Urbanisation in China grows rapidly. Challenges need to be tackled like the development of sustainable urban energy supply, the development of green buildings and the establishment of an efficient transport system. As the development of smart cities is a global challenge, a partnership between China and EU Member States can mobilise research communities on both sides to draw on appropriate advanced concepts and technologies for China’s urbanisation.
European Research Funding Agencies working together in the context of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe, the Smart Cities Member States Initiative and the ERA-NET Cofund Smart Cities and Communities initiative launched an additional activity working towards a jointly funded call with China on smart cities. In order to work out a preliminary assessment of the situation and evaluate options for a joint call, a report was developed.
The report, written by Nannan Lundin (Independent China Expert), explains how to “prepare the common ground” for a joint smart cities call with China. This was achieved through consultations with interested Research Funding Agencies on the European side and by identifying some of the potential Chinese partners for Co-funding. First of all the report gives an overview of the current smart city development in China; then it describes the current status of EU-China cooperation. On the basis of interviews conducted with funding agencies key observations are shown. The report concludes with recommendations and a proposed roadmap for a cooperation between JPI Urban Europe/ERA-NET Smart Cities and Communities and China.
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For future reference, this report can be found in the JPI Urban Europe Library under ‘Publications’.