EU beefs up tech for smart cities

Eco Seed reports.

“Transport is the lifeblood of every city for people and business. But Europe's cities suffer most from road accidents, congestion, poor air quality and noise,” says European Commission vice president Siim Kallas.

“We need to drive forwards the research and innovation that can bring us to our goals of CO2-free cities, phasing out conventionally fuelled cars from city centre, to smart charging of electric vehicles and smokeless silent buses.”

On 10 July, the European Commission unveiled a new Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership, Europolitics writes.

The aim is to finance projects with a high technological intensity, tackling the major challenges of European cities, such as pollution, congestion or the energy efficiency of buildings.

This new communication on the Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) initiative was presented by the three Commissioners in charge - G"unther Oettinger (energy), Siim Kallas (transport) and Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) - at a conference in Brussels with the representatives of the cities, of the industry (namely TomTom, Siemens, Fiat-Chrysler and Alstom Grid) and of the financial world.