MetaCities Excellence Hub in South-Eastern Europe

Three place-based innovation ecosystems in Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria partner together to create an Excellence Hub for Future Cities and Regions in Southeast Europe (SEE). The METACITIES Excellence Hub is a sustainable network that offers a common platform for collaboration, cross-fertilization, and best practices sharing across borders, sectors and disciplines on knowledge production, circulation and use. Founded upon a joint R&I strategy, a nexus of collaborative links across sectors, joint research, innovation and outreach activities as well as business modelling and sustainability plans, the collaboration aims to benefit citizens, stakeholders, regional ecosystems and the whole SEE region. The thematic focus on future and metaverse cities necessitates the definition of ambitious R&I agendas and the uptake of advanced digital technologies. Digital Twins (DT) of future cities/regions provide accurate and reliable reference representation seamlessly unifying the physical, digital and human worlds and enabling stakeholders to assess the effects of any changes before investments and implementations actually occur. The proposed Open Digital Twin Framework facilitates co-development of complementary future city domains along with their equivalent DTs. The applied Quadruple Helix Model forges synergies among actors and alignment of public and private sector priorities for regional development. PoC studies, small-scale pilots and feasibility assessments validate project outcomes. Green Business and Operation Models will be developed for future and metaverse cities, as well as for the METACITIES Excellence Hub. Investment and Sustainability Plans will mobilize the communities of the three innovation ecosystems to progress faster in joined efforts. Common investment plans for R&I, infrastructures and support for real-life experimentation, aim to leverage national, regional and European funds as well as crowd funds and private capital in a synergetic manner.