Urban Challenges

Rising populations, aging infrastructure, and climate change pose serious challenges for cities across the world. With 70 percent of cities already dealing with the effects of climate change, and a projected 68 percent of the world projected to be living in cities by 2050, smart cities and urban technologies are essential investments for a sustainable and equitable urban future.

Cities have already become testbeds for new and disruptive technologies, and are committed to building inclusive economies, attracting great talent, and increasing citizens’ quality of life.

Solving tomorrow’s challenges today

NYC has some of the largest infrastructure systems in the world, including public transit, water, waste, and telecommunications. The rapid development creates new market opportunities for companies worldwide, as the city search for the best smart solutions to improve multiple aspects of the quality of life.

During fall, the Danish Cleantech Hub in New York teamed up with Gate 21 and a group of challenge owners consisting of the International Nighttime Design Initiative (NTD), the VOREA Group (VOREA) and Long Island City Partnership (LICP) to solve tomorrow’s challenges faster through the international project, Access Cities.

Developing holistic solutions

Financed by the Danish Industry Foundation, Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate 21 facilitated a workshop and gathered eight Danish companies to work with common challenges across based on the 12^th Street challenge submitted by NTD, VOREA and LICP with the goal of developing holistic, well-tested and innovative solutions.

Read more about the 12^th Street Challenge HERE.

Accelerating knowledge sharing

On November 30^th 2020 six Danish companies Ocutune, Out-Sider, Felicity Smart Infrastructure, Photocat, DanIntra and Novalume pitched their solutions at the virtual pitch event in front of the challenge owners and more than 20 public and private New York actors. The pitch event was a unique opportunity for Danes and Americans to join forces and share knowledge and expertise within smart city solutions of the future.

The event can be watched HERE.

About Access Cities

Access Cities is an international, public-private project, which aims to strengthen sustainable urban development in five project cities: New York City, Singapore, Munich and the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus. The project connects actors working with sustainable urban development in the pursuit of game-changing solutions to common issues confronting cities.

About the organizers

Danish Cleantech Hub

Danish Cleantech Hub is an international public-private partnership. The founding partners are The Confederation of Danish Industry and State of Green. Danish Cleantech Hub work with a variety of partners including public agencies, private business, universities, and NGOs in order to tell New York the story of the green transition of Denmark.

Gate 21

Gate 21 is a partnership network that can deliver on the goal of being a green leader in energy conversion, green mobility, the circular economy and green digital solutions. Gate 21 test green solutions, based on public demand, which can be scaled and spread across the whole country – for inspiration to the rest of the world.

REIMAGINE-REBUILD-RENEW

Last week Governor Cuomo announced the 2021 agenda ‘Reimagine-Rebuild-Renew’ for New York. In the light of Covid-19, New York is facing critical issues that calls for action. During the State of the State Address 2021 Governor Cuomo announced that New York is now taking a bold move facing the climate crisis.

With their 2021 agenda, New York is paving its way with ambitious proposals and investments within the green energy economy. Among other things, the agenda features initiatives which focus on creating the largest offshore wind program in the US, make New York State a global wind energy manufacturing powerhouse, and create a green energy transmission superhighway. This will not only be rewarding for New Yorkers, but it will also support communities and small businesses.

In a statement from Governor Cuomo, it is stated: “Green energy is a pressing moral imperative and a prime economic opportunity. New York can and will be the nation’s leader for renewable energy innovation and production, all while securing jobs of the future for New Yorkers. Our entire green energy program will create a total 12,400 megawatts of green energy to power 6 million homes, directly create more than 50,000 jobs, and spur $29 billion in private investment all across the state.”

The proposals include public-private partnerships to build nearly 100 renewable energy projects, construction of New York’s green energy transmission superhighway, development and deployment of energy storage and investments in training New Yorkers for jobs in the wind and renewable energy sector.

By investing in a green economic recovery, New York is truly setting their steppingstones for becoming a green, sustainable city in the after shakes of Covid-19. With their new 2021 agenda, it will create demand for the most well-innovated green energy solutions across nations, and thus open new doors for companies within the green energy economy.

Read more on the 2021 agenda ‘Reimagine-Rebuild-Renew’ HERE.

President-elect Biden & Vice President-elect Harris

On behalf of Denmark’s green industries and green tech companies, we applaud your ambition for transitioning your country towards a carbon-neutral future. It’s a bold task.

With over 40 years of experience in transitioning societies towards climate neutrality, we know what it takes. We have the solutions, the data, and the knowledge needed in order to fight climate change while creating thousands of jobs and accelerating economic growth. We have created results contributing to a greener American economy while generating thousands of American green jobs.

Lets unite and make it happen. Lets build a green future together. We are happy to take part in supporting a greener America.

