On 20 February, ICLEI Europe joined the Smart Cities matchmaking event 'City representatives meet investors' hosted by the Marketplace of the European Innovation Platform on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). The Marketplace connects cities looking into deploying smart and sustainable solutions with investors that can help make it happen.

ICLEI Members such as Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Stavanger (Norway) were at the conference to explore the possibility of expanding on their successful Smart City Projects, such as RUGGEDISED and Triangulum. Meetings were also held throughout the day with investors or possible service providers.

Mark Hidson, Global Director of ICLEI's Sustainable Procurement Centre, moderated a session during the matchmaking event, which focused on procurement and the role it can play in the implementation of sustainable and smart cities.

“Procurement can be a very powerful tool in shaping the world around us, but for large projects – such as those implementing smart city solutions – it has to be included early in the process. The Marketplace allows cities to do so," says Mark Hidson.

The matchmaking event included more than 70 meetings between investors, cities and solution providers, and was the first such event since ICLEI Europe joined the Marketplace in late 2019.

The next matchmaking for cities with smart city ambitions will take place in the Brno (Czechia) on June 3-4 during the Urbis Smart City Fair. An invitation to join the event will be shared via the EIP-SCC website and included in the ICLEI newsletter.

For more information on EIP-SCC, click here.