How do cities imagine the evolution of their mobility environment in ten or twenty years? What are the main innovations that are changing the landscape of urban transport services for both passengers and goods? Which tools can cities use to navigate the urban mobility transition? What are the key policy recommendations to include in the policy lifecycle when planning for future mobility?
These were the questions addressed by SPROUT partners during the final conference, where the main project outputs were presented based on research processes conducted throughout the project such us, the scenario building techniques, transferability assessments and policy validations, interactive tools for helping cities build policy-making capacities, and policy briefs and recommendations.
The conference opened up with Thiago Tavares, the representative from the European Commission executive agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment (CINEA), providing a key message focused on the importance of understanding that a project such as SPROUT can build steps towards achieving the ambitious goals of climate neutrality set by the European Union. In his own words “We are on a mission, and SPROUT is part of that mission”.
The agenda continued with more in-depth presentations from SPROUT partners explaining the research processes and outputs aforementioned, with a focus on the scenario building processes and the SPROUT tools for helping cities build policy-making capacities.
The afternoon session kicked off with a panel discussion focused on the internationalization of innovation, where representatives of city networks, industry, NGOs, etc., discussed how industry cooperation can be one of the main innovation accelerators in urban mobility. The panel counted with Karen Vancluysen (POLIS), Fernando Liesa (ALICE-ETP), Maria Eugenia López Lambas (UPM), Tomasso Gecchelin (NEXT), Delphine Grandsart (EPF) and was moderated by SPROUT technical coordinator Georgia Ayfantopoulou.
The afternoon session continued with presentations from the SPROUT pilot cities focused on the lessons learnt in the process of implementing and harnessing innovative mobility solutions, followed by an overview of the transferability assessment and policy-validation processes carried out by SPROUT pilot and follower cities.
Finally, the agenda wrapped up with a panel discussion involving SPROUT pilot and follower cities and moderated by POLIS’ secretary general Karen Vancluysen, where cities were asked to tell their experience within the project and talk about the lessons learnt and future actions to become more resilient and innovation-ready to harness the impacts of the urban mobility transition.