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From IUC-Asia to IURC Asia, Australasia and China

The IUC project has entered into its second phase “International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC)”. In Asia and Australasia, the project supports EU cities partnerships with pairs in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand. IURC contributes to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the [...]

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IUC-GCoM Publication on Climate Action Support to Cities in South East Asia

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Publication: “EU-China Urban Climate Change Adaption: Policy and Practice”

The IUC Asia project contributed to a bilingual publication (English/Chinese) by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) which compares adaptation measures to climate change implemented by cities in Europe and China. The publication will support the preparation of the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035 by the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of [...]

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IUC Asia December 2020 Newsletter available

The latest edition of IUC Asia’s December newsletter covering the programme’s component 1 has just been released. This component encompasses the EU-China cooperation on sustainable and innovative cities. The newsletter begins with how, in spite of the challenges faced with meetings during the COVID pandemic, the work of the IUC Asia has continued unabated, holding [...]

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Mannheim Releases Video on Innovation Cooperation with China

The City of Mannheim has released a video summarising cooperation on innovation with China. The video includes testimonials by Jia Song, the China Desk Officer at Mannheim City, Anja Hüttl from Next Mannheim and Felix Kurz from the German Chinese Friendship Association Rhein Necker and MEI WEN TI GmbH. The video is made in German [...]

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EU Cities Garden Pavilions under Construction in Yangzhou

The garden pavilions designed by the IUC pilot cities of Barcelona, Rome and Bologna Metropolitan / Nuovo Circondario Imolese are currently under construction in Yangzhou, which is located in the Jiangsu Province of China. The construction is scheduled to be finished by April 2021, when the Yangzhou Horticulture Expo 2021 begins. The pavilions showcase sustainable [...]

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Granada releases Video and Platform on Blockchain Cooperation with China

The City of Granada has just produced a video summarizing the cooperation with China on the opportunities and challenges that blockchain technology represents for cities. The video refers to three webinars dealing with smart city, circular economy and health/biotechnology that were implemented in October and November 2020. Moreover, Granada launched a beta version of the [...]

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Malaysia Blueprint for Circular Cities has been published by IUC Asia

The IUC team has just finished the Malaysia Blueprint for Circular Cities, a proposal to complement the Malaysia Circular Plastics Economy Roadmap 2020-2030, which is expected to be finished in the first half of 2021. The blue print has been elaborated by Jacqueline Chang, Senior Expert of the IUC Asia team. The aim of the [...]

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IUC Competitive Fund: Rome’s Sapienza University releases Book, Video, Platform and Digital Twin on Integrated Urban Design.

With the support of the IUC Asia programme, Rome’s Sapienza University CITERA just delivered four results of the cooperation with China on integrated urban design, focusing on energy efficiency and cultural heritage. All results are available on a special website drafted by CITERA’s to summarise activities on Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information System [...]

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EU-China Regional Innovation Joint Study

The IUC Asia programme has just released its EU-China Regional Innovation Joint Study. The aim of this study is to compare the European and Chinese approaches to regional innovation carrying out a comparative analysis at a general level and also analysing six best practices of regions/ provinces in China and the EU. It seeks to [...]

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Vietnam: final webinar on IUC technical assistance for development of Climate Action Plans

Today the IUC Asia programme held its final webinar on climate action planning at the local level in Vietnam. Since February 2020, the IUC Asia programme of the European Union has been providing technical assistance and support to three pilot cities in Vietnam (Can Tho, Da Nang, Tam Ky) for the development of their Climate [...]

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IUC Team participates at EIT China Pre-Launching

The IUC team participated at the pre-launch workshop for the EIT Hub China. The initiative is part of the Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs) running under the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The EIT Hub China aims to establish a two-way bridge between the pan-European EIT Innovation Community ecosystem and the Chinese innovation ecosystem. [...]

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Review Meeting on Korean Progress in Global Climate Change and Local Actions

Today, the IUC team organised a meeting with experts of the European Union’s Foreign Policy Instruments in Asia to take stock of climate action in Korea at national and local level. The meeting was attended by Patrick Polacsek and Sunmi Lee from the EU Delegation to Korea as well as by Alexandra Lehmann and Michel [...]

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Global Covenant of Mayors Cross-Regional City Exchange

Today the EU Covenant of Mayors (CoM) Office, in collaboration with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Energy and Climate (GCoM) Secretariat, held a meeting with the aim of fostering dialogue and exchange of good practices among GCoM signatories across the world. The event took place online, split into two online sessions with different timings, [...]

