On December 5, 2015, the Urban Innovation Community organized a Roundtable on SDGs and Urban Innovation: Telling City Success Stories, on the sidelines of the UCLG World Council Meetings, where the international community gathered to discuss, debate and formalize a consensus on UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), during annual Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris.

Gathering some 60 mayors, local officials, NGO representatives, and local development experts, the roundtable achieved its purpose of strengthening the role of the community to provide new tools, expertise and knowledge on implementing and achieving the SDGs at the local level.

At the start of the roundtable, the community officially announced the launch of the 2016 Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation, and made its annual report on activities and outcomes in 2015 and work plan for 2016, emphasizing its priority on structural analysis of the winning and shortlisted initiatives from the previous cycles of the Guangzhou Award.

In order to promote decentralized and peer-to-peer learning, the community plans to organize thematic seminars, workshops and training sessions, together with the Guangzhou Institute for Urban innovation, providing a sharing and learning platform for member cities and partners. All such activities will be made more relevant to the local implementation of the SDGs.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Su Zhijia, Chairman of the Guangzhou People’s Political Consultative Conference, emphasized the role of innovation in driving forward urban development. He then invited cities to actively apply for the 2016 Guangzhou Award to foster knowledge dissemination and experience sharing. Then two winners of the previous cycles of the Guangzhou Award, Bristol represented by Mayor George Ferguson, and Vancouver represented by Acting Mayor Raymond Louie shared what these two cities have achieved in ensuring safety, health and sustainability for their citizens.

Thierry Lafont and Anne-Marie Chavagnon, Technical Committee members of the 2012 and 2014 Guangzhou Award respectively, stressed the importance of the Guangzhou Award in highlighting local efforts to achieve the SDGs.

Representatives from Berlin, Medellin, Montreal, UCLG, Metropolis, ICLEI, C40 also participated in the roundtable.