aerospace – Aeronautical cooperation
  • Port cooperation between Civitavecchia and Tianjin Port
  • Research & Development Cooperation: CNR (National Research Council) and Tianjin Research Commission
  • Movie-Park Cooperation between Cinecitta Studios and Tianjin
  • Tourism cooperation

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EU-India

Currently there are 12 Pilot projects between European and Indian cities in areas including waste management, sewage treatment, urban development and smart-city development. Although no MoU has been signed so far, there is an established working relation between the pairing cities and a MoU between Chandigarh and Copenhagen (CLEAN Cluster) is currently under preparation. Business cooperation is especially promising in the cooperation between Copenhagen and Chandigarh.

1)       Chandigarh (cooperation mainly with Copenhagen / CLEAN Cluster)

  • Sewage treatment: Upgradation of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs)and conception of Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs): Experts from Copenhagen and Stuttgart presented technical solutions for the upcoming programmes to be launched by the Chandigarh Municipal Commission CMP. The Municipal Commissioner will travel in February to Copenhagen to further discuss concrete tendering procedures. Main business partner from the EU side is Rambøll (DK) and the Sewage Treatment Plant of Stuttgart.
  • Waste Management and Energy Efficiency. After the visit to Chandigarh, European and Indian experts agreed to further cooperate in the areas of waste management. Here the Regional Government of Lazio offered a bilateral cooperation between the municipal corporation AMA – the biggest Italian operator in environmental services and integrated waste management. and the CMP. Regarding energy efficiency, the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency ENEA offered support regarding smart street lighting. Danfoss is keen to provide support to Chandigarh regarding district heating and district cooling solutions.
  • Urban Development – non motorized transportation: Development of pedestrian and cycling areas as pilot projects in sector 35 and/or 17. The international urban developer GEHL Architects (DK) had made a business proposal to the Chandigarh administration (CMP and to the UT Administrator). During the site visit all relevant stakeholders were involved and are very interested in rapid implementation. The Chandigarh authority is currently discussing the tendering procedure in order to offer a transparent and open approach. Cooperation with Stuttgart is intended within UNESCO’s heritage programme to Le Corbusier buildings (Stuttgart has also some).
  • Bilateral MoU with Copenhagen: The Advisor and the Secretary have agreed that there should be a document signed between both cities in order to cement the relationship. This would facilitate the rapid financial support to bilateral pilot projects. It was intended to sign a MoU with the CLEAN Cluster, which had been empowered by Copenhagen City Council to do so. However, Chandigarh officials insisted on signing an MoU with Copenhagen City Authorities. The World Cities team is currently evaluating how to make this happen within the next few weeks.

2)      Mumbai (cooperation mainly with Stuttgart)

  • Urban Development: Cooperation between MMRDA and Stuttgart Urban Development Unit regarding sustainable development brownfield areas and regional information systems.
  • Support to MMRDA’s Environmental Database. The head of Stuttgart Environmental Department, Dr Hans-Wolf Zirkwitz, provided technical support regarding the indicators of such a base to be developed by MMRDA. Stuttgart will also facilitate best practices regarding the role of public awareness measures to communicate to citizens the positive results of green city development.
  • Climate change. Stuttgart is preparing the launch of a bilateral climate partnership with Mumbai covering areas like mitigation and adaptation strategies (climate atlas), energy efficiency (lower consumption) and access to energy. Talks were held between Stuttgart (Mayor, Heads of relevant departments) with the Commissioners of MCGM and MMRDA.

3)      Navi Mumbai (cooperation mainly with Lazio)

  • Cooperation with Lazio on the Review of NAINA Regional Development Plan. Lazio has been shortlisted to prepare an offer. Tendering process ongoing.
  • Cooperation on smart-city development. Similar to Chandigarh, the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency ENEA offered support regarding smart street lighting. ENEA also identified support measures in the sustainable mobility area including smart transport services (buses on demand). Cooperation also includes the protection of critical infrastructures and building smart districts ICT platforms.
  • Waste Management. Here the Regional Government of Lazio offered a bilateral cooperation between the municipal corporation AMA – the biggest Italian operator in environmental services and integrated waste management. and CIDCO.

4)       Pune (cooperation mainly with Andalucía).

Delegates from Andalucía Smart City Cluster had a very first contact with Pune Municipal Corporation. During the three-day visit they identified cooperation projects in three different smart city areas:

  • Cooperation on smart mobility – e-cars fleet
  • Cooperation on developing a Technology Park
  • Cooperation on developing an ICT platform for smart city services

For detailed information on the projects, please contact pgandara@world-cities.eu.