On October 7-8, 2024, the second edition of the UTM Global Innovation Summit, supported by the European Commission, Urban Transitions Mission Centre (UTMC), the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), and the Covenant of Mayors Eastern Partnership (CoM East), brought together more than 240 city leaders, urban experts, and stakeholders from across the world —both in Brussels and online. This vibrant exchange of ideas, innovation, and collaboration aimed to guide cities toward a sustainable and resilient future. Together, we explored how cities can design their urban transitions, implementing bold solutions to address the challenges of the 21st century.
From integrated urban planning strategies and green technologies to data governance and blended innovative financing and new models for investment, participants delved into the tools and approaches shaping the cities of tomorrow. Experts shared their knowledge on maximizing resource use, integrating cutting-edge technologies, fostering community engagement, and using digital solutions to plan and create interconnected urban infrastructures and ecosystems that enhance resilience, inclusiveness, and access to essential services.
In response to the UTM cohort’s recently identified needs, new collaborations were announced: working together with KAPSARC to explore the potential of urban planning and design in shaping rapidly urbanizing cities of the future, and a cooperation with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) to help cities enhance the resilience of their infrastructures against disasters.
The discussion underscored how new approaches for collaboration between private and public sector are becoming essential to derisk and accelerate investment in cities, highlighting how testing new models to bring to scale innovative and affordable solutions is urgent and paramount to secure successful and inclusive transitions.
A key highlight was the launch of ‘Data & Insights to Accelerate Impact Finance and De-risk Investments in Cities’, developed in collaboration with Google. These important guidelines address the pressing urban climate finance challenge, offering innovative approaches to help cities leverage climate data and insights to secure funding while reducing investment risks.
The second day of the Summit ran in parallel with the Annual Conference of the Urban Transitions Mission Centre (UTMC). Co-hosted by UTM and UTMC, these sessions introduced the community to the Centre’s resources, such as the online platform, the Urban Transitions Net-Zero Framework, and the Finance Helpdesk. Exciting new collaborations, including one with the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s Cities Technologies Collaboration Programme (Cities-TCP) to create a space within the UTMC platform for cities, academia, and innovation leaders to collaborate, were also announced, along with additional opportunities for knowledge sharing. The day also featured sessions on participatory budgeting and cross-level collaboration to support the Paris Agreement goals.
As part of the Summit, participants also had the opportunity to join the Study Tour at Signify’s Outdoor Lighting Application Center (OLAC) which provided them with a practical exploration of how innovative outdoor lighting solutions can support cities’ decarbonization efforts, while enhancing safety and well-being and safeguarding circularity and biodiversity needs.
Recordings of the sessions, presented materials, photos and much more will be made available on our website and the UTMC platform, accessible here: Global Innovation Summit 2024 – UTM
Our Summit media partner FORESIGHT will post interviews from the event in the coming days and weeks – visit the website or download the app to access the content for free.
A heartfelt thank you to all our partners, speakers, and participants for their invaluable contributions. Your collaboration and support are key to creating resilient, inclusive, and future-proof cities.
Stay tuned for updates on next year’s Summit, as we continue to drive urban transformation!
