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Urenio Watch Watch: Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

Evolving Intelligent Environments

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

A new book by Nicos Komninos, published by Routledge in the Advances in Regional Science, Economics, and Policy series. Evolving Intelligent Environments: Smart Ecosystems and Transformative Innovations in the 21st Century offers an interdisciplinary exploration of innovation through intelligent environments. The framework proposed is applicable to any urban or regional ecosystem and is grounded in the convergence of smart ecosystems, connected intelligence, and transformative innovations.

* Smart ecosystems are communities of organisations within and across cities, empowered by smart technologies, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence. They form collaborative environments in production, service hubs, supply chains, city districts, utility networks, and innovation spaces, advancing efficiency and sustainability. Continue reading →

URENIO Research on Climate-Neutral Smart Cities Receives Best Paper Award at HCII 2026

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Digital and Green Transition, Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

The conference publication “Interactive Optimization for Urban Carbon Neutrality Through Renewable Energy and Nature-Based Solutions,” authored by Júlia Sánchez-Martínez, Nicos Komninos, Elisavet Gkitsa, and Anastasia Panori, received the Best Paper Award at the 14th International Conference on Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive Interactions. The conference was part of the Human–Computer Interaction International 2026, held in Montreal, Canada, from 26 to 31 July 2026. Continue reading →

Revisiting Innovation District Theory: Can We Predict the Innovation Performance of City Districts?

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Territorial Innovation Systems

A recent paper published in Technovation marks an important step in the evolution of research on innovation districts by introducing new AI-based methods for predicting the innovation performance of city neighbourhoods.

The study builds on a long tradition of research on the geography of innovation, Continue reading →

Design and Applications of Positive Energy Districts: eBook

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Digital and Green Transition

A special issue at DESIGNS is published as an ebook, edited by Tony Castillo-Calzadilla and Carlos Quesada-Granja. This collection of articles explores the forefront of sustainable urbanism, where city districts generate more renewable energy than they consume, and presents a blueprint for positive energy districts (PEDs), core building blocks of climate-neutral cities.

The ebook bridges theory and practice, revealing how technology, Continue reading →

SmartGreenEcos: Call for Participation

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Innovation ecosystems

SmartGreenEcos is a European project that aims to create a Mediterranean smart ecosystem of 100 food industry businesses, fostering collective innovation, digital and green transition, and improved business competitiveness.

SmartGreenEcos brings together companies from Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia, and Jordan, in collaboration with universities and research organisations from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Carthage, RTD TALOS, and IWDT, to propel transformative innovations.

Continue reading →

Smart Green Ecosystems: Turning industry sectors into ecosystems

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Innovation ecosystems

Smart Green Ecosystems is a new project co-designed by URENIO Research and approved by Interreg NEXT MED in the framework of Smarter Mediterranean. It aims to establish an ecosystem of 100 SMEs from four Mediterranean countries (Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia, and Jordan) to foster collaboration and support digital and green transitions. The project aligns with three EU policies: the new industrial strategy for ecosystem development, the digital, and the green transition strategies.

Continue reading →

A conceptual synthesis of 25 years of regional development research: Core thematic communities and emerging frontiers

Posted on by Nicos Komninos in Innovative Cities & Regions

This URENIO Research Working Paper, authored by Anastasia Panori, presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the intellectual landscape of regional development. It provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to navigate this complex and evolving field. Continue reading →