Helmond to play major role in urban mobility project

The city of Helmond near Eindhoven is to host an innovation hub on urban mobility that will receive around €10 million a year from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

The Helmond hub will be part of a larger consortium comprising 13 cities, 17 companies and 18 universities around Europe that have joined forces to form the EIT’s urban mobility Knowledge and Innovation Community. Known as Mobilus, the consortium will receive funding of €400m over the next seven years.

“I expect half [of the €10m] to be used for research, so we will be able to finance about 50 researchers,” says Carlo van de Weijer, director of smart mobility at Eindhoven University of Technology, a partner in the Helmond hub. He also notes that it is extraordinary that so many cities are taking part in the research consortium.