“Lighthouse”, the EU’s €400 million research and innovation programme to help European cities become smarter, has supported many of them in their bid to save resources, reduce pollution, and improve city services through the use of technology, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors. The funded projects mostly achieved what was expected of them, and delivered concrete smart-city solutions in areas such as air quality, energy efficiency, and e-mobility. However, other cities may not benefit from these innovative solutions because the programme was poorly synced with other EU initiatives, and public and private funding is scarce and fragmented. Better coordination is therefore needed if the 100 EU cities that are currently supported are to become climate-neutral by 2030.
In the 2014-2020 period, the European Commission managed various programmes supporting smart-city projects. One of them, the “Lighthouse” programme under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework, supported 120 cities in 24 member states, including Barcelona, Dresden, Rotterdam and Vienna. Its successor programme for the 2021-2027 period is the Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, which aims to deliver 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030 and ensure that all EU cities follow suit by 2050.
“To help more EU cities become smarter and greener through technology, the EU should better tap the potential for replicating the results already achieved,” said Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz, the ECA member in charge of the report. “It is positive that we can see tangible solutions coming from the ‘Lighthouse’ programme, but fragmentation acts as a brake on wider adoption.”
The auditors found that the “Lighthouse” programme was well designed, responded to cities’ needs, and was suitable for demonstrating close-to-market technologies from different fields. The funded projects delivered several hundred smart-city solutions in participating cities, most of which were energy-related, e.g. energy-efficient buildings and lighting, and smart grids. Based on a sample of completed projects, the auditors found they had achieved or exceeded around two thirds of their expected targets.