With over 75 partcipants, on the 2^nd and 3^rd of November 2022, during the 5^th European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance (ESEIA) conference, Cypriot scientists, local community stakeholders, SMEs and entrepreneurs had the opportunity to participate in two meaningful days of learning and networking around the topic of sustainable energy communities.

Open innovation; quintuple helix innovation; community participation and co-creation – approaches, employed by U-SOLVE project as a strategy for place-based urban sustainable development were promoted and put to work during the conference. Awareness around U-SOLVE project was furthered through a carefully developed video tackling the issue of sustainable energy and a presentation around U-SOLVE was delivered during a session focusing on ‘Community engagement, climate education, behavioral approaches and strategies, energy poverty’. The highlight of the conference was the showcase of five entrepreneurial ideas submitted under the U-SOLVE call for applications. The participating teams of entrepreneurs provided a five-minute pitch of their innovative and creative proposals and had the opportunity to receive constructive feedback from a global network of experts.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Office of The Cyprus Institute, as well as team members from Palestine Ahliya Univercity represented U-SOLVE at the Conference.

This Conference, with theme ‘Towards Climate-Neutral Energy Communities’, was hosted by U-SOLVE partner: The Cyprus Institute and was supported by the European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance (ESEIA). The conference allowed over forty-five speakers from around the world to interact and engage in discussions related to sustainable energy, circularity, and nature-based solutions.