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IUC’s 4th annual City-to-City Event

Today the IUC held its 4th (and final) City-to-City Event, reflecting on the progress made by the programme as a whole, which involved 166 participants from cities and regions across the globe. The conference provided an opportunity to celebrate successes, understand challenges faced and collectively discover solutions to overcome them. It gathered all experts involved [...]

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Barcelona and Liuzhou Smart City Project: CCDI-GINA Cooperation

Over 25 experts from Barcelona and Liuzhou met today online to discuss the progress of cooperation between both cities including the action plan and the possible collaboration between the urban development companies GINA Architects from Barcelona and CCDI from China. The event was opened by authorities from Barcelona City Council and Liuzhou Municipality and included [...]

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Korea: IUC Training on Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change for Chungnam Officers

About 25 local climate action officers from municipalities and counties in ChungNam province participated in an online training session on mitigation and adaptation to climate change organised by the IUC project in Korea. Three presentations followed by Q&A and discussion were given on the topics of: – IUC and GCoM perspectives in ChungNam Korea (by [...]

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Korea: DG ENER and IUC Team Participate in 3rd International Forum on Renewable Energy

Today, the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission (ENER) and the IUC Asia team participated in the 3rd International Forum on Renewable Energy, on the topic of Green Energy and New-Deal Industry of Gwangju and Jeonnam (Gwangju Metropolitan City and Jeonnam Province, Republic of Korea). The hosts of the hybrid online and offline conference [...]

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GCoM Korea – Online Stakeholders Meeting

The IUC Asia team participated in the 3rd GCoM coordination call. Dr. Sang In Kang presented the results of the IUC work in Korea during 2020, including the review papers in 4 Korean provinces. In 2020, the project deployed three local experts to carry out research and training with local officials: Dr. LEE from SHARI [...]

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EU-China Regional and Urban Cooperation Online Seminar

Today, the European Commission’s DG REGIO and China’s NDRC held the high-level EU-China Regional and Urban Cooperation Seminar 2020. More than 80 experts from European and Chinese cities as well as high level representatives of the European Commission and the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) met in combination online and in person in [...]

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Malaysia: Final webinar on IUC technical assistance for development of Climate Action Plans

Today the IUC-Asia held its final webinar on technical assistance of Climate Action Plans (CAPs) development in 4 pilot cities in Malaysia, consisting of Penampang, Tawau, Muar and Hang Tuah Jaya. The meeting was a chance to present the final products (CAPs) and discuss the lessons learned during the process between the Directorates-General of the [...]

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Bologna presents Visualization of Garden Pavilion in China for Yangzhou 2021 Expo

The Metropolitan City of Bologna presented a digital twin of its garden pavilion currently under construction for the Horticutural Show 2021 in Yangzhou, China. Beyond Bologna, the pavilion showcases urban development concepts from the Italian cities of Fontanelice, Castel del Rio, Borgo Tossignano, Casalfiumanese, Imola, Dozza, Castel San Pietro, Medicina, Castel Guelfo and Mordano. They [...]

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Granada Hosts Webinar on Blockchain Innovations and Biotech, eHealth & Medical Solutions

The City of Granada held its final of three webinars on the opportunities of blockchain innovations for cities. Today’s focus was on Biotech, eHealth & Medical Solutions, and involved more than 25 experts from Europe and China. The webinar was part of Granada’s pilot project awarded with the IUC Competitive Fund. Today’s webinar was opened with [...]

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Webinar “EU-China Cities Transition Towards Low Carbon: Achievements, Challenges and Future Pathways”

The IUC Asia project held today a three-hour workshop on the transition from EU and Chinese cities towards low carbon development. The meeting involved nearly 40 participants – partly onsite in Beijing and partly online (via video conferencing). The event was a follow-up activity to the online exchange session on the EU-China Low Carbon Cities [...]

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EU Climate Diplomacy Week Indonesia – Closing Ceremony

The Closing Ceremony for the annual EU Climate Diplomacy Week Indonesia (24 October – 6 November 2020) was held today, in a festive atmosphere with remarks by high-level officials, program partners and a fun lineup of entertainment acts. The online event involved over 250 participants. Opening words were delivered by H.E. Vincent Piket, Ambassador of [...]

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Granada Hosts Webinar on Circular Economy and Blockchain Innovations

Today, the City of Granada held its second of three webinars on Circular Economy and Blockchain Innovations with more than 25 experts from Europe and China, as part of its pilot project within the IUC Competitive Fund, awarded to Granada. Today’s webinar was opened with words from Luis Gonzalez Ruiz, First Deputy Mayor of Granada responsible [...]

