10th February 2015
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Mary Shields, is this week
attending the launch of the Growsmarter Project, in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Growsmarter project is a European project funded under the EU
Horizon 2020 Programme, and came about as a means of creating and
spreading new ideas that will enable cities to develop in a socially,
environmentally and economically sustainable manner.
Stockholm, Cologne and Barcelona are leading the 25 million euro
project as Growsmarter’s designated Lighthouse Cities, and Cork is
joining with Graz, Malta, Porto and Suceava to partake as Project
“follower cities”.
“As a modern 21st Century City, it is essential that Cork would seek
to apply new technologies in delivering services, and in contributing
to sustainable economic growth and improved quality of life for its
citizens,” said Councillor Shields. “It is very exciting and greatly
encouraging that Cork has been selected to take part in this
innovative project.”
For the Cork Region, the launch of the Growsmarter Project signals the
beginning of the ambitious Smart Gateways Initiative – a partnership
involving Cork Local Authorities, Colleges and Industry aimed at
bringing new and emerging technologies to bear in the design and
delivery of public services.
“As the pace of urbanisation and globalisation continues to grow, it
is important that we make best use of technology in our business, and
it is for that purpose the Cork Smart Gateway Programme was set up in
2014,” says City Chief Executive, Ann Doherty who is accompanying the
Lord Mayor. “The selection of Cork to partake in this major European
Project represents a very important step towards our goal of creating
the Cork Smart Gateway. I would like to congratulate all those
involved in successfully bringing this project forward so quickly”
The close working partnership of European cities will enable the
development of technology solutions to a range of urban issues, will
facilitate common learning from the experience and will provide a
diverse range of “test-beds” within the partner cities to ensure that
the solutions are relevant to local urban conditions and
circumstances.
About Horizon 2020
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever
with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to
2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will
attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts
by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.’
