Sustainable Cities Mobility Challenge

The POLIS Conference 2025 issues call for speakers on sustainable urban mobility

07/04/2025 15:55 Comments Off

The POLIS Network has officially launched a call for speakers for its annual event, inviting experts, innovators, and changemakers in sustainable urban mobility to present their ideas and projects to a global audience. Scheduled to take place on 26 – 27 November 2025, the conference is one of Europe’s leading platforms for cities and regions to exchange knowledge on transport innovation.

The conference offers a high-profile stage for speakers to present pioneering research and real-world projects to a diverse audience of policymakers, researchers, transport operators, and private sector leaders. Participants will have the opportunity to shape critical discussions around the future of urban and regional mobility while forging connections with key decision-makers across Europe.

The deadline for abstract submissions is set for 25 April 2025, with selected speakers to be announced in June 2025, coinciding with the opening of general registration.

POLIS 2025 speaker benefits:

Speaking at POLIS 2025 presents the opportunity to:
Showcase groundbreaking work in sustainable mobility
Engage with Europe’s foremost urban mobility stakeholders
Influence local, regional, and EU-level policy debates
Contribute to cross-sector collaboration and innovation

Diverse topics reflecting the complexity of urban transport

The 2025 edition of the conference will invites speaker proposals on 41 priority topics that address the multifaceted challenges of mobility in cities and regions. These include:

Redesigning public spaces for active travel
Achieving zero-pollution cities
Public procurement of zero-emission buses and fleets
Preparing urban areas for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM)
Road safety communications
Integration of Urban Nodes in the TEN-T network
Leveraging shared mobility to combat transport poverty
The intersection of transport and housing
Public-private partnerships and collaborative approaches

Sessions will range from technical deep-dives and case study presentations to interactive workshops and open discussions. Speakers are encouraged to share not only their successes but also lessons learned and challenges encountered.

Who should apply?

POLIS welcomes submissions from a broad range of stakeholders, including:

Local and regional authorities
Academic and research institutions
Transport and mobility operators
Industry innovators and startups
NGOs and advocacy organizations

Proposals should demonstrate bold thinking, practical impact, and a clear contribution to more sustainable, inclusive, and efficient mobility systems.

How to get involved

Those interested in speaking at the conference can review the full call for speakers and submit an abstract via the official POLIS Conference 2025 portal.

For more information,visit the official POLIS website.

Sustainable Cities Mobility Challenge 2024 call for entries

13/11/2023 16:55 Comments Off

EIT Climate-KIC is running a Sustainable Cities Mobility Challenge for European cities to identify bold and impactful projects which seek to decarbonise transport, improve local air quality and accelerate the take-up of active, shared, collective and/or electric mobility.

The call aims to support the transition to cleaner, greener, and more inclusive transport, in line with the
objectives of the European Green Deal, Urban Mobility Framework, New European Bauhaus and the EU Cities Mission.

Who can apply?

Cities and towns (with a population of at least 25,000) in the EU Member States, Horizon Europe Associated Countries (including the United Kingdom) and Switzerland are eligible to apply.

Essential information

Project proposals should be submitted by city councils, municipalities or local authorities (including municipality-owned organisations/companies). Applications should provide evidence of senior political support/municipal mandate).
Projects will be selected based on the potential for impact, learning, and replicability in other towns and cities. They should seek to make a positive difference to people and the environment in the area where they are implemented, adding to the body of knowledge/experience to shift cities more rapidly towards more sustainable mobility systems.
Examples of the types of projects that could be considered for support include (but are not limited to), the following:
o Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) or Low Emission Neighbourhoods (LENs)
o Walking, cycling and wheeling projects.
o Projects which support shared and collective mobility (public transport)
o Play streets, school streets and other projects which reallocate street space to social/cultural activity.
o Mobility hubs
o Sustainable transport of goods and services/logistics.
o Parklets and greening schemes which encourage active travel.
o Behaviour change projects (where these support on-street changes – standalone behaviour change initiatives will not be considered).
o Apps and journey planners which facilitate sustainable mobility.
o Data collection, analysis, monitoring and evaluation tools.
Each city project selected will be granted up to 90,000 EUR (depending on the total number of proposals selected in the call). A maximum of five projects will be funded.
The anticipated grant payment schedule is as follows: 20% when project starts; 70% after four months (subject to delivery and on receipt of progress update); 10% when closing the project (subject to delivery and on receipt of progress report).
The grants could be used (for example) to:
o Fund/support a city-led local project or pilot project, and/or
o Fund cities’ work with NGOs or SMEs which are developing impactful solutions to address specific mobility challenges.
Proposals can be centred around new ideas or initiatives – or can relate to elements of existing or emerging city programmes/strategies that advance sustainable urban mobility.
Cities should aim to complete their projects by July 2025.

Interested towns and cities are invited to submit a short project proposal (maximum 2,000 words) outlining the mobility problem or challenge they would like to tackle, and their proposed action to address this.

To apply, please complete the application form and send your proposal to sustainablecitiesmobility@climate-kic.org by 23.00 CET on Friday, 24 November 2023.

Please submit any questions you may have about the call (in English) to the same email address. We will collect these, write up (anonymized) answers and publish these as Questions and Answers on our website. Please ensure that any questions reach us by 23.00 CET on 10 November 2023.

Indicative call timeline:

Call opens: Wednesday, 13 September 2023 CET
Call closes Friday, 24 November 2023 23.00 CET.
Evaluation of proposals: during December 2023.
Successful applicants notified from mid-January 2024
Projects start: April 2024
Projects end: by July 2025.

Proposal evaluation process:
Proposals will be scored by a panel using the following criteria:
Clarity of proposal (15 points)
Focus on impact (20 points): the project has a positive impact on the environment and/or
people’s quality of life (for example, by reducing GHG emissions and/or local air pollution, reducing dominance of motor traffic in a city or neighbourhood, or by making it easier for citizens to access sustainable, safe and affordable mobility)
Learning and replicability (15 points): the project adds to knowledge and experience
relating to the advancement of healthy, sustainable urban mobility. It has potential to be replicated, adapted and/or scaled up in other urban areas.
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a short online interview.
We will aim to provide useful feedback to applicants that are not successful, depending on the
number of applications received.

We reserve the right not to select any of the proposals if we consider that none meet the criteria
and objectives of the Call.

View the Call information sheet for more details.

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