Each year, international participants gather at the European Commission's European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) event to showcase cities' and regions' capacities "to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance."

Countries across the world share a common interest in promoting a human-centred and environmentally-friendly urban development model that delivers clean, resource-efficient, socially fair, smart cities. The EU has increasingly supported actions in this field on a global scale including through the IUC programme.

The IUC has established a number of thematic networks for cooperation. On Tuesday, 13 October from 9:30-11:00 CEST, as part of EWRC, the IUC will host a workshop examining the results of this cooperation with respect to creating added value for public authorities and the private sector. It will reflect on the effects of external shocks like the coronavirus crisis on cities in areas spanning public health and economic recovery, highlighting the added value of international cooperation. Select IUC pairings from across the world will jointly present and make recommendations for the future.

The workshop will include two, focused panel session:

1. Smart City & Digital Transition: China (Guangzhou) - India (Panaji, Goa) - EU (Barcelona, Spain)
2. Circular Economy & Energy Transition: China (Chengdu) - Japan (Koriyama) - EU (Rome, Italy)

The event will be moderated by Hidefumi Imura, Team Leader, IUC Japan, Pablo Gandara, Team Leader, IUC Asia; and Panagiotis Karamanos, Team Leader, IUC India. Featured speakers include:

• Betina Stollar, Programme Director for Asia-Pacific, Department of International Relations, Barcelona City Council, Spain
• Dominnique Li, Managing Director, Guangzhou Global Star Investment LTD., Guangzhou Development District Foreign Affairs Office, China
• Patrick Maureli, Coordinator for GIS, BIM and Data Management, CITERA Sapienza University, Italy
• Rudolf Niessler, Principal Advisor for International Relations, DG REGIO, European Commission, Belgium
• Sandra Marin Herbert, Coordinator, IUC Methodology Taskforce, Belgium
• Sanjit Rodrigues, Commissioner, Corporation of the City of Panaji, India
• Yii Liu, Deputy Director, Energy Internet Research Institute (EIRI), Chengdu, China
• Yohei Watabane, Business Creation Division, City of Koriyama, Japan

The event will be held virtually, in English, and is organised in partnership with DG REGIO.

For more information and to register, please click here.

Header image design provided by the European Week of Regions and Cities.