The deliverable D8.5: Report on ‘Get Involved’ workshops and facilitation of replication across 20 EU cities was submitted by Research2Market (R2M) with contributions from NTNU in October 2023. The executive summary of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable is at the end for download:
“This report presents the results of the replication activities which are carried out as part of the +CityxChange project. The goal of the replication activities as reported here was to replicate +CityxChange solutions beyond the cities directly involved in the project. Replication activities are interlinked with the dissemination, communication, and exploitation activities of the project. All these activities have in common that they want to engage with other cities and make project results and knowledge available to a broader audience. Two lines of replication support activities can be distinguished, being:
- Replication support activities by and for the project partners. The LHCs and FCs have, together with the other project partners, used their existing local, regional, and national networks to promote project results and support cities interested in one of the solutions with replicating the solution into their local context. The project has leveraged EU-wide umbrella organisations to organise outreach and replication activities like matchmaking events from EIP-SCC. Scalable Cities events have been used for presenting experiences and learnings from Lighthouse and Follower cities in the Task Group Replication and the Board of Coordinators, and joint events like the Scalable cities – IRIS conference in Utrecht or the Scalable cities – MATCH-UP in Valencia have been used to reach out to other EU cities. During the project’s Final Event in Trondheim organised by +CityxChange and Scalable Cities, a major ‘Get Involved’ session was organised aiming to support replication of a selected set of project solutions to other cities in Europe. Examples of replication projects resulting from replication activities are the replication of the Bold City Framework in multiple Norwegian cities or the replication of the eMobility solution by FourC to the city of Bergen, Norway. Together, replication projects have triggered 21 million euro of investments that we could directly track from +CityxChange.
- Dedicated replication campaign targeting Italian cities. Additionally, a dedicated replication campaign was set-up by project partners R2M Solution and IES targeting cities in Italy. As a result, feasibility studies have been conducted at the cities of Bologna, Padova, Milan, Udine, Rome, and Crispiano, and these cities have started actions to replicate some of +CityxChange’s solutions.
Replicable solutions have been identified as part of the exploitation and commercialisation activities done in Work Package (WP) 8 – “Scaling-up, Replication and Exploitation”. Replication activities increased in the second half of the project when project solutions had been implemented and the first results on their performance and impact became available.
It can be concluded that both forms of replication support activities led to replication projects. In all cases it is important to provide dissemination materials in which cities can recognise themselves. We tried an approach of not focussing too much on the solution but more on the challenges, processes and methodologies used to overcome these challenges. Storytelling is a good technique to inspire and enthuse other cities. We have examples where targeted effort put into replication supporting activities, can help trigger more replication as the Italian replication campaign shows.“