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Indonesia: Closing Workshop on Technical Assistance for Climate-Action-Plans Development

Today, the IUC Asia project held its final webinar on Technical Assistance on Climate-Action-Plans Development in Indonesia with more than 125 participants. In discussion were the so called “final products”, the Climate Action Plans and respective lessons learned during the process of developing them for the pilot cities of Palembang, Denpasar, Depok, Malang and Makassar. [...]

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Barcelona – Liuzhou Architects Meeting towards a Concept Design for Liudong New Area

Representatives of GINA Architects from Barcelona met today online with colleagues from CCDI, a Chinese global architecture and engineering consulting firm, to discuss a concept note for developing specific plots in Liudong New District, Liuzhou. They discussed the concept design software, timing, deliverables and follow-up technical encounters. The meeting was facilitated by the IUC project [...]

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VLRs: IUC Asia participates in UNESCAP meeting on Asia-Pacific Regional Guidelines on Voluntary Local Reviews

Today the IUC Asia participated in the Virtual Discussion Session on Asia-Pacific Regional Guidelines on Voluntary Local Reviews organized by UNESCAP with the objective to raise awareness on the guidelines, discuss its coherence with other global guidance on VLRs, and generate interest amongst stakeholders to conduct local and sub-national reviews of SDG progress. The session brought [...]

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Virtual signing ceremony of MoU between Yantai (China) and Tuscia (Italy) Universities

This morning, the IUC Asia held a Memorandum of Understanding virtual signing ceremony between Yantai University (YTU) in China and Tuscia University (UNITUS) in Italy, to engage in cooperative educational and research activities for the mutual benefits of both institutions. Opening words were delivered by Ronald Hall, Active Senior Advisor, European Commission, Directorate General on [...]

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Climate: IUC Asia participates in UNESCAP meeting on Vertical Integration of Climate Action in Asia and the Pacific

Today the IUC Asia participated in the Virtual Expert Group Meeting on Vertical Integration of Climate Action in Asia and the Pacific organized by UNESCAP with the objective to identify priority policies, actions and desired futures for Asia and the Pacific. UNESCAP is the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. [...]

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Smart Cities and Blockchain Innovations — IUC Pilot Project Granada Competitive Fund — Webinar 1

Today the IUC Asia held its first of three webinars on Smart Cities and Blockchain Innovations with more than 30 experts from Europe and China, as part of its pilot project with the Granada Competitive Fund. These webinars will present the main challenges that blockchain technology represents for cities and will debate how to cooperate [...]

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Chengdu – EU Delegation delivers video message to EIRI at Energy & Innovation Summit

The message was delivered by Councillor Octavian Stamate from the EU Energy and Climate Action Section of the Delegation of the European Union to China. Mr Stamate said that the current COVID-19 crisis brings out the opportunity to accelerate the clean energy transition and transform our energy systems, by making them greener, safer, smarter, more [...]

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IUC Participates at EU Webinar on Regional Innovation

Supporting the Directorate-General Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO),  the IUC team co-organised today an online workshop on regional innovation. Around 50 participants joined the event that focused on the concept of smart specialisation as a means of improving investment in regional development. Dr. Rudolf Niessler – Principal Advisor at DG REGIO – stated that over [...]

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IUC Participates at EU Webinar on City-to-City Cooperation

The IUC team co-organised the webinar “International cooperation for innovation in urban development policy and practice: results and perspectives from EU – Asia Cooperation“. The event – which involved over 60 experts from Europe and Asia – was held within the European Week of Regions and Cities, the EU Commission’s flagship annual event on urban [...]

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Vietnam: Da Nang City Strengthens Capacity to Develop Greenhouse Gases Inventory under IUC Asia Project

On 08 October 2020, Da Nang City organized an online workshop for city representatives on climate change mitigation under the IUC Asia project. Supported by UN-Habitat and CDP, the event was a follow to the previous online workshop organized on 20 July 2020. The workshop was intended to improve practical understanding of city-level greenhouse gas (GHG) [...]

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IUC Team participates at UNESCAP Meeting on “Response and Recovery: Asia-Pacific Cities on the Front Lines of COVID-19′

The IUC team participated in the experts meeting that aimed to identify and discuss sustainable approaches to support Asia-Pacific cities to build back better from COVID-19. The meeting featured around 50 participants from Asia-Pacific states, cities, stakeholders, development partners and experts.  The interactive discussion provided inputs to the development of a new ESCAP discussion paper [...]

