Today, at the Cities Forum, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, launches the European Urban Initiative (EUI), that aims to increase innovation and improve the quality of investments in urban areas.
- 16 March 2023
The EUI will launch several calls for urban innovation projects and support, among others, capacity and knowledge sharing on sustainable urban development.
EUI has already launched a first call for proposals in October 2022 in support of the New European Bauhaus, which closed recently, with 99 applications from 21 Member States. Winners will be announced in June.
A second call for urban innovative actions will be published in May 2023 with €120 million for projects to green cities, ensure sustainable tourism and harness talent.
With a budget of €450 million during 2021-2027, EUI builds on the positive achievements of the Urban Innovative Actions, which supported 86 projects with €372 million from 2014-2020 all across the EU.
Commissioner Ferreira said: “Nearly 72% of Europeans live in cities, towns and suburban areas that are facing challenges such as unemployment, migration, demography, pollution. The Cohesion Policy support to cities has been strengthened over the year, at least 8% of the allocation from the European Regional Development Fund under this programming period 2021-2027 will be directed to cities. The European Urban Initiative will give the opportunities to urban stakeholders to improve their capacities and access the innovation funding directly for the smart, sustainable and just development of our cities.”