SME4SMARTCITIES solution is helping citizens get cooler during torrid days
As global warming continues to affect cities with rising heat, people who walk in the streets, especially in open urban spaces, are looking for a refuge from the heat and the intensive sunlight radiation. They need an urban oasis. And this is exactly what two innovative companies have set out to do, in collaboration with an academy and a municipality – a co-creation process facilitated by the SME4SMARTCITIES project.
Urban Oasis is now becoming a reality. After the shipments of innovative components from Italy, Spain, and Israel have finally arrived in location in the city of Kfar Saba in Israel. A miraculous fusion is taking place, and the construction of Urban Oasis is now underway.
Urban Oasis is a self-sustained solar pergola with a Tesla pump-driven water mist system. The pergola provides shade, uses solar energy to generate electricity, and cools the warm air with an innovative water mist system. This creates a pleasant, cool sitting area.
This is a joint development initiative of BIPV Israel and SIT Technologies from Italy, in response to the urban heat challenge of Tel Aviv University and Kfar Saba Municipality.
The leaders of the 2 small companies from Italy and Israel first met at the SME4SMARTCITIES entrepreneurial mission at the Dept of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University. In round tables meetings at the atrium of the Porter building, the seeds of the co-creation and co-innovation initiative were planted.
BIPV Israel and SIT Technologies have submitted their proposal to the SME4SMARTCITIES open call for solutions in June 2022 and have won a sub-grant for the initiative. A collaborative design process has started, working together with product development coaches from Tel Aviv University and with the Sustainability and Innovation Division and the City Engineer at Kfar Saba Municipality.
The pergola was developed and built with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme - SME4SMARTCITIES project: Mediterranean SMEs working together to make cities smarter.