Melbourne joins the Community of Practice for StartUps, Innovation Ecosystems, Branding

The Community of Practice has officially moved into its implementation phase following the approval of the Urban Cooperation Action Plan (UCAP). The first meeting after approval marked a key turning point, bringing partner cities together to align on next steps, confirm leadership roles, and shift the focus from strategy to concrete action.

The CoP is designed as a strategic bridge between leading deep‑tech hubs in Europe and Asia, providing a shared platform to exchange insights and case studies on funding, talent, and future‑ready innovation ecosystems. By fostering this intercontinental collaboration, member cities aim to strengthen their capacity to respond to the rapid evolution of emerging technologies through cooperation that begins in a flexible and informal way.

A major highlight of the meeting was the formal onboarding of Melbourne as a new partner city. With its strong innovation ecosystem, global outlook, and deep links across the Asia‑Pacific region, Melbourne brings new energy and perspective to the collaboration.

Three thematic subgroups are now actively launching, focused on investor attraction and growth capital, talent attraction and entrepreneurship, and deep tech transfer and ecosystem strengthening. Each subgroup is led by a designated city and will begin organizing webinars, technical sessions, and shared learning activities in the coming weeks.

With first webinars planned before June and a clear emphasis on practical pilot actions, the Community of Practice is now focused on turning collaboration into tangible results for cities, startups, and innovation ecosystems.