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Connected Places Catapult at World Urban Forum

Round-up of our Global Team's trip to Katowice for the World Urban Forum as they signed a new strategic partnership.
Three individuals stand in front of a vibrant green plant wall adorned with the "World Urban Forum" sign and an illustrated cityscape. Sporting badges and lanyards, they are dressed in business casual attire, exuding a professional yet approachable vibe.

Connected Places Catapult was present at the World Urban Forum in Katowice the 27th through 30th of June. Whilst at the Forum we participated in a number of different exciting events, announced a new methodology, and officially signed a new strategic partnership. We showcased our collaborative approach “Co-Designing Urban Futures” with our partner UN-Habitat during an event held at the Urban Playground in the UN-Habitat Pavilion.  This approach aims to help cities accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions to address pressing urban challenges and provide them with innovative solutions that will help them to successfully address their most pressing challenges, delivering meaningful impact for all residents. We hope to be testing this methodology in cities around the world from September. More information here.Whilst at the Forum, CPC and MasterCard signed a Moratorium of Understanding which officially confirms the strategic partnerships between CPC and Mastercard’s City Possible initiative.  The MoU lays the foundations for the partnership to accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions in cities worldwide, using a people centred approach that will leverage synergies between Mastercard’s City Possible and CPC’s expertise, ecosystem, and past successes. To design and deliver such solutions, the partnership will explore, identify, and design opportunities to connect cities and public sector entities through engaging the global urban innovation ecosystem and opening new markets.

Our colleague Guilherme Johnston acted as a judge at WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities Show How to Thrive Together in Turbulent Times, helping to choose the finalists which have now been announced here.

Connected Places Catapult colleague Roxana Slavcheva was interviewed by news outlet Onet Wiadomści, which can be found here.Through attending this event we were able to strengthen existing partnerships and build new ones. It also gave us an opportunity to showcase our new approach to sustainable urbanisation and build connections which will help us to better support cities transforming for a better urban future in both the UK and Globally.

Following on our recently signed MOU between CPC and Mastercard’s City Possible Initiative we are pleased to announce that our CEO Nicola Yates will be speaking at their Sustainable Cities Event during the World Cities Summit.