Leuven selected as one of the 'smart cities' for the EU's Intelligent Cities Challenge

After careful deliberation, 88 applications were selected to take part in the Challenge over the next 2 years. This group includes 54 new ICC applications, 26 cities that took part in the Digital Cities Challenge predecessor initiative, and 8 EU mentor cities. Since 8 of the applicants are consortia, including several partner cities, the selected group of cities involves a total of 124 cities.

The selected core cities will receive high-quality and tailored guidance. They will take part in group trainings, learn from peers, participate in a series of high-level events, and collectively plan for large scale change. In doing so, they will leverage advanced technologies to achieve green, smart, sustainable growth. The ICC will kick-start with a launch week scheduled for the week of 28 September.

The 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) is a unique opportunity for evolving EU cities to join a community that leverages advanced technologies, to tackle the pandemic crisis and reconstruct their economies while steering them in the direction of green smart sustainable growth. This will help cities to improve the quality of life and create new opportunities for their business communities.

The ICC will build on the success of the Digital Cities Challenge, which helped 41 EU cities develop a strategic vision and a roadmap for digital transformation. ICC cities will receive high quality and tailored guidance and expert support, access to advisory and city peer networks (European and international), and capability building tools, to drive priority policy goals and the uptake of advanced technologies.