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Being part of open innovation processes is important and inevitable for cities today. The technical development is moving very fast and as a municipality we have the possibility and responsibility to actually create real change, and co-develop green solutions in close collaboration with start-ups and universities and our citizens' – Per Boesgaard, ...

​"Cities and metropolitan areas have been singled out by the COP21 agreement as key players in dealing with the threat and effects of climate change. By 2050, it is predicted that over 66% of the world's population will live in urban areas. It is therefore vital that we make every effort to make cities sustainable, low carbon, and climate resilient...

In 2015, Climate-KIC Nordic and the city of Copenhagen initiated an Open Innovation process – Climate Solutions for Copenhagen – with the intention of providing the city with new green solutions to tackle its environmental problems associated with Climate Change. ​

Open Innovation is increasingly becoming the dominant form of innovation chosen to source and co-develop required solutions. This increase in uptake means that new methodologies and understandings of how to develop and orchestrate a process which creates value for the different partners involved are needed.

A hackathon is a combination of the words "hack" and "marathon". Originally, the term has been used to describe events in which soft- and or hardware developers meet up and work together on a project within a pre-defined timeframe usually between 24 hours and three days. ​

Universities are increasingly recognised as important partners in innovation processes. This is particularly the case in Open Innovation where knowledge produced in the research environment can be used to develop new products and or services to be commercialized by existing companies.

Sometimes it is not enough to change the existing city and make it more sustainable. Around the world experiments are being performed to reinvent the city and build the sustainable city of the future. ReGen Village is a company working on just that, one neighbourhood at time.

In autumn 2013, Helsinki launched the Smart Kalasatama project, which aims to develop Helsinki's very own Smart City district, Kalasatama. The area is being developed flexibly and through piloting, in close co-operation with residents, companies, city officials and other stakeholders.

Radical new solutions for a greener environment often requires changing ways of thinking and ways of organizing projects. In Sweden, a large consortium is working to create a project with a big potential impact on future cities across the world.