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EU Cities Coaching on Funding Cooperation Projects with China

Representatives from the EU pilot cities of Mannheim, Barcelona, Granada and Rome joined a coaching session towards the funding possibilities for international projects with China. The coaching was given by Mr. Marco Mazziotti, Chief Officer EU Affairs at the Foreign Affairs Department of Milan’s Mayor Office. The session focused on the EU Green Deal Call [...]

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Shanghai Action Plan to Reduce Plastic Waste

Shanghai rolled out tough measures to reduce plastic use and waste in the city, these policies became effective on October 1st. According to the Plan, by the end of 2020, Shanghai will ban and restrict the manufacturing and use of disposable plastics across catering, hospitality, and e-commerce sectors. The plan aims to achieve zero plastic [...]

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Smart City – Smart Agriculture – Rome coaching

A coaching session was carried out to prepare the upcoming MoU signature ceremony between Rome and Yantai stakeholders. These include the Universities of Tuscia and Yantai (smart agriculture) and SETEL  (smart city, precision agriculture). The session was organised by Prof. Gianlucca  Fabbri and Oscar Prat.

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City Climate Finance Gap Fund Launching Event

The so-called “Gap Fund” was launched on 23 September 2020. The fund will address the critical lack of grant funding necessary to mature pipelines of projects from concept to a stage where they can be advanced towards full feasibility analysis and ultimately investment. This will significantly increase the pipeline of high-quality bankable climate-friendly urban infrastructure [...]

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Barcelona and Liuzhou Meeting on Urban Development

More than 20 representatives from Liuzhou City and Barcelona discussed today the implementation of a preliminary action plan to develop comparable urban experiences related to the values of the Sustainable Development Goals and linked to 2030 Agenda, especially focusing on 3 main topics: smart mobility, water management, and Energy efficiency / renewable energy production. Experts [...]

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China: Climate Adaptation and Ecological Resilience Workshop in Yancheng, Jiangsu

In cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the IUC team organised an onsite and online workshop for 50 Chinese practitioners from Yancheng City (Jiangsu Province). The event was a follow-up to the online discussion between Chinese and European Experts organised on 28 May 2020. Over 30 participants joined the meeting via live [...]

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EU participates at Euro-China Smart Cities Seminar in Chongqing

The European Union participated today at the workshop “EURO-CHINA Smart Cities, Facing Covid-19” held in Chongqing, China. The EU was represented by Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis, Head of the EU Delegation to China, as well as by Dr. Rudolf Niessler, Principal Advisor at DG REGIO of the European Commission. At the event, the European pilot cities [...]

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Rome – China: Summer School on Digital Tools for Urban Planning (GIS & BIM)

The Department of Planning, Design, and Technology at the Faculty of Architecture (DPDTA) of Sapienza University just finished a two-week Summer School Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The event – which was taught in English – was a pilot project of the IUC project and involved over 30 students from China, [...]

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Malaysia – final stakeholder consultation with Malaysian cities on circular economy

Today the IUC Asia held its final stakeholder consultations webinar on Designing Circular Cities in Malaysia. On the call were 82 experts from the EU and Malaysia, comprised of representatives from government, private sector, research and civil society. Experts exchanged views on circular economy challenges and solutions identified in the previous online sessions. They explored [...]

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Greater Manchester – Chengdu Online Discussion on Smart Energy and Clean Tech

Experts from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority held the second online discussion with the Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI) of Tsinghua University on renewable energy cooperation. It was a follow-up session to the introductory exchange held in June 2020 to identify tailored start points for cooperation on hydrogen technology [...]

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Rome’s CITERA and Chinese Urban Technology Providers Exchange Urban Planning Tools

Experts from Rome’s Sapienza University (CITERA – Interdepartmental Center for Territory, Building, Restoration, Environment, Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture) held an online meeting with Chinese urban technology partners to identify concrete business and research cooperation in Chinese cities. The event was also joined by representatives of RDI – Research and Development International (for further [...]

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Mission to Chongqing Consolidates Various Cooperation with European Cities 

The IUC-Asia Team participated in several meetings with the Chongqing Development and Reform Commission (DRC) as well as with the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New District. The team visited the planned representation office for Mannheim, which has been offered by the Chongqing Lianjiang New District in order to boost the mutual cooperation in connectivity, [...]

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Barcelona presents Urban Cooperation Action Plan (UCAP) with Liuzhou

The City of Barcelona has submitted the Urban Cooperative Action Plan (UCAP) for the activities with Liuzhou (Guangxi Province). The plan reflects the upodated priorities and counterparts in Liuzhou, including the Binjiang Smart Valley of Liudong New District. Barcelona proposes to enhance an exchange of know-how by developing comparable study cases and, for this purpose, [...]

