New technologies have reduced the development cost of products, services and business models. Cloud computing, open software and hardware, social networks and global payment platforms have made it easier to start business with fewer physical resources and personnel. This trend is allowing aspiring entrepreneurs to take advantage of cities’ agglomeration effects: entrepreneurs “want to live where the action is,” where other young people, social activities and peers and entrepreneurs are. They look for conventional startup support, such as mentor networks or role models, but also for meet-ups, social activities and other potential for innovative “collisions” – a combination of opportunities best provided by cities. Fostering tech innovation ecosystems will provide skills for today’s new job landscape and innovators to create new companies and industries, while also addressing local problems from developed and developing countries. Cities, as technology ecosystems and engines of innovation, will be at the center of these new potential transformations. Gianluca Galletto and David Sierra explain how their organizations, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Ruta N in Medellin, respectively, support entrepreneurship and data-driven innovation within urban innovation ecosystems.

Cities can re-validate and rejuvenate urban services that reflect both the needs of citizens and those of the city hall by asking citizens to contribute to the design of services, products, business models and environments. Various instruments such as crowdsourcing campaigns, offline meetings and interactive policy workshops can be used to open up the planning process to citizens. Beyond the contribution to the city’s overall innovation policy, such strategies increase ‘innovation literacy’ among civil servants allowing the city hall to adopt a more agile approach to implement innovation by using service design and rapid prototyping methods. This enables administration to better address complex urban problems by engaging users and citizens in planning process. Examples from Amsterdam (Chief Technology Office) and Mexico City (Laboratorio de Ciudad) show how cities can foster civic innovation, entrepreneurship and re-thinking of city spaces through implementing specific strategies, thematic programs and flagship projects.

This webinar was created in collaboration with GTIDR and GSURR.

Living Labs are open and citizen driven innovation ecosystems and structures, used as Instruments for urban and regional innovation. Living Labs use co-creation and a real-life experimental approach to establish a dialog between technology and society leading to investments in new technologies focused on solving citizen’s problems. Implementation of multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholders collaborative infrastructures, tools and methodologies is not always easy. This webinar will explore the “what” and the “how to” of living labs, showcasing 2 Living Labs in 2 different countries: Brazil and Poland.

The purpose of Habitat Living Lab (Vitoria, Brazil) is the improvement of wellbeing and conditions of low-income populations. To achieve its purpose, Habitat LL is organized as a network of projects that combines academia, Government, business and society. Necessarily projects are geared toward the search for innovative solutions that allow advances in any of the areas related to well living. In addition, innovative solutions are sought with the involvement of "users" in a co-creation process. In addition to the Habitat Living Lab, the LabTAR will be presented as an example of an academic lab that manages the Living Lab projects all over Brazil.

Innovation is largely an urban phenomenon. Some cities fare better than others and have grown to become global staples in innovation.

Others have found their innovative niche and are silent champions. Recently, we have witnessed the growth of tech startup ecosystems, which is impacting innovation in cities. Some cities have started taking advantage of these new entrepreneurs to bring innovation to urban problems and to increase the competitiveness of their local industry. This new phenomena also helps revitalizing urban areas and creating new jobs.

Victor Mulas, ICT Innovation Specialist with the World Bank Group will discuss current success stories and what policy interventions regional and local governments can undertake to unleash its innovative potential leveraging the tech startup ecosystem. He will draw upon illustrious examples from his own work from all parts of the World.

The percentage of the world’s population that lives in cities is rising, approaching 70 percent by 2050. Rapid urbanization – particularly among the growing middle class in many low-income and emerging economies – is changing the traditional dynamics of energy systems and supply globally. Green growth strategies can help economies and societies become more resilient as they work to meet demand for food production, transport, housing, energy, and water. For example, lighting and cooling of buildings already make up half of global energy use, and by 2030 building-related GHG emissions are set to double, with emerging markets contributing the majority of emissions. Energy efficiency is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change while meeting rising energy demand. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important driver for clean-tech and green growth. It enables the collection and processing of immense volumes of data that can be used for improved urban systems and new business models. It also allows developing countries to adapt successfully tested international solutions to their local needs, which can help them leapfrog and develop domestic clean technology markets.