Sincerely,

Haldor Topsøe, Grundfos, Rambøll, Semco Maritime, Siemens Gamesa, CiP, COWI, Kamstrup, Confederation of Danish Industry.

Read more about Danish Cleantech Hub HERE.

A ROADMAP TO NEW YORK CITY

For the past 10 years, NYC has been a leader when it comes to smart city technology and with the aim to be an equitable city, it has developed a set of ambitious targets for the city as well as smart city projects in collaboration with residents and companies.

One of the largest developments can be found within smart lighting. Investments such as: 500K street lights to be replaced in NYC by smart LED lights by 2025, $7.5M in funding for Smart Street Lighting NYC and $104.1B NYC citywide investments planned between 2020-2029, create a demand for the best, well-tested and innovative solutions.

The US can sometimes appear very complex for foreign companies to enter, but with the new Smart City roadmap, Access Cities and Danish Cleantech Hub New York aim to provide a transparent and easy-to-read guide and overview to foreign smart city solution providers.

Among many things, the roadmap includes an overview of:

• Top 3 Smart City Trends
• Top 5 US Smart Cities to keep an eye on
• New York City’s Smart City visions
• An overview of must-know New York City customers
• Tips and trick to entry New York City faster
• …. and even more

DOWNLOAD THE ROADMAP HERE.

FAST TRACK MARKET ENTRY BY PARTICIPATING IN A LOCAL CHALLENGE

One way of understanding a market potential for foreign companies, is to identify a local challenge within a city. The idea behind participating in a local challenge is to fast track companies’ market entry by applying specific solutions to solve the challenges in collaboration with private developers, City agencies and so on.

If you are a Danish start-up or SME, you are invited to join Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate 21s new challenge program.

LOCAL NYC CHALLENGE: NYC SMART LIGHTING PROGRAM

Join the NYC Smart Lighting Challenge! Danish Cleantech Hub in New York and Gate 21 have teamed up with a challenge owner in NYC (International Nighttime Design Initiative, VOREA Group and Long Island City Partnership) and are now looking for participants to join the program, which includes participation in a solution workshop in Copenhagen and a virtual pitch finale, where the participants gets an opportunity to pitch their solution towards a panel of NYC public and private purchasers.

The program is developed for Danish companies that produces smart intelligent outdoor light components and producers of Smart City solutions and participation is FREE.

Seats are limited. Register for the program here. 

DOWNLOAD THE SMART CITY ROADMAP HERE. 

Green recovery strategies will create sustainable growth

During Climate Week NYC 2020, high-level speakers from both sides of the Atlantic gathered to discuss green recovery and public-private commitment to the advanced green transition and the speakers were invited to rethink partnerships as a vehicle to accelerate the green transition and growth. With more than 1000 registered participants, moderated by Connie Hedegaard, chairman for CONCITO, speakers discussed topics such as partnerships as a way to support innovation, growth and job creation and as a way to spur investments in sustainability.

Among the speakers were Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, Dan Jørgensen and Lieutenant Governor of New York State Kathy Hochul, and they agreed on the level of ambition towards the green transition by underlining the commitments by Denmark and New York State.

“We continue to continue pursuing our climate policies. We are not wavering. We understand the threat of climate change – and we’re doing something about it, building back greener, investing heavily in renewable energy, etc.” Lieutenant Governor of New York State Kathy Hochul

“We are firmly committed that we will get through the Covid-19 crisis. The climate crisis has a more permanent character, requiring fundamental societal changes”, Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities

Global frontrunners

Denmark and New York are both global frontrunners in the green transition. Denmark has been on a green road since the 70’s and New York established itself as a global beacon in the field with their commitment to the Paris Agreement, when President Trump announced his plan for the United States to exit the agreement in 2017. Many similarities can be found between Denmark and New York and they provide an opportunity to increase collaboration further and increase private sector involvement to accelerate innovation and the green transition.

While Covid-19 has created high instability, both social and economically world-wide, it is time to involve, and rethink structure of society and methods to overcome the impact of Covid-19 while pursuing a green recovery. Ali Zaidi, Deputy Secretary to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and Chairman of Climate Policy and Finance states:

“The more we build things together with everybody at the table, the more we will reinforce our collective climate change mitigation efforts”

Public-private partnerships as a vehicle for combatting climate change

Green and sustainable transition is discussed across New York during the Climate Week and companies are an essential part of the solution. Green knowhow is very sought-after and the climate week is a unique platform for Danish companies because sustainable cities start with sustainable solutions. Many Danish companies have cracked the code for how solutions can be adapted and scaled in new markets, with a focus on tailoring solutions to a city’s specific needs.

“By now it’s clear there’s no silver bullet solution to accelerating the green transition. It requires playing on the full keyboard of climate actions.  What role do partnerships play in such circumstances? What are the most important components to mainstream innovative green technologies or in finding new ways of attacking the challenge?”, Jens Birgersson, President and CEO, ROCKWOOL International

Did you miss the event?

