Meet the finalists of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge!

On 20 January, UN-Habitat and Sweden will announce the finalists of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge, to kickstart the teams’ journey towards system demonstration.

When? Thursday, 20 January 2022 – 17.10 to 18.00 CET

The announcement will take place during the Sweden Innovation Days event, a four-day digital conference to address the Sustainable Development Goals. We’ll be introducing the finalists of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge for the first time,  who are all working towards helping the cities of the world achieve net zero. The finalists and their projects represent a diverse and inspiring range of innovative technology solutions to reduce the climate impact in Bogotá, Colombia; Bristol, United Kingdom; Curitiba, Brazil; and Makindye Ssabagabo, Uganda. 

Find out more about their journey ahead

This event marks the start of a journey towards some of the finalists becoming a winning team,  which will demonstrate new pathways and capabilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also contributing to other societal benefits. A diverse array of stakeholders from cities across the globe will come together at the event, to learn from these demonstrators and mobilize the necessary investments for climate transition.  

To learn more, register for free to join the live event on Thursday 20 January  from 17.10 to 18.00 (CET). During a webinar session as part of the event, the finalists of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge will be introduced to kick off their collaboration with the Climate Smart Cities partners, including UN-Habitat, Viable Cities, Nesta Challenges, Ignite Sweden, the four cities, corporations, and other participants to test ideas, gain support with accessing data and be introduced to key stakeholders.  

Agenda:

• Introduction by moderator Per Grankvist, Olga Kordas (Viable Cities) Olle Armstrand Dierks (Viable Cities) Pontus Westerberg (UN-Habitat) and Karin Rydén (Vinnova)
• What does it take to transition to climate-neutral and smart cities? Thomas Osdoba, Director of NetZeroCities EU and Senior Cities Advisor of Climate-KIC
• The role of global companies and startups for the transition. Juliana Sá, Executive Manager of Corporate Relations and Sustainability, Scania and Marija Zima, Head Smart Cities and Solutions, ABB presents how global companies can support the transition to climate neutral and smart cities, followed by a dialogue on how to team up with small companies with new business models.
• Coming together for system demonstration. Joost Beunderman, Director, Dark Matter Labs gives an overview of the journey ahead and presents a real case for system demonstration. Madelen Strömberg, Business Sweden and Tommy Mikelsen, SEK, reflect on what this means for future investments. All cities will give a glimpse of what they are planning for.
• Finalist showcase. Kathy Nothstine, Head of Future Cities at Nesta Challenges (now called Challenge Works) describes the challenge process and presents all finalists. Stina Lantz of Ignite Sweden presents how they will become teams.
• Wrap-up.