SPACE4Cities
Forum Virium Helsinki is the City of Helsinki non-profit innovation organisation. We co-create urban futures with companies, universities, other public sector organizations and Helsinki residents.
Overview of the project
SPACE4Cities is a Horizon Europe funded Pre-Commercial Procurement project that aims to procure replicable solutions, via smart use of European satellite data, for better and more dynamic management of public areas, greenery or city maintenance. We stimulate the public sector in Europe to use space downstream data products and tools to support climate action and cities’ overall resilience. The method of public procurement utilised in SPACE4Cities project is called Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP): a useful method for public sector procurers to buy services from several companies in parallel, to steer development of innovative solutions (not yet present in the market) to meet public procurers’ needs, and to test these developed solutions in real-life conditions before commercialisation. SPACE4Cities will result in five highly innovative solutions taken up in the 5 Buyers group pilots plus in 10 Replicator City pilots in late 2026 and beginning of 2027. Through this Pre-Commercial Procurement, we create a more dynamic market for municipal space data applications and we will increase understanding of the potential and limitations of implementing space based services in urban context (dynamic use of public space).
Opening satellite data for city planning
Ongoing research
1.2.2024 - 31.7.2027
Following the Call for Tenders, 81 out of the 136 eligible tenders addressed the Climate Resilience challenge which was previously prioritised by SPACE4Cities’ five public buyers. At the end of the first selection process, 10 solutions out of the 20 selected ones contributed to enhance urban climate adaptation with space-based data. Earth observation data from the Copernicus programme notably help against urban heat islands, floods, wildfires or shrink-swell effects. These solutions were implemented by 38 entities spread across 13 European countries, 85% of them being SMEs. As of 2025, at least 600,000€ was spent on research and development for climate adaptation services, mainly on climate risk assessments and early-warning systems, as well as on green space monitoring and planning.
SPACE4Cities is the first European Pre-Commercial Procurement explicitly covering themes like climate adaptation and urban planning, but also the first to stimulate both EO and GNSS technologies, thus fostering their combination. Some examples of the selected solutions’ applications are flood risks, green space management, water management or wildfire prevention, as well as infrastructure and CO2 monitoring, building emission control, and promotion of active mobility. All selected solutions are not yet available on the market and will go from a Technology-Readiness Level (TRL) of 3-4 at the beginning of Phase 1, to operational and tested solutions (TRL 8-9) at the end of the project. Public buyers will then be able to launch a regular procurement procedure, including on climate adaptation.
The SPACE4Cities project has received funding from the European Union for the Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) via the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101131955. In total, the project budget reaches 5.2 million euros, of which 2.87 M€ is allocated for Pre-Commercial Procurement to be used to procure innovative solutions from participating suppliers.
organisation
Forum Virium Helsinki is the City of Helsinki non-profit innovation organisation. We co-create urban futures with companies, universities, other public sector organizations and Helsinki residents. Our mission is to make Helsinki the most functional smart city in the world. We do this by strengthening the City of Helsinki’s ability to utilise data, new technologies and digitalisation, by helping companies utilise Helsinki as a test bed and by being an innovative and agile expert organisation.
in collaboration