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GCoM Korea – Online Stakeholders Meeting

The IUC Asia project team participated today in this year’s second online stakeholders’ meeting for the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) in Korea. The event was attended by 12 participants representing the country’s GCoM Secretariat, the Brussels-based GCoM Secretariat, the IUC project as well as GCoM partners from ICLEI, CDP, C40, CityNet, and the Seoul [...]

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Indonesia: Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) Workshop for Depok City

Under IUC Asia framework, Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) workshop was carried for Depok City on 28 July 2020. The meeting aimed to deliver the result of CRVA and seek feedback from City officials to enhance the result further. The increased risk of floods and droughts are the main climate change threats faced by [...]

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Urban Business Cooperation – Rome and Yantai Meeting

A bilateral meeting took place between Se.Te.L. – Servizi Tecnici Logistici s.r.l. from Rome and Yantai based Jereh – Uniorange to follow up on the exchange that took place between Yantai and Lazio earlier this month representing the universities of Yantai, Tuscia and La Sapienza of Rome. The purpose of the meeting was to explore [...]

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Rome-Yangzhou Preparatory Meeting for the International Horticultural Exhibition 2021

The IUC team organised an online meeting between experts from Rome and Yangzhou to discuss some technical details of Rome’s garden pavilion design as well as of few possible events to be organised by Rome during the Yangzhou Horticulture Expo 2021. Dr. Patrick Maurelli and Dr. Flavio Rossa from CITERA at Sapienza University first explained [...]

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Indonesia: After a pause due to coronavirus, Depok City resume initiatives of CAP Development

After the self-quarantine mandates and other travel limitations for three months, Depok City has allowed public gatherings of up to 15 people. On 22 July 2020, IUC Asia Helpdesk and CCROM Team physically met official representatives of Depok City for the Climate Action Plan (CAP) development, particularly focusing on the findings of the 2018 Green [...]

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Global Covenant of Mayors – Regional Exchange Call on Green Recovery

The IUC team participated in today’s regional exchange on the green recovery organised by the GCoM Secretariat. The event was opened by Gregor Robertson (Mayor of Vancouver and GCoM Global Ambassador) and included presentations by the City of Seoul, the Cities Climate Leadership Alliance, and the GCoM communications experts. While cities have been among the [...]

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Liuzhou-Barcelona Online Discussion on Innovation District

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EU-China Regional Innovation Study – Consultation Meeting

A stocktaking meeting was held today between experts from the European Commission (DG REGIO) and the author’s team drafting the EU-China Regional Policy Study. At the event, the regional policy specialists from China and Europe exchanged about the preliminary findings of the comparison at the methodological and regional level. The study is expected to be [...]

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Mannheim and Chongqing Online Meeting on Bilateral Cooperation

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Yantai Municipality Party Secretary and Mayor are briefed about the IUC Programme

Today a meeting on smart city and energy transition was carried out between Yantai Jereh Uniorange and the IUC in the presence and on the occasion of the visit or Yantai Party Secretary Mr. Zhang Shuping and Yantai Mayor Mr. Chen Fei. Both high ranking officials were carrying an official inspection visit of Yantai Economic [...]

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Malaysia: Penang Stakeholder Consultation on Circular Cities

Over 60 experts from Penang in Malaysia and Europe participated in today’s online Stakeholder Consultation on Circular Cities. The event was opened by Penang’s Chief Minister Mr. Chow Kon Yeow, who focused on exploring steps for cooperation with EU cities to contribute towards a greener circular economy in Malaysia. Mr. Chow, who is also chairman [...]

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Rome – Yantai Online Meeting on Innovation, Urban Agriculture & Green Cities Models

Within the education and smart city clusters, an online exchange session was held today between 13 experts from the IUC, Yantai and Rome, including Yantai University and the universities Sapienza and Tuscia of Rome. In order to complement the university cooperation, the partners involved the Smart City Lab of Rome/Lazio and the innovation center of [...]

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Chengdu Energy Event – Video Message by the EU Delegation to China

A video message was delivered today by Mr. Octavian Stamate, Counsellor for Climate Action and Energy at the Delegation of the European Union to China. The message was delivered at the opening of the EXCEL Accelerator Open Day and focused on the EU-China cooperation on the energy sector. Mr. Stamate referred to the possibilities of [...]

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Malaysia: Webinar on Circular Economy Cooperation between Petaling Jaya and EU cities

Over 100 experts from Malaysia and Europe have joined today’s stakeholder consultation webinar on circular economy in the city of Petaling Jaya. The event was opened by the Deputy Mayor, Ms. Azlinda Azman and included presentations by experts from Malaysia (Petaling Jaya City Council, Iskandar Regional Authority) and Europe (Sapienza University of Rome, Amsterdam Smart [...]

