Today, the SME4SMARTCITIES project published the Urban Innovation Ecosystem for Sustainability and Climate Toolbox. The toolbox provides a comprehensive, yet step-by-step guide to establish many components required to create an innovative ecosystem, to encourage and reveal the hidden potential already present in the city, to make the city more attractive to residents, and to draw more talent.

Cities have complex ecosystems. They have many layers across the city – infrastructure and utilities, natural environment, mobility, IT and telecommunications, people, education network, and services and they all serve many verticals – finance, commerce, health, education, recreation, resource and waste management, and so on. Therefore, municipalities have to manage the cities as complex ecosystems. Ecosystem buildup and taking advantage of ecosystem principles and methods is the key to keeping the ecosystem resilient and thriving. Adding the invaluable ingredient of innovation is the spice that can make the city really shine, a truly smart city, to solve the challenges it faces, improve services, and increase efficiency, resulting in business growth, resident satisfaction, and well-being.

The SME4SMARTCITIES Urban Innovation Ecosystem Toolbox guides cities in achieving this and provides many case studies of cities that have already done, so as a source of knowledge experience, and inspiration.

The SME4SMARTCITIES Urban Innovation Ecosystem Toolbox was developed by the SME4SMARTCITIES project team at the Urban Innovation and Sustainability Lab at the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Tel Aviv University, on the basis of all earlier research, tools, and deliverables that were developed together by all SME4SMARTCITIES project from across the Mediterranean.

You can access the toolbox at this link: The SME4SMARTCITIES Urban Innovation Ecosystem Toolbox