Three Brussels companies pitched their project in front of investors at the E²Tech4SmartCities brokerage event.

On 24 June 2020 the 6th edition of the E²Tech4SmartCities event took place. This years edition was a bit different than the previous ones as it happened fully on-line. Although it was not possible to meet in person this did not prevent more than 200 companies, research institutes, European and sector organizations as well as public and local authorities and city representatives from 29 countries to meet online to find new business and cooperation opportunities. In total more than 350 exchanges took place during 20 minute video-sessions.

The brokerage event organized by Enterprise Europe Network Brussels was held back to back with the European Sustainable Energy Week and brought together actors active in the field of energy efficiency and sustainable technologies for smart cities.

In addition there was also an opportunity for pre-selected enterprises to present their innovative project to a panel of investors led by Solifin a network of financial actors in the impact economy. In total 6 companies from Italy, Ukraine and Belgium participated at this pitch session presenting a variety of ideas such as: a smart mobility solution to share vehicles, IT solutions for renewable local energy communities, a recycling technology to re-use city leaves for paper production, hydrogen based microgrids and solutions to increase the uptake of sustainable building materials and the re-use of bio-based materials for sustainable construction technics and circular building.

One of the participating Brussels companies shared their feedback after the event: “E2Tech4SmartCIties2020 has been a rewarding event for us. Our company WeSmart develops software solutions for renewable energy communities. We participated to focused events centered on sharing renewable energy. We established key business contacts in our key markets, we discussed the opportunity to enter into European research programs and we had the opportunity to pitch our company to investors relevant to our sector of activity. All in all, E2Tech4SmartCities2020 has been a true business accelerator for WeSmart.” Sébastien Pirlet, Directeur commercial

During the lunch break a webinar was organized by NCP Brussels to inform participants about outstanding and future funding opportunities in the framework of the Horizon 2020/Europe Programme ,in particular for energy efficiency projects, and the forthcoming Green Deal Call. The webinar was concluded by a presentation of Mr. Emmanuel Forest, member of the Mission Board on Climate-Neutral & Smart Cities which gave an insight in the foreseen Climate City Contracts funding structure. An interim report of this Mission has recently been published.

More details and a list of participants can be found E²Tech4SmartCities website. For additional information please contact: sbijlsma@hub.brussels