Roadmaps for Energy (R4E) is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. In the R4E project the 10 consortium partners will work together to develop a new type of energy strategy, which they call their Energy Roadmap.

R4E focuses on developing vision creation and roadmapping capacities within municipalities to initiate joint activities to spur development and implementation of innovative energy solutions in cities. The ultimate aim is to implement a process that allows the 8 partner cities to develop roadmaps for the various themes that together form the Energy Roadmap towards their ambition of becoming Smart Cities.

R4E focuses on three areas within the domain of sustainable energy that are closely linked to the municipalities main responsibilities:
> Smart buildings
> Smart mobility
> Smart Urban spaces
Eindhoven is coordinator of R4E. Within R4E, Eindhoven will focus on Smart mobility and Smart urban spaces. The project contributes to a stronger coordination of the different (existing) roadmaps in Eindhoven, and will thus strengthen and support other ongoing activities related to Smart Cities in Eindhoven.
> Total budget: EUR 1,999,840.00
> Duration: 1 March 2015 – 1 March 2018 (36 months)
> Website: www.roadmapsforenergy.eu

A seminar for politicians
Together with the Water Board, the ambitions for the Smart urban space for Eindhoven have been formulated. The focus of R4E for this part concentrates on green and water. On September 8th, the Eindhoven team for R4E presented the project to the Council of the municipality of Eindhoven, to the Water Board and to some civil servants.

During the presentation, the R4E project was further explained: which steps have already been taken and which will follow. Besides, an explanation concerning the ambitions of the Pag.3 Water Board and the municipality was provided. The content of those ambitions can be summarized as follows:

· The urban space is designed with appreciation towards nature and designed in such way that the effects of climate change
can be resisted;
· Cooperation in the water chain is needed to obtain a more livable and a healthier habitat;
· Waste water is a source of energy and raw materials (circular).

Afterwards, examples were used to explain how these ambitions are being shaped at this moment. There are already several projects to:

· Improve the climate resistance of the city (like greening the city, not only on municipal land but also on private terrains);
· Improve the surface water (mostly focusing on the decline of the quality when heavy rain showers occur);
· Recover energy and raw materials from waste streams (like fermentation of sludge and recover raw materials from sewage sludge);
· Increase the awareness of citizens of the city towards climate change and how they could contribute to obtain solutions (among others by decreasing the solidification of private terrains and the placement of rooftop gardens).

At the end, a discussion about how to strengthen the collaboration between the different parties took place, where the topic of communication was extensively discussed. The participants experienced the meeting as inspiring and constructive and will be followed up in upcoming meetings, and also in information letters and in the final decision-making process.