On January 21, 2026, the SpurUP project officially launched with a high-energy kick-off meeting in Athens. As a proud partner in this 40-month Horizon Europe initiative, F6S joined a powerful consortium of 34 partners from 11 countries to begin a mission that will redefine the sustainability and resilience of peri-urban regions.
What is SpurUP?
Peri-urban areas – the vital transition zones between cities and rural zones – often face unique challenges, from fragmented governance to intense environmental pressures.
SpurUP aims to tackle these head-on by:
- Integrating net-zero technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Facilitating Local Green Deals that connect industries, city authorities, and policymakers.
- Improving energy efficiency and social equity across communities.
Innovation in Action: Living Labs & Replication
The project isn’t just theoretical, it’s about real-world implementation. We are testing tailored digital tools and technical solutions across three primary Living Labs:
- Thessaloniki, Greece
- Aalborg, Denmark
- Jesi, Italy
To ensure these solutions can scale across the continent, we are also working with three replication sites: Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), Tulcea (Romania), and Bristol (UK).
The Role of F6S: Amplifying Impact
As the Dissemination and Communication Manager, F6S plays a key role, leveraging its network to ensure the project’s climate-neutral solutions achieve wide visibility and adoption. We will be working on the communication strategy and implementation activities to amplify the project’s impact.
Our key contributions include:
- Contribution to WP8: Strategy development and implementation of dissemination and communication activities;
- Stakeholder & Governance Support: Providing support for mapping and analysis activities, participatory governance frameworks and requirements elicitation workshops;
- Scaling Impact: Supporting scalability and replication efforts in Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), Tulcea (Romania), and Bristol (UK).
Insights from Project Leadership
"SPURUP brings together communities, infrastructure, expertise, and business support within a sustainable innovation environment, accelerating the deployment of circular and climate-neutral solutions in peri-urban regions."
"SpurUP is redefining what’s possible for peri-urban regions by enabling practical, scalable climate-neutral solutions... turning these innovations into sustainable pathways that will guide regions across Europe into the future."
What’s Next?
The consortium concluded the Athens meeting with a technical round table to finalize the action plan for the first six months. For F6S, this means hitting the ground running to build a vibrant community around SpurUP’s goals.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Follow the SpurUP journey here and on the official SpurUP LinkedIn page.
Media Contacts at F6S:
Ellie Shtereva · Project Manager · ellie@f6s.com
Maria Teixeira · Communication Manager · mariafm@f6s.com