The Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) 2023-25 edition has now entered its first active phase of the programme with the allocation of lead experts to participating cities. Following the selection of cities and experts, the matches are currently being made and cities are in the process of being allocated their own dedicated expert for the programme. Cities will shortly be connected with their lead expert and they will then work together for the Strategy Refresh phase.
42 lead experts were selected following their applications to join the new edition of ICC, 25 are returning experts, who supported the cities in the first ICC phase (edition 2020-2022), whilst 17 new experts are welcomed. The team of experts represent over 18 countries from across the EU and a wide range of expertise.
ICC Experts
The ICC Lead Expert is the city’s champion, who guides the city through the ICC programme. They act in a range of capacities - as a coach, advisor, cheerleader and critical friend. The expert is invested in the city’s success and will help it shape its trajectory to deliver maximum impact.
The Local Green Deal (LGD) Expert provides LGD-specific insights to core cities and experts. They will:
-
Coach city coordinator about requirements to develop LGD partnerships
-
Coach lead experts on how they can best assist cities in developing LGD partnerships.
In addition to these experts, ICC will also offer sector and thematic experts:
-
Sector experts are the source of rich, detailed implementation knowledge on the ICC sectors - construction & built environment, energy & renewables, mobility & transport, tourism and culture & creative industries. They assist cities within their sector path, by sharing their expertise latest sector innovations and challenges.
-
Thematic experts bring in-depth knowledge on the 4 themes – funding, procurement, reskilling and social economy. For the funding theme specifically, experts also have an extensive geographic understanding of the funding landscape.
The call for applications for sector and thematic expert roles is still open, more information can be found here.
First phase - Strategy Refresh
This allocation marks the official start of the first phase of the programme – the Strategy Refresh. During this phase, the cities will be coached by their lead experts to refine or build the city’s strategy and action plan to be aligned with ICC programme focus and finalise their sector focus for ICC. Cities will also start building their network during the multi-city ICC Strategy City Lab.
This is also a key moment for the development of Local Green Deals as it marks the kick off for the creation of the LGD strategy and action plan. Cities will first run a diagnosis of their current starting point and summarises the key elements of the strategy, paying particular attention to the gaps to implementing this strategy and how the chosen LGD partnerships will play a part in addressing these gaps.
First stop - Stakeholder mobilisation workshop
The first stop for the cities and their lead experts will be the stakeholder mobilisation workshop. These are events due to be organised by each individual city with their own local ecosystem and with support of the lead expert. The workshop serves to spark enthusiasm across city stakeholders, to connect with the lead expert and to brainstorm on strategy and aspirations for ICC and actionable ideas.
The ICC coordination team wishes all participating cities the best of luck and looks forward to seeing the progress and collaboration.