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IUC Participates at the Nanjing TechWeek 2020

The IUC Project participated at the Nanjing TechWeek 2020. On this occasssion, the China Europe Industrial Design Theme Hall was officially inaugurated. It was honored with the presence of Nanjing Municipality Inspector of Science and Technology Mr. Zhou Wen Hai, the Vice-Head of Jianye District Mr. Yang Bo, Jianye High Tech Zone Director Mr. Jin Chao, [...]

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EU-China Regional Innovation Study – Experts Online Discussion

The IUC project held today an experts’ discussion on the EU-China Regional Innovation Study currently under elaboration. The meeting was moderated by Amadeo Jensana and Guillermo Martínez from Casa Asia. At the exchange, Prof. Lun Liu and Prof. Robert Hassink introduced the updated version of the European and Chinese case studies, namely Baden-Württemberg (DE), Centro [...]

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Mid-term monitoring of IUC technical assistance on CAPs development in 13 pilot cities in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam

Today the IUC-Asia held its important mid-term meeting on monitoring technical assistance of Climate Action Plans (CAPs) development in 13 pilot cities in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The meeting was a chance to take stock with the line directorates of the European Commission (CLIMA / ENER / FPI / JRC), the EU Delegations to the [...]

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China: Healthy Cities and Life Sciences Cluster Members Discuss Potential Collaboration

An online session took place today to verify possible collaboration of start-ups in the framework of the IUC thematic cluster on Healthy Cities and Life Sciences. The activity was a follow-up to the participation of the Smart City IoT Lab of Rome and Lazio to the Nanjing Techweek 2019. On that occasion, start-ups and universities [...]

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IUC Team elaborates Summary Documents for City-to-City Cooperation

The IUC Team elaborated 34 documents summarising the main areas of cooperation among European and Chinese cities. The “UCAP at a glance documents” cities’ activities of: 13 European pilot cities 2017-2020 17 Chinese pilot cities 2017-2020 4 thematic clusters The “Urban Cooperation Action Plans (UCAPs) at a Glance” include the cooperation themes and specific projects, [...]

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Indonesia: IUC Asia Assists Makassar to Strength Capacity on Vulnerability Assessment to Develop the Climate Adaptation Plan.

After months of social distancing and self-isolation in Indonesia, this month has brought the beginning of the transition to a “new normal” period. During this controlled social life, the IUC Asia Team held a virtual meeting with Makassar City Government for a capacity-building session on “Adaptation Planning Based on Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA)” [...]

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EU-China Regional Innovation Experts Exchange

Experts from Europe and Asia discussed today the draft version of the EU-China Regional Innovation Study, focusing on the case studies from both regions respectively. The experts Prof. Robert Hassink and Prof Liu Lun introduced the making of regional innovation strategies and the involvement of stakeholders. The exchange, that was hosted by Casa Asia and [...]

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Manchester and Chengdu Experts Discuss Energy Cooperation

The IUC Asia project hosted today the first online meeting between Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and Tsinghua University Chengdu EIRI Institute on the topic of smart grids, energy sector technologies and hydrogen. The event was facilitated by Rebecca Drakeford from MIDAS – Manchester Investment and Development Agency Service. Tsinghua University presented its achievements in the [...]

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Rome-Yantai University Research & Academic Education Cooperation on Urban Agriculture

Twenty representatives from the University of Tuscia (Rome), the University of Yantai (Shandong Province), and the IUC Asia team met today to discuss cooperation in different areas of research and academic education related to urban agriculture. Yantai has proposed to jointly establish a Sino-Italian Faculty of Urban Agriculture including an Institute of Wine Sciences. Activities [...]

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Rome & Lazio launch Smart City Business Cooperation Platform

The Smart City Lab of Rome and Lazio – co-funded by the European Union’s regional development fund – launched the EUROPE ASIA SMART PLATFORM to facilitate scientific and technological cooperation among researchers, small and medium enterprises, start-ups and investors from Lazio and China. The platform allows to identify potential candidate applications for technology exchange in [...]

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EU-China Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change online session with Chinese and European Experts

The IUC-Asia programme held an online session today with Chinese and European experts in preparation of a large workshop scheduled to take place in China in September 2020 (TBC). At that workshop, the purpose will be to exchange policy views and best practices on resilience and adaptation to climate change, with a focus on green [...]

