2022

Funding creative business actions to shift to urban sustainability

The University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Institute represent Cyprus in the U-SOLVE project which is being implemented in the context of ENI MED 2014-2020 Cross-European Programme. The main goal of the project is identifying solutions for urban sustainable development through the implementation of entrepreneurial ideas which tackle contemporary environmental and social issues. One basic tool is the encouragement of the adoption of modern, open-innovation methods and participatory procedures within the communities of the urban web with a particular focus on the creative people and creative industries of the cities. The U-SOLVE project supports young entrepreneurs through the creation of experimental "pathways" targeting the achievement of sustainable and comprehensive urban development. The final outcome will be the creation of an attractive environment to adopt urban development methods which will address the sustainable developmental challenges, reinforce business ecosystems and contribute in the creation of new jobs in the emerging social and environmental markets. This will be triggered by show-casing and funding ideas, suggestions and solutions which will be creative on one hand and be able to address the wide parts of the community population on the other. In addition to Cyprus, the project is also being implemented to 5 additional partner-countries of the Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine) which share common but also specific urban sustainability challenges.