In Germany, public transport organizations are mainly owned by public authorities. Procurement in Hamburg involves the buses and infrastructure instead of transport services. The procurement process for buses and infrastructure is performed by the transport companies. Such processes must meet German and European public regulations. Therefore, public tender and procurement procedures for buying buses by German Public Transport Operators (PTOs) can be more complex and lengthier than procurement by private PTOs in other countries. As a result, the public transport companies are not primarily driven by profitability, but also by obligations towards the public and political aims. Obligations can comprise to provide affordable, environmentallyfriendly transport services for the citizens. In Hamburg, the public authority incorporates obligations (requirements) for the e-buses in their tendering documents. In Utrecht, as well as most of the rest of the Netherlands, public transport is carried out by private companies, under an operating contract (concession) with a public transport authority. In Utrecht, this authority is the province of Utrecht. The e-buses are the operators’ private property and they are obliged to account to the province of Utrecht for their implementation of public transport. When the province of Utrecht procures the operation of public transport services by means of a European tendering process, private transport companies can offer a bid for this tender. Both, the authority and operators, want to provide good public transport for their customers, but they both have different goals. The operators want to earn a reasonable profit margin on public transport, while the authority wants to fulfil certain public policy goals. The tendering process is where these two come together. It is a strong mechanism to get the best ‘value for money’ out of the market – for example, the most public transport, or the highest number of e-buses running in the area, within the available budget of the public transport authority.
In 2021, Citython editions were held for the European cities of Eindhoven (Netherlands), Bilbao and Barcelona (Spain), Hamburg (Germany), and Lublin (Poland). Within this project, BUAS contributed to the organization of CITYTHON Eindhoven in cooperation with CARNET (an initiative by CIT UPC) and City of Eindhoven – an event which gives young talent the opportunity to work with mentors and experts for the development of innovative urban solutions. Participants of CITYTHON Eindhoven worked on three challenges:- Traffic safety in school zones - Travel to the campus- Make the city healthy The event took place between 18 May and 2 June 2021 with various experts, for example from ASML, City of Eindhoven and University of Amsterdam, giving inspirational talks and mentoring students throughout the ideation and solutions development process. The teams presented their solutions during the Dutch Technology Week and the winners were announced by Monique List-de Roos (Alderman Mobility and Transport, City of Eindhoven) on 2 June 2021. The role of BUAS within this project was to assist City of Eindhoven with the development of the challenges to be tackled by the participating teams, and find relevant speakers and mentors who would be supporting the students for the development of their solutions and jury members who would determine the winning teams. The project ended with a round table “Green and Safe Mobility for all: 5 Smart City(thon) Case studies” on November 17 organized as part of Smart City Expo World Congress 2021 in Barcelona. This project is funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. EIT Urban Mobility acts to accelerate positive change on mobility to make urban spaces more livable. Learn more: eiturbanmobility.eu.Collaborating partnersCARNET (Lead organisation); Barcelona Institute of Technology for Habitat; Barcelona City Council; Bilbao City Hall; City of Hamburg; City of Eindhoven,; City of Lublin; Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg; Technical University of Catalonia, Tecnalia; UPC Technology Center.
Plant(W)aardig Een dieet met meer plantaardige eiwitten is essentieel om ook in de toekomst de wereldbevolking te kunnen voeden binnen de grenzen van onze planeet. Om aan de behoeften van consumenten te voldoen, is er vraag naar plantaardige vleesvervangers die gemakkelijk te gebruiken zijn en dicht bij traditionele vleesproducten staan. Tegelijkertijd is voedselveiligheid een cruciale factor in de ontwikkeling van deze producten. SVO-vakopleiding food (MBO) en Bolscher hebben eerder samengewerkt binnen het TKI Plant4Texture project waarin een plantaardig vlees concept is ontwikkeld. Dit plantaardige vleesconcept wordt verder ontwikkeld binnen het Plant(W)aardig consortium met deze partners en met HAS green academy (HBO) en GeertsBest. De praktijkvraag die centraal staat, is: hoe het plantaardige vleesconcept, ontwikkeld door Bolscher, met minimale bewerkingen, kan worden door ontwikkeld in voedselveilige worst- of hamburgerproducten. Daarnaast wordt onderzocht hoe het plantaardig vleesconcept verder verduurzaamd kan worden door gebruik te maken van lokaal geteelde, minimaal bewerkte ingrediënten van GeertsBest. HAS green academy gaat de voedsel-veiligheid en houdbaarheid van het geoptimaliseerde vleesconcept onderzoeken. Door deze samenwerking tussen verschillende stakeholders wordt niet alleen een antwoord gezocht op de praktijkvraag, maar wordt ook gestreefd naar een duurzame en voedselveilige oplossing die aansluit bij de behoeften van consumenten en bijdraagt aan de transitie naar een meer plantaardig dieet. SVO-vakopleiding is verantwoordelijk voor het projectmanagement.
