SPACE4Cities launches €2.87M Call for Tenders to tackle European cities’ challenges with satellite data and applications
Until now, many satellite data solutions have focused on charting areas outside cities, such as forests, oceans or agricultural areas, however, with the latest technological developments operators have started to look into how it could also benefit densely populated areas. European space applications could help urban planners in a multitude of ways – mainly, in creating more sustainable and resilient cities – serving as an excellent addition to the data already available.
To that end, the EU-funded SPACE4Cities project’s initiative invites startups, SMEs and larger companies, research centers, and non-profit organizations, and consortia formed by them, to develop various highly innovative, yet scalable, solutions using the EU’s Copernicus and/or Galileo programmes to improve the cities’ services and to address pressing urban challenges, such as climate adaptation or sustainable mobility. A notable amount of €2.87 million – of the project’s total budget of €5.2 million – is earmarked for suppliers.
Overwhelming interest in space-based services in cities around Europe
The project is coordinated by the Innovation Company of the City of Helsinki – Forum Virium Helsinki, one of Europe’s most experienced pre-commercial procurement project managers. Other partners involved in the 3.5 year long project are the City of Amsterdam, District09 (City of Ghent, Belgium), Regional Development Fund Attica (Greece), Municipality of Guimaraes (Portugal), the international smart city network Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC), as well as the leading European competitiveness cluster in the aerospace sector, Aerospace Valley (France) .
“During our Open Market Consultation last year, we were in contact with hundreds of companies working in this field. We hope many will apply: it will be very interesting to see what kind of innovations they can come up with – be it in terms of technology, use cases, processes or market segments.”, says Renske Martijnse-Hartikka, SPACE4Cities Coordinator from Forum Virium Helsinki, and adds:
“It was also great to notice the overwhelming interest from the local and regional authorities’ side. There clearly is a very large interest in the potential of space-based tools and services. This will hopefully facilitate the scaling of the winning solutions around Europe!”
Pre-Commercial Procurement Boosts Innovation in Europe
The key difference between pre-commercial and traditional public procurement lies in the focus on innovation and development. Pre-commercial procurement (PCP) actively seeks to stimulate innovation by procuring various research and development services in parallel, to create new solutions that are not yet commercially available. This allows the public sector to guide the development of solutions directly towards their needs and address challenges that cannot be met by existing products or services. In terms of technology, SPACE4Cities is the first PCP project to allow the combination of EO and GNSS applications.
The SPACE4Cities innovation process involves three phases: Concept design, Prototype development, and Field testing in selected cities. In the last phase of the project, five innovative solutions will be selected to be implemented in Helsinki, Amsterdam, Athens (Attica region), Ghent, and Guimarães, as well as 10 other European cities, selected as replicators during the process. Ideally, the solutions will improve the lives of millions of Europeans.
Call for Tender Challenges
The SPACE4Cities Call for Tenders focuses on three key challenge areas:
- Urban Planning & Management: Leveraging digital technologies for dynamic urban planning and maintenance, improving the accuracy and efficiency of urban data collection and visualization.
- Sustainable Mobility: Developing solutions for active mobility, public transport, logistics management, and resilience to disruptions, utilizing satellite data to optimize urban mobility and reduce CO2 emissions.
- Climate Resilience: Creating solutions that enhance climate resilience, facilitate greenification, and support the energy transition in urban environments, using satellite data to monitor and mitigate environmental risks, such as flooding and heat islands.
Read our Press Release in the following languages:
SPACE4Cities is a Horizon Europe – European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) funded project that uses European satellite data to solve challenges faced by European cities. By challenging suppliers to develop innovative solutions, SPACE4Cities aims to improve the lives of citizens and create more sustainable urban environments.