• The city will allocate 50,000 euros to promote innovative pilot projects through the Valencia Innovation Capital Urban Sandbox

• These solutions will be applicable to areas such as emergency management, cybersecurity, mobility, logistics, infrastructure protection, and urban resilience

• This week at Latitude59, Valencia and Tallinn renewed their strategic partnership in urban innovation, resilience, and technology applied to cities

Valencia will participate in a International Defense and Resilience Hackathon in Tallinn, alongside the Finnish capital Helsinki and the Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Dnipro. This event, which will take place on September 24 and 25 as part of Tallinn Defense Week, “is one of the most important European events focused on innovation, security, and technology applied to cities,” as highlighted by Paula Llobet, the Valencia City Council’s Councilor for Tourism, Innovation, and Investment Attraction.

The initiative will bring together startups, developers, experts, students, and innovative teams from across Europe to design technological solutions aimed at creating safer, more resilient cities that are better prepared to face new urban challenges. Alongside Valencia, other cities will also participate, including Helsinki, Finland, and Lviv and Dnipro, Ukraine, thereby strengthening a European network of collaboration focused on innovation applied to resilience and urban management.

In this context, “Valencia will play a leading role.” Through Valencia Innovation Capital, the city will provide 50,000 euros in prize money to promote the development of innovative pilot projects that can later be tested under real-world conditions through Valencia’s urban sandbox.

The goal is to accelerate the transition from ideas to actual implementation by connecting international talent, technology, and public administration to develop solutions applicable to areas such as emergency management, cybersecurity, mobility, logistics, infrastructure protection, and urban resilience.

The city councilwoman emphasized that “we want Valencia to be a city where innovative solutions don’t remain just an idea or confined to a laboratory, but can be developed, validated, and turned into real tools for improving the city and people’s lives.”

“Participating in this international hackathon allows us to connect our ecosystem with some of Europe’s most advanced technology hubs and position Valencia as a European hub for urban experimentation and applied technology development,” he added.

A Strategic Agreement with Tallinn

Valencia’s participation in this initiative comes on top of the renewal of the memorandum of understanding signed today between Valencia and Tallinn to promote a strategic alliance in the areas of innovation and business development, with the goal of strengthening the connection between both technology ecosystems and creating new opportunities for international collaboration.

The agreement was signed as part of València Innovation Capital’s participation in Latitude59, Northern Europe’s leading technology and startup event, currently taking place in the Estonian capital.

The partnership will enable both cities to work together in areas such as urban innovation, sustainability, attracting investment, technology transfer, and collaboration among startups, institutions, and companies.

Among the key points of the agreement is the mutual recognition of both cities’ sandbox programs. In the case of Valencia, the urban sandbox allows startups, universities, and companies to test innovative solutions under real-world conditions within the city.

This urban testing environment makes Valencia one of the few European cities that offers real-world urban resources for validating technology applied to mobility, energy, sustainability, artificial intelligence, logistics, health, and digital governance.

Thanks to this agreement, both cities will explore ways to facilitate access for innovative projects to their respective testing environments, thereby accelerating the validation and scalability of new technological solutions.

Valencia Strengthens Its International Standing

Valencia’s participation in Latitude59 is part of the city’s strategy to strengthen its international profile, attract investment, and connect the local ecosystem with high-impact technology players.

Valencia currently has 1,689 active startups and has attracted more than 200 million euros in investment through its innovation ecosystem. In addition, the city has mobilized more than 40 million euros for innovation and sustainability through València Innovation Capital and has established itself as one of Spain’s fastest-growing technology ecosystems.

Valencia City Council thus continues to strengthen a strategy based on public-private partnerships, internationalization, and innovation applied to urban improvement, resilience, and the city’s economic development.