Smart V4 Strategies

South Poland Cleantech Cluster participates in a newly started Visegrad project together with partners – Czech Smart City Cluster, Slovak Smart City Cluster and Digitalis Jolet nonprofit from Hungary. The project “Smart V4 Strategies” was awarded financing support from the Visegrad Fund.

The aim of the project is to connect relevant partners in the given area of SMART strategies and prepare procedures for classification of SMART strategies in V4 countries into one complex database portal. The project offers V4 partners international cooperation in unifying SMART strategies to GreenDeal/SDG rules. The vision is to strengthen the unity and effectiveness in implementation of SMART strategies in all V4 countries.
More about the project

South Poland Cleantech Cluster

is the initiator of the krk UrbanHub project - a sustainable CEE (Central- and Eastern European) urbanization hub
krakowurbanhub is a partner in the urbanhub europe consortium of European cities consisting of BLOXHUB in Copenhagen, KIRAHub in Helsinki, Munich Urban Colab, FACTORY Hammerbrooklyn Hamburg, FAKTORY Berlin, Urban Resilience Hub Barcelona
krk UrbanHub is a national and international meeting place that engages people in architecture, design and sustainable urban development. This is done through exhibitions, debates, events, business development and new partnerships.
krk UrbaHhub is an ecosystem for creating cities of the future, and at the same time a space to share ideas, skills and strategies for designing buildings and urban development based on a people-centered approach and high standards of sustainable development, and a membership-based community combining urban development, architecture, design, design, construction, circular economy and digitization.
see more

South Poland Cleantech Cluster

SPCleantech is co-founder of European Alliance for Cross- Industrial Circular Economy Investments (ICEI Alliance) consisting of European clusters and universities. During 2020-2021 there have been held meetings to prepare the establishment of the European Alliance for Cross- Industrial Circular Economy Investments, hosted by the Circular Economy Centre at Digipolis, Kemi, Finland.

The ICEI Alliance has for ambition to make Europe the global industrial circular economy platform to accelerate the deployment of world-class circular economy solutions to industry. It acts as a pipeline of business-led circular economy investment projects. Alliance members support businesses with the structuring of their investment cases as well as with accessing funding and financing streams.
More information on ICEI Alliance

Every year, much of the consumed energy is wasted through transmission, heat loss and inefficient technology – costing families and businesses money, and leading to increased carbon pollution.

Energy efficiency is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to combat climate change, clean the air we breathe, improve the competitiveness of our businesses and reduce energy costs for consumers. South Poland Cleantech Cluster is working with universities, research institutes, businesses and the cities to develop new, energy-efficient technologies while boosting the efficiency of current technologies on the market.

The EU is aiming for a 20% cut in Europe’s annual primary energy consumption by 2020. Commission has proposed several measures to increase efficiency at all stages of the energy chain: generation, transformation, distribution and final consumption.
The measures focus on the public transport and building sectors, where the potential for savings is greatest. Other measures include the introduction of smart meters (which encourage consumers to manage their energy use better), and clearer product labeling.

The new Directive entered into force on 4 December 2012. Most of its provisions have to be implemented by the Member States by 5 June 2014.

An effective common framework

This Directive establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the Union in order to ensure the achievement of the Union’s 2020 20 % headline target on energy efficiency and to pave the way for further energy efficiency improvements beyond that date.

All EU-28 countries are thus required to use energy more efficiently at all stages of the energy chain – from the transformation of energy and its distribution to its final consumption. The new Directive will help remove barriers and overcome market failures that impede efficiency in the supply and use of energy and provides for the establishment of indicative national energy efficiency targets for 2020.

In Poland energy efficiency still increases, but its growth is slower than a few years ago. Polish economy is still more energy-intensive than the EU average. At the same time a communication from the European Commission (EC) proposing a new energy saving target of 30% for 2030 calls for energy efficiency to become an integral part of the EU’s policy framework for climate and energy from 2020 to 2030.

Energy efficiency is not energy conservation.
Energy conservation is reducing or going without a service to save energy.

For example: Turning off a light is energy conservation. Replacing an incandescent lamp with a compact fluorescent lamp (which uses much less energy to produce the same amount of light) is energy efficiency. Both efficiency and conservation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.