Future by Lund’s partner group meets at least once a quarter to discuss how to collaborate on issues related to a smart and sustainable society. On this occasion the representatives gathered to discuss ongoing projects within Future by Lund but also the ideas and needs of their own organizations.

Future by Lund already has some projects that are in progress with various partners. One of these is Lund OpenSensoring City, a new application of a test bed that is about environmental data and the flows of, for example, people and vehicles within the city of Lund and the information they generate. If the application is approved, notice will be given in May. Another project collaboration is Aquaplaza, relating towater in Forskarparken (Research Park), which has applied for EU-funding..

– We want to transform the regular watersystem and find other ways of re-using water. One way is to work with IoT(Internet of Things) to assess water quality in real time and to investigate,among other things, what is needed in the building industry for this to happen,says Future by Lund’s project manager Peter Kisch.

Preparations are also underway for Lund to be able to apply to Horizon Europe for the 100 Climate Neutral Cities programme.

– Horizon Europe works with a missiondriven innovative approach and a hundred cities will receive a sum of money directly from the EU to develop a climate neutral city. If we are to succeed in qualifying, we must bring together all Lund’s stakeholders to make a strong bid,as there will be many competitors, explains Peter Kisch.

An ongoing application is the European collaboration Value of Urban Data, which is about the transactions of data between various stakeholders. Mobilitetsnod Syd (Mobility NodeSouth) is a collective term given for initiatives, tests, projects and ideas within the field of mobility. The collaboration has become particularly relevant through the establishment of Evolution Road, which is an electric road on Getingevägen in Lund.

The mission to create RymdnodSyd (Space Node South) is an initiative that began several years ago and is now merged under the name Space Hub Lund.

Another ongoing project within Future byLund is Nordic Innovation District, funded by Interreg, which aims to create larger districts in the city consisting of businesses, academia and accelerators. One way is to unite stakeholders to develop a mixed zone – the project investigates what this may look like. Mikael Edelstam is also undertaking the study How to organise and finance innovation teams for smart &sustainable city development, which investigates how to increase the effectiveness of collaborative projects with a goal to develop a prototype.  

There were also many contributions from the meeting participants. Several were interested in real estate and energy – concerning positive-energy city districts, buildings as part of an energy system and smart infrastructure even within the building internals. Mobility was another hot topic and Trivector raised the idea of a collaborative project at Brunnshög,which ignites other companies’ interest in how employees get to work. Brunnshög was also seen as a place that is well suited to research Urban Resilience – and of course resilience is also a focus for UNOPS and Sony’s collaboration. Other ideas were test sites for innovations, circular systems for food waste, participation in a reference group in relation to the electric road, a networkof test members, innovation collaborations and labs of tomorrow. In short,there is a lot to work with!

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Siemens had two representatives that were participating in a Future by Lund collaboration for the first time.

– Future by Lund is a great network to meet people that are interested in innovation. I am particularly interested in mobility houses and the electric road, says Karin Jarl-Månsson of Siemens.

– The collaboration feels rewarding and makes me think about our role and what it can lead to for projects. Everyonehere wants to make a difference and it fosters a belief in the future and forward-thinking work, says Mikael Thörner of Siemens. I am particularly interested in the lab of tomorrow. My work relates to the interior of building and I want to connect this with the exterior through such things as lighting,cooling and heating but also by measuring how people move and behave in order to increase the efficiency of the premises.

Before the next meeting the ideas and initiatives will be reviewed so that seed funding can be distributed.

– We will prioritize cases where several partners can be included or if there is a clear next step, explains Katarina Scott, project manager at Future by Lund. Today, we have discussed and taken steps to make it more concrete. We have the ambition to make decisions on a number of projects at the partner group meeting in March.

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Translation: Ben Dohrmann