Innovation and entrepreneurship are the main drivers of urban regeneration. In Historic Urban Areas (HUAs), the key factor is to foster innovation while conserving the historic natural, cultural and social sites. This is the aim of the EU-funded HUB-IN project. It will form a network of Hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship (Hubs) in eight HUA city partners.

The next step will be to upscale resulting methods and tools. Based on 12 specific objectives, the project will start by building an ecosystem of interconnected Hubs to accelerate urban regeneration in the eight HUAs. The overall aim will be to systematically reverse trends of abandonment and neglect of historic heritage. This will result in job creation and sustainable opportunities for local traditional businesses.

HUB-IN aims to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Historic Urban Areas (HUA), while preserving the unique identity of the historic sites regarding their natural, cultural and social values. HUB-IN adopts the innovation and entrepreneurship as the main drivers of urban regeneration in HUAs and it´s fully aligned with the International agendas for Cultural Sustainable Development (UNESCO) and Cultural Heritage Strategy (Council Europe).

HUB-IN will have two main stages. In the first stage, a network of Hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship (Hubs) will be developed in the HUAs of eight city partners and in the second stage, the resulting methods and tools will be upscaled to a global network of HUAs of follower cities.
The Hubs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Hubs) will test, demonstrate and pilot activities of co-creation and co-design in three meaningful clusters with potential for sustainable transformation of HUA:

• Cultural and creative industries,
• New lifestyles and
• Endogenous Natural & Social Resources.

HUB-IN defines 12 specific goals, that will be achieved by the following methodology:

• Building an ecosystem of interconnected Hubs to accelerate urban regeneration in eight HUAs,
• Creating value in pilot Hubs, piloting social innovation and accelerating sustainable entrepreneurship in HUAs,
• Packaging, upscaling and exploiting the results and create collaborative global network of Hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship in HUA,
• Creating the HUB-IN digital space.

HUB-IN expect to contribute to reverse trends of abandonment and neglect of historic heritage in a systemic way through the creation of networks of Hubs where innovation will be the main driver. HUB-IN will also have a direct impact on the creation of new sustainable opportunities for local traditional businesses and for the development of new creative skills and jobs.

Partners

• LISBOA E-NOVA - AGENCIA DE ENERGIA E AMBIENTE DE LISBOA
• CROWDFUNDINGHUB BV
• ENERGEIAKO GRAFEIO KYPRION POLITON
• INFRASTRUTTURE RECUPERO ENERGIA AGENZIA REGIONALE LIGURE - I.R.E. SPA
• GRAND ANGOULEME
• E-ZAVOD, ZAVOD ZA PROJEKTNO SVETOVANJE, RAZISKOVANJE IN RAZVOJ CELOVITIH RESITEV
• UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA
• UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
• ENERGY CITIES/ENERGIE-CITES ASSOCIATION
• EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIC TOWNS AND REGIONS LIMITED
• MESTNA OBCINA PTUJ 
• COMUNE DI GENOVA
• JOB CENTRE SRL
• FUTURE CITIES CATAPULT
• Belfast City Council
• LEFKOSIA MUNICIPALITY
• ASOCIATIA-AGENTIA PENTRU MANAGEMENTUL ENERGIEI SI PROTECTIA MEDIULUI BRASOV
• CAMARA MUNICIPAL DE LISBOA
• GEMEENTE UTRECHT
• OBCINA SLOVENSKA BISTRICA
• RAZVOJNO INFORMACIJSKI CENTER SLOVENSKA BISTRICA

Start date: 1 September 2020 - End date: 31 August 2024

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 869429.