To support directly the Smart Cities and Communities Initiative the European Commission has issued two calls for proposals during 2011. Both calls were open from 20 July 2011 to 1 December 2011 under the names: FP7-ENERGY-2012-SMARTCITIES and FP7-2012-NMP-ENV-ENERGY-ICT-EeB.
DG Energy, which is the organiser of the call for proposals FP7-ENERGY-2012-SMARTCITIES, has distributed the indicative budget of the Call (EUR 40 million) between two topics:
- Strategic sustainable planning and screening of city plans;
- Large-scale systems for urban area heating and/or cooling supply.
The second call for proposals FP7-2012-NMP-ENV-ENERGY-ICT-EeB, also organised by DG ENER, a budget of EUR 35 million has been dedicated solely to the following topic:
- Demonstration of nearly Zero Energy Building Renovation for cities and districts.
The evaluation for both Calls has recently been closed, with 33 (out of 34) eligible proposals entering within the first Call and 10 proposals entering within the second Call, each of which has been evaluated. A tentative selection has been made with these selected proposals, namely:
- 4 proposals for Call 1, topic 1 (city planning)
- 2 proposals for Call 1, topic 2 (heating & cooling)
- 3 proposals for the 2nd Call (buildings)
In the next step negotiations will kick-off and only after this phase further information on the selected proposals as well as the final EU funding for each will be publicly available.
The next Call for Proposals within the Smart Cities context will be published in July 2012.
Check back soon for further information on topics and tentative budget allocations.
What is the Smart Cities Initiative?
The Smart Cities Initiative is an initiative of the European Commission that aims at fostering of the Europe-wide dissemination of the most efficient models and strategies helping to advance towards a low carbon future. Within this initiative, the EC aims at supporting cities and regions in taking ambitious and pioneering measures to progress towards a 40% greenhouse gas emissions` reduction by 2020. The initiative aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the fast advancing towards the energy and climate objectives whilst not forgoing the citizens` quality of life, by examples of sustainable use and production of energy, mainly by investments in energy efficiency and reduction of carbon emissions.
The Initiative builds on existing EU and national policies and programmes, such as CIVITAS, CONCERTO and Intelligent Energy Europe. It will draw upon the other SET-Plan Industrial Initiatives, in particular the Solar and Electricity Grid, as well as on the EU public-private partnership for Buildings and Green Cars established under the European Economic Plan for Recovery. The local authorities involved in the Covenant of Mayors (more than 500 cities) will be mobilised around this initiative to multiply its impact.