The Negawatt Challenge taps into local and global talent to identify hardware and software solutions that can reduce urban energy use, improve quality of service delivery in energy sectors, generate new or improved data, and offer cost-efficient energy management tools for city residents and policymakers. In its first stage, focusing on resource efficiency and open data, the Negawatt has been piloted in four cities globally, including Accra, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro. It aims to use an open innovation competition methodology to surface technology and business innovations that catalyze behavioral change and have the potential to transform cities into more sustainable and efficient places.

The vision of Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) initiative is to create an open smart city market based on the needs of cities and communities (http://connectedsmartcities.eu/open-and-agile-smart-cities/). OASC is contributing to the European and worldwide need of a common Smart Cities framework. A common framework of standards is essential for the creation of a market that enables communities to turn the benefit of new technologies into jobs and growth in urban environment. Deployment of innovative but replicable solutions will increase the competitiveness of businesses, foster competition through avoidance of vendor lock-in (competition), and enable widespread participation of citizens in the service development. Besides improving services offered by cities, such approach can foster PPP and community engagement in every city. PPP approach is build-in to the OASC through partnership established with global FIWARE accelerator program currently rolling out in cities in the EU and Latin America.

The webinar will discuss the importance of networked approach and standardization as vehicle to foster urban development, innovation and entrepreneurship in cities. It will inform the audience about OASC, operational model of such networked approach and engage them to join forces with the initiative.

A suggested agenda for environmental management and sector policies for promoting environmentally sustainable urbanization in China.

This series is based on the joint report by the World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization.

Tech hubs are public spaces for innovation, generally with a strong interdisciplinary atmosphere and a mixture between offering a stimulating place for professional work activities, promoting the emergence of new and innovative businesses, and exploring innovative societal organizations for work itself. Common features include: the symbolic value of the physical space, openness to the participation of any interested party, and the promotion of new businesses and/or business partnerships. Innovation hubs are a powerful tool for promoting citizen engagement and entrepreneurial creativity in a way that offers strong visibility as part of the urban fabric, allowing a city to position itself as ‘open to innovation’ but also officials to learn and to connect with citizens. This webinar is created in partnership with GTIDR and GSURR.

伴随中国社会的大转型，近2.6亿的农民工从农村迁徙到了城市。城镇化给这些背井离乡的农民工在城市中提供了相对较高收入的工作。在这一进程中，中国成功保持了工资的不断增长及生产力的提高，在减贫方面也达到了前所未有的规模。在城镇化的驱动下，中国城市人口预期在2030年将会增长到10亿。

在重点关注如何确保在城市实现社会服务均等化的改革措施，并以改革户籍制度建立现代居住体系为入手，本次讲座将描绘包容性城镇化和城乡一体化的前景、展现中国改革成功后的未来景象并探讨中国城市地区社会服务（教育、健康、养老、社会救助和住房福利）的“城市标准”现状，审视如何在财政上支持并实施社会服务并且分析覆盖到农民工的成本。

此外，本次讲座也将以更广泛的视角来看待中国社会政策的改革，探讨实现城镇一体化和在全国范围内实现社会服务均等化的必要性。最后，讲座还将关注确保包容性的和有效的劳动力市场。

该系列讲座以世界银行和中国国务院发展研究中心的联合报告为基础。 报告全文链接《中国：推进高效、包容、可持续的城镇化》。

本次讲座将展现中国如何从农村和农业社会成功转型为城市和工业社会及其一些重要特征，期间，中国城市人口所占比率从80年代的20%在2010年上升到了50%。此外，本次讲座将关注规划政策如何聚焦大都市交通系统密度，探讨中国未来20年所面临的一些挑战和城市如何避免碎片化的发展和扩张，以及城市之间如何提高交互性，实现聚集经济效益惠及各类城市；中小城市可以支持邻近大城市的经济和市场，亦能从中受益。