EXPAND II intends to support the implementation of the JPI Urban Europe Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2.0 (SRIA 2.0) and advance the R&I programme by (1) supporting JPI Urban Europe’s widening activities towards new countries, stakeholders and partners, (2) facilitating the transition from SRIA 2015 to SRIA 2.0 in terms of enhancing formats, instruments, strategic partnerships, and programme management, and by (3) improving availability and accessibility of research results for cities, funders, policy and decision makers. Since transformations to sustainable and liveable urban futures depend on a broad commitment and co-creation among a diverse set of actors, the identified challenge to be tackled by EXPAND II is widening the community and building capacities in research, policy and society at large. In this sense, the project targets Widening Countries in particular with the aim to establish national dialogues and processes, mobilise national R&I communities dealing with sustainable urban development, intensify strategic relationships of urban stakeholders on transnational level and assess national programmes and instruments for transnational R&I cooperation. The transition arena concept is used as the basic concept for widening participation and capacity building. As the center piece of the transition arena the concept of the JPI Urban Europe Stakeholder Involvement Platform (AGORA) will be applied and advanced. Furthermore, the challenge is tackled by professionalising programme management in JPI Urban Europe in order to make research results more easily accessible for policy and decision makers, provide data and cases to easily follow the progress achieved in JPI Urban Europe and its projects and strengthen the programme as a hub for international cooperation. All these activities are tuned to further expand the programme towards Widening Countries and other interested parties, offer information and platforms to engage for researchers, urban pu

The DUT Partnership builds upon and steps up the ambition and efforts of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe (JPI UE). With its partners from 28 countries, the DUT Partnership aims at developing and implementing a transformative research and innovation (R&I) programme to strengthen urban transitions towards climate-neutral, inclusive and sustainable urban areas. With national and regional R&I programme owners, funders and urban policy-related public authorities, DUT is strongly building upon and aligning with national and regional strategies and policies. In order to support cities along their specific strategies, the Partnership focuses on three critical urban sectors, energy, mobility and circular economy, and their interrelations. Three Transition Pathways (TPs) – Positive Energy Districts (PED), the 15-minute City (15minC) and Circular Urban Economies (CUE) – will be addressed with a long-term perspective. DUT will not only provide funding for transnational R&I projects in and across these areas through implementing co-funded JCs, but establish a comprehensive programme management to support capacity building and enhance the (policy) impact of these projects and their results. In this regard, programme activities will address capacity building and empowerment of all urban stakeholder groups to engage in urban R&I and co-design solutions. Urban living labs (ULLs) will be fostered as an important concept to support local experimentation and inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. New approaches towards dissemination and mainstreaming of research results will be developed with the ambition to bring results into our cities. Strategic synthesis, as well as recommendations and references for policy making will be provided with particular focus on contributions to the Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU), the European mission for climate-neutral and smart cities (CNSC) and the European Green Deal (EGD). Efforts will be taken to position the DUT Partnership internationally and mobilise international partners to join forces in DUT.