Representatives of 14 cities from 10 European countries joined the first of a series of capacity building and knowledge sharing workshops organized by MOSAIC for its Community of Practice. The workshop – organised and hosted by MOSAIC partner ERRIN at their office in Brussels - took place on Tuesday 14 June, just after the Cities Mission kick-off event organised by the NetZeroCities project.
The workshop dived into how to integrate the private sector in the Horizon Europe Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, with a specific focus on involving the private sector in co-creation processes together with other stakeholders. Cities representatives had the opportunity to share experiences and ideas and hear about inspiring examples. MOSAIC partners supported them in mapping relevant companies in their local ecosystems, identifying challenges and existing gaps towards working with them, and coming up with concrete engagement strategies.
When sharing feedback about the workshop, participants mentioned having particularly appreciated the hands-on approach of the event, which allowed them to think of concrete actions in the context of their mission activities while learning from others.
The workshop was led by MOSAIC partners SoScience and Université Gustave Eiffel, with contributions by Stickydot srl and Giannino Bassetti Foundation. MOSAIC is currently working with two pilot cities (Milan and Gothenburg) and six replicator cities (Aarhus, Turku, Tampere, Espoo, Groningen, Pau), supporting them in implementing open innovation processes through co-creation within their Cities Mission activities.
Future MOSAIC workshops will address key aspects of co-creation in mission projects, with a particular focus on citizen engagement, such as how to motivate and fairly reward citizens to get involved. MOSAIC activities will also provide opportunities for cities to exchange experiences and learn from each other.
Cities interested in joining the MOSAIC Community of Practice can still do so by sending an email to MOSAIC@errin.eu, providing a short explanation of their motivations to join.