It’s not too late! Read more about the event and speakers here.

Or watch the virtual event Build Back Greener: Principles for Kickstarting the Sustainable Transition through Partnerships here.

SOLVE A LOCAL CHALLENGE

New York and its municipalities are on a mission to improve public services through the installation of Intelligent outdoor light as part of the “Smart Street Lighting NY” program. It has created an opportunity for Danish startups and SMEs to demonstrate coherent and solid multifunctional intelligent LED light solutions. Solutions, that are not only energy efficient, but also improves connectivity, public health and safety. So, are you a Danish based Lighting company, or maybe you produce the new smart application that New York’s municipalities need to hear about? Then this challenge program might be something for you!

THE PROGRAM

To solve the challenge – the Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate21 have developed a program for Danish SMEs to encourage participation in solving the challenge. The program is a unique opportunity for you, to explore a new market and gain insights about potential partners, buyers and local market opportunities. Also, it provides you with an opportunity to pitch your solutions directly to the challenge owner, as well as other American public and private purchasers based on NYC.

The program is divided into two parts:
1) A day where we learn more about how to access the American lighting and Smart City-market, followed by a solution workshop to prepare for the pitch finale
2) A day with the opportunity to pitch your solution to a panel consisting of the challenge owners and other American public and private purchasers based on NYC.

Check out the program of the solution workshop day and the pitch finale HERE.

THE CHALLENGE: THE CAMPUS AT 12^TH STREET

The challenge has been submitted by The VOREA Group, Long Island City Partnership and the International Nighttime Design Initiative and the goal is to turn the Campus at 12^th street in Long Island City (NYC) into a viable and vibrant neighborhood hub for the community. With strategic implementation of smart lighting systems, that bring people together, the Campus at 12^th Street is primed to be an iconic destination for Long Island City and across the five boroughs. Among others, the challenge owners wish to:

• Attract customers to retail and hospitality offerings at night
• Connectivity of campus
• Safe outdoor space for community during COVID-19
• Increase activity on sidewalks
• Better street lighting

The challenge owners ask solution providers to propose two living lab themes within their pitch: 1) a showcase of best practice public lighting – beyond the street pole Lumiere typical and 2) facilitate community-based research such as surveys, interviews, quantitative counts etc., to understand how visitors can be attracted both new and old, how to attract new tenants and much more.

Through out the next week, Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate21 will collaborate with the challenge owners to prepare the challenge for the solution workshop day where it will be presented.

SIGN UP

Participation in the program is free and developed for Danish SMEs that produce smart outdoor lighting components and producers of smart city solutions.

Register HERE or reach out to Mille Munksgaard from Danish Cleantech Hub at mimu@di.dk or Maja Yhde from Gate21 at maja.yhde@gate21.dk if you have any questions.

ORGANIZING PARTNERS

What we are looking for:

Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate21 are seeking NYC based actors, who are interested in innovative smart city solutions related to smart lighting. Challenge owners can be public agencies, building owners or developers, architects, engineering business, management companies etc. Essentially anyone involved in designing, suppling, developing or managing smart city technologies across the City.

The challenge itself can take many forms. For instance, you could have a space, a process or a design where smart lighting solutions could be applicable. Do not be afraid to be creative!

Why we do it:

Cities worldwide are increasingly realizing that urban lighting can provide solutions to overcome major challenges facing our societies such as environmental footprint, lacking digital infrastructures, increased costs and public well-being and safety. Many questions remain open for Cities that seek to develop forward-thinking lighting strategies, as they look for solutions to create the best Cities. The arrival of new technologies to the market, as well as the smart potentials lighting can now offer, triggers new questions to which Cities need solid and reliable answers, and well-tested solutions.

The challenge program:

Danish Cleantech Hub and Gate21 have developed a NYC Smart Lighting Challenge Program to connect NYC challenge owners with Danish smart lighting solutions. The program is a pilot, to test how open international challenge calls can be accelerated to inspire actors in the field and to come up with the best and most innovative solutions. The challenge program is divided into three steps:

1. Launch of challenge and program at the Nordic Edge conference on September 23^th 2020.
2. Solution workshop in Denmark with participating Danish SMEs on November 4^th 2020.
3. Pitch finale on November 23th 2020 (date TBC)

Your commitment:

We expect all participants to be excited about smart lighting solutions. Participation in the call is free to challenge owners and the time consumption is expected to be approximately three hours in total including Q&A session to define challenge in detail with the facilitators (approx. 2 hours) and participation in the virtual pitch finale (one hour).

If you do not have a specific challenge, we welcome panelists in the panel for the pitch finale. Please send an email to Mille Munksgaard at mimu@di.dk to participate as a panelist.