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Vietnam: Can Tho Enhances Capacity in Climate Change Mitigation

The Paris Agreement recognises the role of non-Party stakeholders in addressing climate change, including cities. Part of the role of the IUC-Asia is to create opportunities to promote enhanced, strategic and sustained approaches supporting transformational change and enabling cities’ stakeholders to build the capacities needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Supported by UN [...]

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EU-China Low Carbon Cities Study online session held today between Chinese and European experts

The IUC-Asia programme held an online session today to present its progress on the ongoing EU-China Low Carbon City Study, along with case studies of several cities. On the call were senior experts from both China and Europe. The study is being jointly drafted by the IUC-Asia project and experts of China’s National Center for [...]

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IUC Project Team Visit to Panjin – First mission in times of COVID19

The IUC Team visited the new pilot city of Panjin. The visit was coordinated by Panjin’s Development and Reform Commission (DRC) and involved the following field visits: Liaodong Bay New District and 2 joint venture petrochemical projects collaborated with European companies. Panjin Vocational and Technical College (PJVTC). PJVTC has been collaborating with AHK and GIZ [...]

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Indonesia: IUC Asia and Makassar Virtual Meeting on Progress of Required Data Collection

To follow up the Climate Action Plan (CAP) development , Makassar and  IUC-Asia met online on Thursday  21 May 2020 to discuss the progress of the project. The interactive session focussed on the data collection to be used for the Green House Gases (GHG) inventory report and Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA). The Centre [...]

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Guangzhou and Bologna Virtual Meeting on Industrial Design

Coordinated by the Metropolitan City of Bologna and by Guangzhou Development District (GDD), stakeholders from both sides discussed potential cooperation on industrial design. At the core of the online exchange was Bologna’s interest in promoting the internationalisation of the creative cluster of Reggio Emilia (CLUST-ER) and the University of Bologna’s industrial design areas. Marino Cavallo, [...]

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Indonesia: Malang Builds the Capacity on Vulnerability Assessment to Improve the Adaptation Plan

The IUC Asia, in partnership with the CCROM – IPB, conducted a capacity building workshop with Malang’s official agencies as part of its climate action plan development. The workshop was designed to provide the knowledge for developing a climate change adaptation plan, emphasizing climate risk and vulnerability assessments (CRVA). Symptoms of changing climate have implications [...]

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Liuzhou – IUC Project Stakeholders Call

Following the EU cities’ missions to Liuzhou in June and September 2019, as well as Liuzhou visits to EU pilot cities, experts from both sides held today a virtual meeting to focus on Liudong New District as the pilot zone for EU-Liuzhou regional cooperation within the IUC framework. The interactive session focused on concrete projects [...]

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Indonesia: IUC-Asia Participates in the Discussion to Mainstream Climate Action into Palembang’s Development Agenda

The Government of Indonesia launched the Low Carbon Development Initiative (LCDI) during the 2018 International Monetary Fund-World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia. LCDI is a process for identifying development policies that maintain economic growth, alleviate poverty, and help meet sector-level development targets, while simultaneously helping Indonesia achieve its climate objectives, and preserve and [...]

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Rome and Chengdu Energy Research and Practical Cooperation – Follow-up Meeting

Experts from the Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI) at Tsinghua University and of two departments from Rome’s University Sapienza (CITERA – Interdepartmental Center for Territory, Building, Restoration, Environment and theDepartment of Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture) held an online meeting to identify concrete research topics, potential financial sources and possible testbeds in cities. [...]

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Vietnam: Capacity Building on Climate Adaptation for Can Tho’s Stakeholders.

Strengthening of the capacity of city governments in developing City Climate Action Plan (CAP) in line with the GCoM Common Reporting Framework (CRF) is a key component of the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) Asia activity in Vietnam. Capacity building workshop on climate adaptation was held for Can Tho’s stakeholders on 14 May 2020. This was [...]

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Online meeting held today between Rome, Italy and Yantai, China, regarding Cultural Heritage and Smart Agriculture

The IUC-Asia team today hosted experts from the CITERA Research Center of Sapienza University of Rome, Yantai University, Tuscia University and IoT Smart City Lab of Rome, who agreed on a research-based cooperation between Italy and China in terms of Cultural Heritage, Silver Economy, Digital Twin Design and innovation in Agriculture. Cooperating in terms of [...]

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Indonesia: Technical Meeting on Climate Reporting Platform Integration

The IUC team organised a coordination meeting among the European Union’s Joint Research Center (JRC) and IUC’s technical partner CCROM (Centre for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management) to discuss the integration of Indonesia’s climate reporting platforms (SIGN SMART – SIDIK) into the Global Covenant of Mayors’ Common Reporting Framework (CRF). A summary of the meeting [...]

