SUNER-C CSA overarching objective is to aggregate fragmented knowledge and develop the framework conditions to overcome scientific, technological, organizational and socioeconomic challenges to accelerate innovation and enable the transition of technologies for solar fuels and chemicals from laboratory and demonstrator level to large-scale industrial and broad societal application. Through a holistic approach, SUNER-C will contribute to circular economy by replacing fossil-derived fuels and chemicals by renewables and carbon recycling as key element towards the EU net-zero emissions target by 2050. SUNER-C will build upon the work of SUNERGY, a pan-European initiative on fossil-free fuels and chemicals from renewable power and solar energy, with to date over 300 supporting organisations across and beyond Europe. SUNER-C specific outcomes during the CSA will be to: develop an inclusive pan-European innovation community and eco-system on solar fuels and chemicals with global outreach, linked to political and societal needs, gathering stakeholders from different fields, sectors and disciplines around a shared vision, and coordinating with existing initiatives to ensure complementarity; develop a roadmap and a blueprint to implement it, as main drivers to identify and tackle long-term research and innovation challenges to de-fossilize society with solar fuels and chemicals; prepare the foundations for a large-scale research and innovation initiative (LSRI), ready to be launched at the end of the CSA, through an instrument to be agreed upon with the European Commission and the Member States. The LSRI will continue developing the eco-system and supporting the implementation of the roadmap, speeding up industrial and societal uptake of technologies for solar fuels and chemicals in the EU and contributing to wider, longer-term impacts, including those on “Increased autonomy in key strategic value chains for resilient industry” outlined in the Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Cities are facing a revolution in urban mobility. Emerging start-ups are offering innovative mobility solutions to satisfy the demand of the growing population, both living or moving into the cities every day. We are moving from the concept of owning to sharing a vehicle; from using public transport services to moving around with a hop on/off bike or electric scooter; disruptive start-ups (Uber, Cabify) are shaking up traditionally established business models... But this innovation is also bringing up unforeseen consequences that public administrations need to manage. Electric scooters driven in pedestrian areas are posing safety risks and even pedestrian kills; piles of broken bikes are laying around in streets; protests and strikes by taxi drivers; electric charge points need to coexist with the growing demand for public parking spaces. It is in this new context that public administrations need means to help them understand this new scenario, supporting them in making policy–related decisions and predicting eventualities. There is a need of a platform that can harvest, fuse and curate data from heterogeneous sources, that can extract knowledge to help in the decision-making processes and simulation of solutions to anticipate behaviours and delimit unforeseen consequences. Besides, such intelligent platform can foster cross-departmental collaboration by eradicating internal silos. URBANITE will analyse the impact, trust and attitudes of civil servants, citizens and other stakeholders with respect to the integration of disruptive technologies such as AI, DSS, big data analytics and predictive algorithms in a data–driven decision-making process. To this end, URBANITE will provide recommendations, pathways and toolkits (both ICT-based such as data management platform and DSS, and non-ICT such as co-creation activities and a repository of social-related assets) for city managers. Results will be validated in 4 real use cases: Amsterdam, Bilbao, Helsinki and Messina.