Urban Innovation: The Europe-Asia Deep-Tech Bridge

The Community of Practice 12 (CoP12) for cities, on economy, cities, startups, and innovation ecosystem branding within the IURC (International Urban and Regional Cooperation) programme convened for the second time on 17 February 2026.

CoP12 is represented by Grenoble Alpes Métropole (France), Nagoya (Japan), Warsaw (Poland), Espoo (Finland), Torino (Italy), Bielsko-Biała (Poland), Leuven (Belgium), Tallinn (Estonia), and Pimpri Chinchwad (India, observer), with Melbourne currently undergoing internal governmental procedures to join in the coming weeks. These cities are cooperating to establish a strategic bridge between leading deep-tech hubs in Europe and Asia, creating a unified platform for sharing transformative insights and case studies on funding, human capital, and future-ready ecosystems.

Grenoble Alpes Métropole is a premier industrial metropole where 44% of startups are concentrated in deep-tech sectors, including semiconductors, quantum computing, healthcare, and renewable energy.  Warsaw is a premier European innovation hub and the heart of Poland’s IT sector, home to 1,000 research institutes and global tech offices. Espoo stands as a premier innovation hub, distinguished as a top patent submitter in Europe and home to a high concentration of high-tech companies and startups. Torino has established a dynamic innovation ecosystem with a distinct focus on social impact and advanced technology. Leuven is a premier European innovation hub defined by a robust quintuple-helix collaboration between its university, research centers, industry, government, and citizens. Bielsko-Biała is a resilient industrial hub designated as an Area of Strategic Intervention, focusing on sustainable, socially inclusive development. Tallinn is a compact, innovative city striving to become a “green and global” hub through creativity and digital excellence and by offering itself as a real-life testbed through the Test in Tallinn program. Melbourne is Australia’s premier innovation powerhouse, driven by the Melbourne Innovation District and world-class research institutions specializing in biotech and AI.

The CoP is led by the CoP Coordinator, Grenoble Alpes Métropole’s Ms. Amélie DUPRAZ-CANARD. Ms Dupraz-Canard presented a comprehensive roadmap for the Community of Practice, identifying three main challenges:

1. Promoting deep-tech startups and ensuring their visibility to investors in order to secure growth capital.
2. Attracting talent and fostering entrepreneurship in deep-tech sectors.
3. Facilitating technology transfer from laboratories to markets through robust ecosystems.

The roadmap defined specific objectives, including examining conditions to enhance international investor attraction, attracting world-class researchers and business talent, and strengthening ecosystems to support lab-to-market transfer. Proposed activities included deep-dive webinars and technical sessions organised through thematic subgroups, joint online seminars to enable practical learning experiences, and the development of a collaborative network of technology events.

During the meeting on Feb 17th, Ms. Karolina Charchuła from Warsaw confirmed that the roadmap reflected Warsaw’s interests and indicated potential collaboration opportunities with events planned in Warsaw in June and October. Mr. Jan Sienkiewicz from Bielsko-Biała expressed interest in gaining insights related to the urban development dimensions of innovation ecosystems, which would be useful for the ongoing construction of three incubators around a central lighthouse laboratory in the city. Mr. Sumi from Nagoya confirmed collaboration possibilities and indicated a shared interest in urban development that is supportive of startups. Ms. Eneli Amur from Tallinn referred to their Latitude 59 tech startup event in May, which will feature planned demo events for investors.