Glasgow – Innovation-led recovery for our cities

Following the initial Eurocities ‘online city dialogue on responses from cities to the coronavirus outbreak’ in early April, Glasgow and Nantes Métropole as European Commission 2019 Cities of Innovation identified the opportunity for further cooperation through Glasgow’s European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) Alumni Network collaboration platform – iKEN

The iKEN platform is a spin-out programme from the European Commission’s annual iCapital competition which rewards cities who have built the most inclusive and dynamic innovation ecosystems, for the benefit of citizens and businesses. During a time of crisis, the need for innovation has never been greater.

Open to all cities not just iCapitals, Glasgow invites you to Join us at 11amBST / 12pm (CET) on Wednesday 13 May where you get the chance to connect with experts in other iCapital Alumni Network cities and hear first-hand the way some of Europe’s most innovative cities are responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

Register for the event here

Contact: Joe Brady

Lille metropole – Crowdfunding medical equipment

The University Hospital in Lille, with the technical support of Lille Metropole and Lille City, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for medical equipment in the Calmette Hospital, which has been transformed into a COVID-19 hospital with 140 dedicated beds. The aim is to enable the rapid acquisition of 20 pulsoxymeters and 10 reanimation respirators to be able to cope with massive hospital admissions for intensive care. The estimated cost of the purchase of this equipment is estimated at over €180,000. In less than 24 hours, the campaign had already collected €23,000. Read more here

Contact: Christophe Bolot

Toulouse – Solidarity platform

Toulouse city and Toulouse Metropole have launched a new online platform, available to all citizens with internet access, which offers mutual assistance to take care of fragile people. Cities are able to publish both requests for help and/or areas in which they are able to help. An already existing service in the city in a 24/7 telephone service and an additional one for senior citizens only. Read more here and here

Contact: Isabelle Durou

Turin – Solidarity network

As capital city of Piedmont, Italy, Turin is organising its measures in the corona crisis in close cooperation with the regional and national level. The Municipal Operational Centre is constantly in contact with the Crisis Unit of the Piedmont Region. Social services for the elderly are taking care of other people in need now, and a new system for the supply of free food has been created.

Continue reading “Turin – Solidarity network”

Hamburg – Ready to treat corona patients from France and Italy

Hamburg has offered to admit ten intensive care corona patients from Italy in one of the city’s hospitals. The local health authority confirmed that Hamburg still has the capacity to treat foreign patients. As of Saturday, 28 March, 36 corona patients in Hamburg were in intensive care. In Italy, many hospitals are overburdened and cannot treat all patients. Since Sunday, two corona patients from France are under intensive care in the university hospital of Hamburg. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Thomas Jacob

Munster – Virtual hospital for corona patients

The University Hospital of Munster, Germany, offers medical advice to intensive care doctors in other hospitals by video. With this support, corona intensive care patients could stay longer in smaller hospitals close to their home and would not have to be transferred to university hospitals so quickly, while those beds could be reserved for more severe cases. In the region of Westphalia Lippe alone, more than 200 hospitals could use the telemedicine offer from Munster in cooperation with the University Hospital Aachen. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Anna Chevtchenko

Ghent – Online meeting of city council

In compliance with the coronavirus measures, the city council of Ghent, Belgium, held a digital council meeting this week. The 53 councillors participated online from their home computer. It was the largest digital council meeting ever held in Flanders. The city now wants to share its knowhow with other municipalities. Read more here

Contact: Els Uytterhoeven

Leuven – Connecting those who care

The #OurCityHelps platform has been shared free of charge with municipalities across Belgium. It provides an online place to bring together volunteers able to help out and requests for help, including things like doing groceries, chatting over the phone or walking a dog. The City of Leuven was the first city to adopt the platform. Read more here.

Contact: Piet Forger

Mannheim/Baden-Württemberg – Patient treatment across the border

Last weekend, patients from French hospitals in the Région Grand Est who needed urgent artificial respiration, were transferred to hospitals in Mannheim, Heidelberg, Freiburg and Ulm. The German hospitals provide in station hospital service and most importantly, ventilators. Read more here

Contact: Nelly Saemann

Braga – Partnering up with Shenyang

The Municipality of Braga will receive 10,000 disposable medical masks and 500 individual protection medical kits from the Chinese city of Shenyang. The two cities have a friendship agreement and want to become twin cities. Shenyang has also offered to share experiences regarding the fight against the corona virus and the management of crisis situations. Read more (in Portuguese)

Contact: Nuno Gouveia

Porto – Securing crucial supplies

Building on good relations with its twinned cities in China, the Porto City Council has secured supplies of new ventilators.
In another partnership, with a local company, the City Council has agreed to start immediate production of personal protective masks.

The Mayor of Porto gives summary of recent measures

Read more here and here

Contact: Daniel Freitas