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Rome and Chengdu Cooperate on Renewable Energy Research

Experts from Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI) at Tsinghua University, University Sapienza CITERA (Interdepartmental Center for Territory, Building, Restoration, Environment), Sapienza’s Department of Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture, the Renewable Energy Association FREE and the IoT Smart City Lab of Rome held an online webinar to develop concrete research and start-up incubation activities [...]

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Rome and Chengdu Cooperate on Renewable Energy Research

Experts from Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI) at Tsinghua University, University Sapienza CITERA (Interdepartmental Center for Territory, Building, Restoration, Environment), Sapienza’s Department of Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture, the Renewable Energy Association FREE and the IoT Smart City Lab of Rome held an online webinar to develop concrete research and start-up incubation activities [...]

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EU-China Regional Innovation Study

Experts from Europe and China held an online exchange on the regional innovation study being elaborated with the support of the EU and the NDRC. Amadeo Jensana, Director of Casa Asia in charge of the study elaboration,  introduced with European and Chinese colleagues the state of art. Robert Hassink from Kiel University focused on the [...]

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Malaysia: IUC Asia Assists Hang Tuah Jaya to Identify Potential Climate Change Mitigation Projects

The virtual meeting among Hang Tuah Jaya stakeholders, IUC Asia team and UTM took place on 08 May 2020. The meeting aimed to identify mitigation climate change projects that could be developed in Hang Tuah Jaya’s concept note for the GCoM Gap Fund. The project candidates have included carbon transport and energy efficiency, which are [...]

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IUC, Nanjing and Stuttgart Pilot Industrial Design Cooperation

Experts from Stuttgart Region and Nanjing Fair met online on Tuesday 05 May 2020 to develop a cooperation concept for industrial design, an area of interest for both sides. Margit Wolf, Project Manager for Creative Industries at Stuttgart Regional Economic Development Agency and Frieder Oesterle from Stuttgart Regional Association met with Oscar Prat from Nanjing [...]

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Manchester and IUC Experts Pilot Projects Coaching

Representatives from Greater Manchester Authority joined an online exchange session with the IUC team and with Dr. Ronald Hall – senior advisor to DG REGIO – to reflect on the bilateral exchanges held in China and Europe in the last 12 months, focusing on the development of the Urban Cooperation Action Plans (UCAPs) and the [...]

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Vietnam: Can Tho Strengthens Capacity to Develop Climate Action Plan

Vietnam suffers from routine extreme weather events such as typhoons and tropical storms, sea level rise, land subsidence, and seawater intrusion. Over the past five decades, changing precipitation patterns have been visibly observed in different regions, average temperature has increased by 0.5°C throughout the country. Sea level rise and urban inundation are major climate threats [...]

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Malaysia: IUC Asia Supports Muar City in Concept Note Preparation to Maximize the Financial Bankability

Cities now need to move toward implementing concrete measures contained in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Numerous funding mechanisms are now available from climate funds, multilateral development banks, and development cooperation partners. However, local governments often lack the capacity, knowledge and resources to prepare bankable project proposals. The GCoM and the German and Luxembourg [...]

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Bologna and Stuttgart develop pilot projects with Chinese pairs

Experts from Bologna and Stuttgart participated in separate coaching sessions with the IUC-Asia experts aimed at further developing the U-CAPs and the pilot projects. The online meetings of approximately 90 min each allowed the EU cities’ experts to reflect on the bilateral exchanges held in China and Europe in the last 12 months, focusing on [...]

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EU and Chinese climate action experts discuss on future cooperation

The IUC team organised an online meeting between European and Chinese climate action experts to discuss the EU-China Low Carbon Cities Joint Study, to be launched in July 2020. Mr Zhou Zeyu – Associate Senior Researcher in China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC) – introduced few chapters of the study [...]

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Coaching Session to IUC Team by Urban Methodology Experts

The IUC Methodology Taskforce (MTF) Coordinator Sandra Marín coached IUC Asia experts on the development of the Urban Cooperation Action Plans (UCAPs). The session focused on the revision of the “UCAPs at a Glance” files elaborated by the IUC team for each of the Chinese pilot cities as well as for the five thematic clusters: [...]

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Palembang Engages the Private Sectors to Develop City’s Climate Action Plan

The private sector plays a critical role in translating the commitments of the Paris Agreement into tangible action in the real economy, whether it’s providing clean energy, enhancing adaptive capacity throughout their supply chain, or enabling broader societal resilience in the communities from which they derive their social license to operate. Private sectors offer innovation [...]

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