Get involved:

Do you have a challenge or site that can be used for the program or do you want to register as a panelist? Send an email to Mille Munksgaard, mimu@di.dk today! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Deadline for submitting a challenge is September 16^th 2020.

New ways to enter new markets faster

In September 2019, NOVENCO was selected among the finalists to provide the best climate solutions for New York City in the Access Cities Open Innovation Call on air quality. NOVENCO came second in the competition and has since collaborated with the Danish Cleantech Hub in New York to seize the opportunities that arose from the finale pitch.

“Our participation in the Access Cities Open Innovation Call has been a unique opportunity to present our sustainable products and energy-efficient solutions broadly to relevant participants in NYC.” John Boss, Senior Product Manager, NOVENCO Building & Industry.

Helping Cities solve challenges

As a part of the Open Innovation Call in New York, Access Cities partner, Danish Cleantech Hub, collaborated with several of the City agencies. The goal was to find sustainable solutions to the air quality challenges in New York City and the city to reach its ambitious climate targets by 2030.

“The Access Cities Open Innovation Call provided New York City with the opportunity to bring together a panel of experts to discuss the important topics of air quality and urban heat vulnerability. The Access Cities Challenge made it possible to hold essential conversations on these topics across agencies — conversations that provided us with the chance to evaluate new ideas and technologies that could tackle these problems with novel approaches. We look forward to continuing to explore ways to test the many solutions this Challenge brought to light.” Paul Rothman, Director, Smart Cities + IoT Lab.

Green sustainable solutions in high demand

Attracting the New York City agencies attention was especially the technically advanced NOVENCO ZerAx fan. The fan has unmatched efficiencies of up to 92%, low sound levels and is in 98% recyclable after its lifetime of 20+ years, which all in all harmonized with the need for sustainable and low maintenance solutions. It is this kind of technology that can help New York City deliver on one of the world’s most ambitious energy efficiency and greenhouse-gas-emission-reduction regulations.

Join the next Open Innovation Call

Access Cities is an international project across public and private sectors, which aims to strengthen sustainable urban development in five project cities: New York City, Singapore, Munich and the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus. Through the project, Danish small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) are invited to participate in upcoming Open Innovation Calls in Munich and Singapore and to engage in a handheld process delivered through up to 70 hours of free consultancy.

Sign up for the Access Cities newsletter to receive the latest news or check out the Access Cities website.

Build Back Greener – Principles for Kickstarting the Sustainable Transition through Partnerships, is a unique transatlantic event, which aims to create a platform for the discussions around a green economic recovery and the impact and nature of the private and public sectors’ commitments to the sustainable transition in the shadow of Covid-19. Instead of simply reinventing an outdated economic model, countries, cities, and companies must look towards green recovery strategies to create sustainable growth that is beneficial for the climate, the economy, and our health.

Climate Week New York, is an opportunity for climate experts, political decision-makers and industry leaders to discuss the road to a green and sustainable transition and by joining forces, Danish Cleantech Hub, NYSERDA and State of Green provide a platform, for the participants to share insights across sectors on how to proceed in response to Covid-19, and how to ensure a green, sustainable transition through partnerships.

Register for the event and find more information about the program HERE.

Market forecast

According to a new report published by the Northeast Group, the interest in smart street lighting triples in US cities. Of the cities with more than 100,000 residents, 314 cities are converting to LED lighting and the country will invest $8.2bn in street light modernisation over the next decade.

In addition, the Global Smart Street Lighting & Smart Cities: Market Forecast (2019-2028) reveals that the over-all investment in LED and smart streetlights, as well as supplementary smart city sensors attached to streetlights, will reach $50.4bn over the next decade.

New market opportunities

Although the US has been cautious to invest in smart city technologies, various statements highlight, investments in smart city technology are securing important cost-savings as cities face budget gaps in the wake of economic challenges related to COVID-19.

“The smart street lighting market has rapidly advanced since our last survey back in 2018,” said Chris Testa, Research Director at the Northeast Group. “The number of planned projects has more than doubled, prices have stabilized, and the benefits are better understood,” he added.

As LED and smart street lighting projects have always represented enormous efficiency opportunities for cities, with savings typically reaching over 65 percent, the increasing demand for smart street lightning makes the US and in particular New York City a growing market for start-ups and companies worldwide.

Smart lighting will form the backbone for larger smart city programs all over the US as cities look to add smart parking, environmental sensors, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, traffic monitoring and other applications producing new urban data streams.

Want to know more?

Danish Cleantech Hub is a public-private partnership, led by the Confederation of Danish Industry and State of Green.

We support the visibility and commercialization of Danish companies and expertise in the U.S. by providing a single point of entry for all cleantech-related activities between Denmark and USA. Danish Cleantech Hub provides tailored assistance to Danish companies and assists all export related activities.

If you are interested in the US market opportunities, feel free to contact Mille Munksgaard, Project Manager mimu@di.dk for more information.