Copenhagen, 12 October 2022 – On the first day of the International Mobility Summit, professionals from the transport and logistics sectors congregated at BLOXHUB – the Nordic Hub for sustainable urbanisation. Four companies were featured at the event, including BABLE Smart Cities, Jaja Architects, Gehl, and Cogo.

 

Marking the formal establishment of BABLE in the Nordics, Henrik Morgen addressed the major challenges facing our cities today. Although mobility is a piece of the puzzle, he emphasised the importance of public and private sector collaboration and how BABLE is working to close the gap that is often difficult to overcome. In addition, pressures from political and market pushes, pressing urban challenges, digitalisation and increasing demand for participation creates a Smart City that is much more than just technology. Because of these challenges, BABLE acts as a bridge between key stakeholders across Europe.

 

“With long experience in public/private urban innovation and having worked with BABLE even when it was still part of the highly respected German Fraunhofer research institute, I am thrilled to bring BABLE’s competencies and pan-European community now right to the doorstep of Nordic municipalities and businesses concerned with green and digital transition of our cities.” - says Henrik Morgen, Nordics & Baltic Lead. 

 

About BABLE

BABLE is a cross-regional connector for the European Smart City Innovation Ecosystem with the goal to be Europe’s neutral facilitator of Smart City implementations. Founded in 2017 as a spin-off from the Fraunhofer-Institute IAO, BABLE has grown out of the need and vision to drive the change for a better urban life by making our municipalities more sustainable and liveable. With official entities now in six cities and five countries (Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, London, Barcelona, Iași Romania, and now Copenhagen), BABLE specialises in knowledge exchange and has extensive expertise in urban and regional innovation, data, governance, transport & logistics, energy systems, co-creation, smart district road mapping and strategy development, public funding, innovative procurement, stakeholder engagement, public-private partnerships, and more. Moreover, BABLE provides Europe’s largest data platform on Smart City Solutions – helping to share valuable market knowledge in the form of use cases and solutions while also providing a platform for Smart City products and services.

 

BABLE in the Nordics & Baltics

With the assistance of Copenhagen Capacity, BABLE officially established as a legal entity in Denmark, in order to better localise the approach to Smart Cities, and to formally expand offerings to the Nordics and the Baltics. BABLE found Copenhagen to be a logical choice as the gateway to the region, with an extensive ecosystem in sustainable urbanism and open way of doing business. Other key partners like DOLL Living Lab have also helped to open the door to new possibilities.

Henrik Morgen says: Much of our economic and technological success in the Nordic countries relates back to a deep-rooted collaborative mindset. But many countries across Europe and globally are catching up rapidly, not least when it comes to Smart City development. So, both cities, government and business in the Nordics must stay on their toes to ensure liveable, green and smarter cities for their citizens.”

BABLE Smart Cities looks forward to much collaboration with partners in the Nordics and Baltic regions.