UK-State of Bahia Partnership – Resilient and Connected Cities

Connected Places Catapult has started working on an exciting new initiative with our strategic global partner ICLEI South America and the State of Bahia in Brazil. The project will develop long-term business-led research & innovation collaborations between the UK and the State to solve city-level challenges related to resilience, climate change and connectivity, utilising UK expertise.

Funded by the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office UK, Brazil Tech Hub is one of the initiatives kick-started by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UK and the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of the State of Bahia and the Bahia Research Foundation. The latter celebrated the commitment of the parties to promote efforts to carry out technical scientific, educational and cultural cooperation aimed at the development and delivery of science, technology and innovation programmes in areas of interest for both participant governments.

The initiative will allow partners to carry out a mapping exercise, identifying key challenges for cities in the State of Bahia currently preventing them from becoming more climate-resilient in an inclusive and equitable way. It will also highlight challenges in securing better connectivity and digital access for citizens. Once the mapping is completed, the team will identify local and UK solutions to the identified challenges and priorities, creating opportunities for partnerships between companies, governments and other relevant stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem.

This is just the beginning of the engagement between the project partners, UK-Brazil Tech Hub and the Government of Bahia. The ambition is to move this collaboration forward and enable on-the-ground equitable partnerships between local and UK businesses, test-bedding and an increase in the adoption of innovative solutions by cities across Bahia and beyond. The long-term vision is to create more opportunities for bilateral trade and investment, and equitable and inclusive economic growth in both geographies.

To learn more about the project, please contact Aline Martins.