50 international partners in Dresden: Kick-off conference for the "U_CAN" climate project of WISSENSAR­CHITEKTUR

The EU project "U_CAN. Ukraine towards Carbon Neutrality" started with a kick-off conference on May 23 and 24 in the Dülfersaal at TU Dresden. Around 50 representatives from the Ukrainian partner cities and over 20 international institutions accepted the invitation to get to know each other and discuss the first steps of project planning.

Working together for the European Green Deal

The "U_CAN" project, which is funded by the Horizon Europe program with a total of 5 million euros, aims to support Ukraine in developing the country for carbon-neutral mission by 2050 in line with the European Green Deal.  The WISSENSARCHITEKTUR - Laboratory of Knowledge Architecture (TU Dresden) will cooperate with eight Ukrainian cities and build a knowledge network with specialist institutes, universities, NGOs and EU mission cities.

Six of the cities (Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk) have been active in carbon reduction for years and are to test measures as "model cities" that can be adopted by other cities if successful. The cities of Kharkiv and Kherson, which are located in the conflict zone, are working on climate-neutral reconstruction practices and advising partner cities. The partner institutions and EU mission cities are contributing their expertise to support Ukraine.

"The intensity of the cooperation is overwhelming"

Project manager Swati Kulashri (WISSENSARCHITEKTUR) was very touched by overwhelming participation and enthusiasm from project partners, showcasing a unified vision for climate-neutral development of Ukraine. "The depth of collaboration and the eagerness to share expertise between the EU and Ukrainian partners was overwhelming." Kulashri was also impressed by the innovative solutions developed by the Ukrainian city partners. "Their resilience and forward-thinking approach inspired all of us to work even harder towards our shared goals."

"Rebuild better and contribute to Europe's climate neutrality"

Mariia Levanchuk (Department of infrastructure projects, Vinnytsia) stated: "Green transition is a key solution to rebuilding Ukraine. However, in war circumstance it is also a challenging task to keep fulfiling our green transition commitments. Therefore partnership projects as U_CAN are crucial to keep Ukrainian cities on this track, as most of the funds are currently redirected to more urgent war-related needs.

However, in the most horrifying way war gave us an opportunity to actually go through positive transformation faster. We need to build back better and this way to contribute to the European continent's climate neutrality. There are multiple opportunities to test green innovative practices in Ukraine right now and we are honoured to join other Ukrainian pilots cases in various fields that could be replicated further both in Ukraine and EU."

Presentation of partners and work packages

The kick-off meeting began with a welcome address by Peter Rosenbaum, Head of International Office (TU Dresden). This was followed by an introduction by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Rainer Noennig and coordinator Swati Kulashri (WISSENSARCHITEKTUR) and an overview of the framework conditions of the funding program by Frederik Sondergaard (DG RTD, European Commission), Laura Heltel (Policy Officer Cities Mission, European Commission) and Anca Pasca (Project Officer, European Climate, Innovation and Networks Executive Agency, CINEA).

The project partners then introduced themselves to the panel one after the other with short presentations. A competition was organized among the Ukrainian cities. The most original presentation received a voucher for a participation project with the U_CODE co-design tool. The winner with the most votes was Zhytomyr.

The project work packages were presented in the afternoon:

Work package	Lead
Organization of the U_CAN project	WISSENSARCHITEKTUR, TU Dresden
Development of a public knowledge platform on the Internet, which makes the progress and results of the project available to all interested parties	O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy, Kharkiv; Technology Partners Foundation, Poland
Building synergies between Ukrainian partner cities and the "climate-neutral and smart cities" of the EU mission	Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland
Implementation of six Ukrainian "model cities" whose successful solutions can be adapted by other cities and municipalities	City institute Lviv; model cities
Modernization and standardization of climate-neutral and sustainable technologies and practices	University of L'Aquila, Italy
Capacity building and knowledge transfer at local level	Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Communication, dissemination and exploitation of project results	Association of European Citizen Science

Thematic workshops for the first steps

The second day of the conference began with a presentation by Lesya Tymoshenko from the "sister project" SUN4UKRAINE (Eurocities), which is currently also being launched in the Horizon Europe funding program. Regine Kramer (SB Europaarbeit, Landeshauptstadt Dresden) provided information about the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

Four thematic workshops set the tasks. The partners rotated through all the workshops.

Workshop	Lead
Exchange between the CNSC mission cities and the Ukrainian partner cities	State capital Dresden, City institute Lviv
Requirements for the development of the knowledge platform	O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy, Kharkiv; Technology Partners Foundation, Poland
Planning of events for communication, dissemination and exploitation	Association of European Citizen Science; WISSENSARCHITEKTUR, TU Dresden
Citizen participation in climate policy in Ukraine	WISSENSARCHITEKTUR, TU Dresden

The participants concluded the kick-off conference with many new contacts and tasks. The regular exchange will take place virtually: The consortium meets every 2 months, the cooperation partners of the work packages once a month. Once a year, everyone will meet for a conference in person. Each time in a different participating country.

Anca Pasca, project officer of CINEA agency and organisational contact person for the Horizon Europe funding programme,  was impressed: "The kick off meeting of the U_CAN project allowed me to get to know the ambitions of the project, to meet the consortium and to explain CINEA’s expectations from the project. I wish the U_CAN project partners all success in supporting the Ukrainian cities to develop their strategy for climate neutrality. I was impressed by the Ukrainian partners which all made a long trip to Dresden to show their commitment, willingness to engage and present the initiatives that they have already put in place. I wish everybody success and I will remain by your side for the years to come!"