SUNSET · Smart and Sustainable Host UniverCities: leveraging city-university interactions to further the twin green and digital transition

SUNSET aims to develop innovative research and training capacity around city-university interactions driving the EU’s green and digital transition. This twin transition is a defining element of the current EU policy agenda towards achieving climate neutrality and sustainable growth. The European Commission considers cities to be frontrunners in this transition agenda, but their transformational capacity and resilience crucially depends on the presence of agile and high-performing urban innovation ecosystems. SUNSET brings together (1) prominent researchers working in diverse geographical and disciplinary settings at leading universities (N=6) with (2) partners (N=16) from city governments (often participating in the Cities Mission to achieve climate neutrality by 2030), innovation companies, research institutes and civil society organizations to analyze and foster the performance of these urban innovation ecosystems: drawing on a purposeful range of interdisciplinary, international, and intersectoral exchanges, the Doctoral Network will investigate whether and how universities can successfully become key drivers of the twin transition in cities via their role as innovation partners, the implementation of campus living labs, and as architects of decision-making in governance ecosystems. Through a tailored combination of network-wide training events and academic and non-academic secondments, the SUNSET Doctoral Network will train a new generation of researchers to become future urban innovation ecosystem leaders in the pursuit of the twin green and digital transition. The findings will lead to practical guidelines regarding the design and implementation of living labs for university and city management, tailored strategies to foster more inclusive and diverse urban ecosystems, and diverse forms of scientific outreach and dissemination.