On Thursday, July 27, 2023, the welcome event organized by the European Commission for the new phase of the Intelligent Cities Challenge – ICC 2.0 programme and the briefing that the new participating cities will receive regarding the Local Green Deals where the Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands will be represented again this time by the Deputy Mayor of European Programmes, Development, and Digital Governance, Ms. Panagiota Tzanne (as Project Manager) and the Scientific Advisor, Mr. Victor Dimoulis (as Assistant Project Manager). 

The “Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC 2.0)” – an important initiative of the European Commission (DG GROW and EISMEA) – has solemnly announced that the Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands (once again) is included among those European cities that qualified due to the completeness of their participation file and their overall performance in the 1st cycle of the programme (2020-2022) and will also participate in the new phase of the European Commission’s privileged and prestigious support programme that will evolve from 2023 to 2025.
The City of Corfu will immediately begin its new two-year journey to create an effective strategy and develop innovative solutions that will place the city back at the forefront of the green and digital (twin) transition through the creation of Local Green Deals.

Ms. Dana Eleftheriadou, Head and Senior Executive at DG GROW of the European Commission, says: “Cities are the beating heart of Europe’s economy. The new phase of the Intelligent Cities Challenge offers cities the prime opportunity to put themselves on the map as a European Intelligent City and to turn their sustainability and technological ambitions into action, especially by launching their own Local Green Deals across city departments and with the local businesses. These will put your cities firmly on the path towards making the European Green Deal and the Green Deal Industrial Plan a reality while scaling up Europe’s net-zero industry.” 

In the previous edition of the ICC (2020-2022), approximately 336 actions were planned and implemented from the total of 136 European cities that participated in the programme.

This new edition follows on from the success of the previous Intelligent Cities Challenge – ICC (2020-22) and Digital Cities Challenge – DCC (2018-20) and will offer participants an extensive network of high-profile and specialized cities and experts, a stable methodological framework for the planning and development of actions and strong mechanisms to support them.
For more information, interested parties can also visit the program’s official website: intelligentcitieschallenge.eu.