Dean of research at DTU, Katrine Krogh Andersen, has been appointed member of the EU’s new ‘Mission Board for climate-neutral and smart cities.’
EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, has identified 75 members of the five so-called Mission Boards under Horizon Europe—the EU’s next big programme for research and innovation. Its members include the Dean of Research at DTU, Katrine Krogh Andersen, who will sit on the Mission Board for climate-neutral and smart cities.
The first task of the five Mission Boards will be to identify and create one or more specific missions for each of the mission areas, in consultation with stakeholders and citizens. In addition to climate-neutral and smart cities, they will address other major societal challenges such as cancer, climate change, healthy oceans, healthy soil, and food.
“People living in cities constitute an increasingly larger share of the world’s population. It’s a challenge, which means that cities play a key role in climate transition,” says Katrine Krogh Andersen.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for research, science and innovation said in connection with the launch of the five Mission Boards:
“My dream with our missions is that by rallying efforts and creating a strong push across the entire science and innovation landscape we will solve some of the biggest issues affecting the well-being of our citizens—like taking out cancer. It is an ambitious but realistic dream and with the right people on our ‘Mission Boards’, we will be a lot closer to succeed.”
The five Mission Boards consist of independent high-level experts who will help shape the missions, including their respective objectives, indicators, and timelines. They must enhance the effectiveness of EU-funded research and innovation by setting ambitious, measurable, and time-bound targets in relation to issues that affect the everyday lives of citizens, writes the European Commission.
The reason for creating a Mission Board specifically for climate-neutral and smart cities is particularly the need to make the air in urban areas clean and their energy consumption free of greenhouse gases. The ambition is for climate-neutral and smart cities to further exploit their potential for production of renewable energy and energy savings.
“There are many opportunities in smart uses of new technologies and digitization, and I believe that the EU—and European research—could lead the way towards a more sustainable future. Political visions for a society that is resistant to climate change create a framework for researchers, the private sector, and public administration to develop and implement the tools required to drive the monumental transformations that are necessary. So I’m looking forward to working with experts from a variety of areas to prepare missions for the EU’s new research programme,” says Katrine Krogh Andersen.
One of the tasks at hand for Katrine Krogh Andersen and the 14 other members will be to advise the European Commission on the identification and design of the underlying missions within the area, the contents of work programmes, adaptation measures in relation to projects, selection of independent experts, the framework conditions that can help reach the mission objective, communication, and political coordination.
There were over 2,100 applicants for the 15 positions in each of the five Mission Boards. The only other Dane among the members is Connie Hedegaard, who is Chairman of the Mission Board for Adaptation to Climate Change, including Societal transformation.