INNOAIR TRANSFER SEMINARS
The main speakers at the events were the project partners, who presented the results of their work in some main areas - green public on-demand transport; a congestion charge model; low emission zones and green corridors for active transport, as well as shared lessons learned and gave recommendations to their colleagues from other local and regional authorities about the opportunities and challenges in implementing the innovative solutions.
The webinars were also valuable in terms of checking the interest in mainstream innovations and generally supporting their development in other cities. An essential element in these events was also the promotion of the new European Urban Initiative /EUI/ programme and its opportunities.
The recap shows 400 participants from over 70 local and regional authorities from Bulgaria and abroad.
The events proved their usefulness and were received a high interest and excellent feedback from the participants. No prevalence was noted in the participants' preference for an online format or a format with physical presence at the events, and in both cases attendance was on par.
There was a higher interest in knowledge transfer from cities with larger populations and more developed public transport networks. At the same time, the opportunities that were shared in terms of using on-demand transport for commuting between smaller settlements or connecting the municipal centre and the surrounding villages were not to be overlooked. Among the main challenges identified by the participants were the changes in the legal and regulatory framework in order to implement some of the solutions. At the same time, the soft measures of the project were also highly appreciated and their contribution to the overall success of the project was highlighted.
NAMRB would like to thank all project partners for the professional presentation of all topics and the overall organisation of the knowledge transfer strand of the project.
Some highlights from the webinars include:
The first online knowledge transfer took place on 29 March 2023. Participants had the opportunity to find out more about the process towards zero emissions and decarbonisation, focusing on the introduction and design of low emission zones and green corridors, the different sources of air pollution and the effect of changes in transport patterns.
A total of 80 national and international participants from 45 local and regional authorities, including 5 municipal transport companies were registered to attend the event. Without exception, participants indicated that the event was extremely useful with the information presented and stated their desire to receive further information on both topics (71%). 21% of the participants indicated that they would like further information on the concept of implementing low emission zones and 14% - on the green corridors. Regarding the applicability of LEZ, 79% of participants felt that they were applicable in their cities, with 57% indicating this for the green corridors.
Detailed information on the discussions, recordings and presentations from the event can be found HERE.
The Knowledge Transfer Online Webinar on 26 April 2023 introduced the topic of dialogue and collaboration with citizens to develop sustainable transport and cleaner air. Participants had the opportunity to learn how the project team is working to stimulate cultural change, citizen engagement and motivation to use public transport and sustainable mobility, leading to improved air quality. The SofiaCoin app and the work with students were also presented.
Interest in this event was also high, with 96 Bulgarian and foreign participants registered. 65% of them reported the event as useful with its ideas for engaging citizens in a transition towards green mobility and a cleaner environment, and 30% as rather useful. 78% of participants said they would use the SofiaCoin app and 13% said they already have it. Most participants (70%) mentioned the need to improve the infrastructure, convenience and level of service of public transport as a condition for behavioural change in citizens to use public transport and active mobility. Citizen feedback was ranked second with 61% and improved digital access to public transport services was ranked third with 52%.
The webinar also aimed to check participants' awareness of the Urban Innovative Action Initiative and the new EUI and their options, with 35% saying they were aware, with a similar number saying they were not. It was good to see that 41% of the respondents were aware of the main innovations tested under the EUI project. On the other hand 44% indicated that they were not familiar with InnoAir, leading to the conclusion that interest was growing and the event had different participants than the previous webinar.
Detailed information about the discussions, recordings and presentations from the event can be found HERE.
The Knowledge Transfer Workshop on 17 May 2023 was also well attended with 63 participants, including some from abroad. 83% indicated that the event was very useful and almost 100% declared that it met their expectations. All participants indicated that they would participate in an InnoAir event again and would recommend it to colleagues. On-demand transport was identified as the most interesting topic, followed by the use of data and artificial intelligence.
Detailed information about the discussions and presentations from the event can be found HERE.
As a result of attending the Knowledge Transfer Workshop in Sofia and the interest expressed by a number of municipalities to hold a further and more in-depth discussion on the topic of on-demand transport, a dedicated webinar was also held on 14 June 2023 for the municipalities of Varna, Sliven, Blagoevgrad and Ruse. The aim was to discuss both the details of the innovations in the project and their applicability in other municipalities. Among the topics discussed were the financing of connecting transport; actions taken for the legal and regulatory changes in the field of public transport; contracting/commissioning/payment between the municipality and the public transport companies; ideas from the InnoAir project that can be used in the preparation of project proposals under the " Environmentally friendly mobility" procedure with funding from the Recovery and resilience plan for Bulgaria.
In addition to these main innovations, the webinars also promoted a number of innovative solutions created thanks to the project activities, in particular the hackathons and the civic competitions. In this respect, on 27 June 2023, in the framework of the last Knowledge Transfer Webinar, the winners of the InnoAir project hackathons had the opportunity to present their innovative solutions to the Bulgarian municipalities.
Among them: "SparkBot" - the small city helper“ - an idea for an autonomous robot that follows the most frequent routes of cyclists and reports problems was highly appreciated by the jury and impressed the audience; CY Energy – a battery that is charged by kinetic energy and dynamo; SOFIA PASS - an eco-friendly system for bringing transportation by integrating electric bikes to the CGM and creating E-HUBS earning its creators the third place; ParkIt - a system using trained artificial intelligence to make parking easier in real time by calculating parking spaces using CGM cameras already installed on the streets.
You can view all presentations here:
Зелените коридори в подкрепа на развитието на градската екосистема
ИНОЕЪР – Иновативен обществен транспорт, отговарящ на търсенето на потребителите, за по-чист въздух в градска сред
Източници на замърсяване на въздуха и зависимости. Ефект от промените в транспортната схема върху качеството на въздуха
ГРАЖДАНИТЕ- АВТОРИ И ПОСЛАНИЦИ НА ИНОВАЦИИТЕ СТУДЕНТСКИ ИДЕИ
Гражданите - автори и посланици на иновациите
ПОТРЕБИТЕЛСКО ПОВЕДЕНИЕ И НУЖДИТЕ НА ПОЛЗВАТЕЛИТЕ НА ГРАДСКИЯ ТРАНСПОРТ
Какво е Sofia Coin?
ПОТРЕБИТЕЛСКО ПОВЕДЕНИЕ И НУЖДИТЕ НА ПОЛЗВАТЕЛИТЕ НА ГРАДСКИЯ ТРАНСПОРТ
SOFIAPASS
Eco-port
BUSINN приложение
Интелигентен транспорт чрез данни и изкуствен интелект
Ангажиране на гражданите
Транспорт при поискване
Европейска градска инициатива
Защо транспорт при поискване
