General Details
Services provided
Technologies
Challenge
The Municipality of Novi di Modena has partnered with EROI, the Emilia-Romagna region's Open Innovation platform, to seek potential urban mobility solutions for creating a flexible-schedule connection for citizens commuting daily between the town center and its districts.
The municipal territory has approximately 10,000 inhabitants spread across the center and two districts connected by roads designed for vehicular traffic. However, a public transport line connecting the center and districts would entail economically unsustainable costs. Consequently, citizens rely almost exclusively on cars for transportation.
The Novi di Modena Municipality Challenge aims to offer alternatives to private mobility and improve territorial accessibility for vulnerable groups (the elderly, minors, people unable to drive due to health issues).
Solution
The Municipality of Novi di Modena turned to the EROI platform to engage with various stakeholders specialized in urban mobility. The engagement process with the community of innovators on EROI involved the following steps:
- Publication of a Challenge by the Municipality of Novi di Modena on the EROI platform
- Promotion of the Challenge by the EROI, ER2Digit, and ART-ER network
- Collection of solutions proposed by the EROI community
- Organization of 1-on-1 meetings between the Municipality and solution proponents
The EROI-mediated meetings facilitated an in-depth exploration of the challenge posed by the Municipality of Novi di Modena with innovators possessing academic, technological/digital, and business expertise.
Together with academic stakeholders, the Municipality explored the scope of the problem posed by areas characterized by low mobility demand (typically inland areas). The discussion identified insights related to international case studies and potential research and experimentation actions that could be activated in synergy with the Municipality, including through digital technologies.
Private stakeholders, on the other hand, proposed potential interventions in the territory, converging on the need for a thorough analysis of mobility demand and the local context. These analyses could be conducted through citizen listening and co-design solutions, using digital tools to capture all facets of the population's expressed needs (travel habits, schedules, preferences, routes) and to enable potential shared vehicle solutions (such as car-sharing, car-pooling, bike-sharing, etc.).
Results
Thanks to the EROI open innovation process, the Municipality of Novi di Modena gained a series of significant perspectives on the urban mobility challenge and potential intervention strategies. In particular, it deepened its understanding of the methodological approach required for such interventions in the territory, which precedes the choice of technology to rely on.
The Municipality of Novi di Modena also expanded its knowledge of digital solutions supporting innovative mobility and met with specialized entities that may be called upon to express their interest in participating in future feasibility studies.
Information
Find out your nearest EDIH and learn more about ER2Digit service catalogue for Public Sector Organisations and SMEs located in Emilia-Romagna.