Program URBACT

IoTXchange APPROVED FOR PHASE 2

#IoTXchange European project has been approved for phase 2. It aims the development of digitalization plans based on Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, with the purpose of increasing the quality of life in small and medium cities of the European Union.

With a total budget of 744,166.92€, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in 70% to 85%, this project facilitates the exchange of experiences in a process of shared learning in order to enable all partners to address, from a new perspective, problems identified as common in an attempt to solve them in the future.

The municipality of Fundão (Portugal) is the leader of this consortium which also includes the municipalities of Razlog (Bulgaria), Dodoni (Greece), Nevers (France), Jelgava (Latvia), Ånge (Sweden) and Kežmarok (Slovakia) and the Finnish university Åbo Akademi. The first phase began in September 2019 and the second phase will be completed by August 2022.

In the first phase of the project, it was defined a set of key issues that can be enhanced with IoT solutions and once the network defines a common issue for all partners, in the second phase local partners will be the involved, through the establishment of a Local Action Group, which will have the as final result of the elaboration of a Local Action Plan.

The Local Action Plan will be an important tool for validating a strategy with a decisive impact on the definition of territorial development priorities.

IoTXchange project application was carried out under the #URBACT III programme, where 62 proposals from 525 partners, from 29 countries, were submitted. The URBACT methodology, based on transnational cooperation between cities and the involvement of local groups, offers conditions for the development of integrated action plans to guide participants in this era of digital transformation.

On total, 23 Action Planning Networks were approved for phase 2 by URBACT’s Monitoring Committee, on May 7.