Several representatives of the Coventry City Council, Transport for West Midlands and Bikeability Trust attended the 2nd Plenary e-smartec Stakeholders Meeting of the region.

Ms Giuliana Famiglietti Pipola, Business Development Manager at CUE Ltd, welcomed the participants and introduced the purpose of the meeting - a short presentation summarised the main aims and objectives of the e-smartec project, the Partners and Regions involved, the main outputs achieved so far.

The CUE Team is now focusing on the development of the Action Plan due to be finalised by the end of phase 1. The lessons learnt from the cooperation with the other Regions will be used to modify existing schemes, initiatives and projects linked to sustainable mobility and to achieve a specific Performance Indicator as well as to contribute to the Results Indicators expected by the whole Project Partnership.

The discussion rotated around several initiatives happening or that will take place in the West Midlands Region and that the e-smartec project could try to influence:

  • Coventry City Council’s Activities aimed at encouraging children to walk.
  • UK City of Culture is a competition run by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) every four years. From May 2021 until May 2022, Coventry will cover the position of UK City of Culture.
  • The Commonwealth Games are held every 4 years since 1930 and bring 72 nations and territories together in a celebration of sport. The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be the first time the West Midlands has played host to the event. Coventry will be involved in this, as lots of venues and activities will take place across Coventry and the Greater Birmingham Area during 2022.
  • Coventry & Warwickshire Green Business Programme, partly funded by ERDF, supports businesses with fewer than 250 employees based in Coventry and Warwickshire who want to save money on energy, waste and water bills and maximise low carbon opportunities.
  • West Midlands Combined Authority and Transport for West Midlands (Regional Authority and Regional Transport Authority).