On 17-18 April, around 30 members of our Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) Hub network from 11 countries gathered for the two-day EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Summit, held at the EIT Community Hub in Budapest. During the event, we had the opportunity to engage with our RIS Hub representatives, present new strategies and discuss educational collaboration, innovation calls and impact ventures support in RIS countries. The summit was also an excellent agora to showcase some key figures.
During 2023, our RIS Hub network scouted and supported local innovators in 11 RIS countries, and brought us the following outcomes:
From the data above, it’s significant the impact that the RIS network can achieve on the ground, especially when training students and supporting entrepreneurs. In the startup field, it’s worth mentioning that 2 out of the 9 startups that were supported by the RIS Hubs and finished EIT Urban Mobility Impact Ventures programmes, were invested by the EIT Urban Mobility Investment Readiness Programme (IRP). : Greenroads and Cautcurier.ro. Also, 8 new startups were created thanks to the support of our RIS Hub community.
From the education side, many locally implemented training courses by the RIS Hubs are successfully being scaled-up and implemented in other European countries. An example can be the REAL Mayor programme run by RIS Hub Croatia, which is now further developed as a REAL RIS project in collaboration with RIS Hub Latvia and aims at closing the knowledge gap among high-level city officers and Mayors, hindering the development of sustainable urban mobility systems and liveable urban spaces in RIS countries.
Moreover, RIS hubs were instrumental in assisting partners from their local systems to participate in Innovation programmes. This includes three challenges for the Raptor 2023 call from the cities Ajka and Debrecen from Hungary and Dubnica nad Vahom from Slovakia; four startups selected in the Agile projects; and six projects funded through the Main Innovation Call and Targeted Call.
These highlight results show the great value that the RIS Hub organisations bring to the EIT Urban Mobility community, as well as play a valuable role in our commitment to connect local, national and European ecosystems to seed innovations and accelerate the transition to decarbonised and sustainable urban mobility.
Continuity of the RIS network in 2025
In 2022, the EIT set the EIT RIS Hubs Minimum Standards and Guiding Principles to serve as a common strategic approach, as well as the framework for the gradual launch of EIT Community RIS Hubs covering RIS eligible countries and territories by the end of 2025.
The new EIT Community RIS Hubs are a one-stop shop serving all KICs for local stakeholders in the countries in which they are established. The process of integrating and consolidating the EIT Community’s unique on-ground presence in the EIT RIS-eligible area will make it easier for stakeholders to access our opportunities locally and in a more centralized and unified structure.
Our existing EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub entities will be gradually integrated within the new EIT Community RIS Hubs when these are established and will become mobility specialist members of their country’s EIT Community RIS Hub. The selection of the RIS specialists for urban mobility will be done through an open call this summer, although the functions of our network will remain feeders to our programmes and partnership. To learn more about the EIT Community RIS Hubs, check the new website.
