Innovative ideas to improve urban mobility in Slovenia

The Urban Mobility RIS (Regional Innovation Scheme) programme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has been designed to help boost innovation in urban mobility within countries and regions classified as emerging or moderate innovators according to the European Innovation Scoreboard. Last December, the EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub in Slovenia organised a hackathon focused on the development of more sustainable and innovative solutions to decarbonise Slovenian cities. Specifically, six teams of students and young researchers focused mainly on ideas to deal with freight and passengers’ transport challenges. Two teams addressed these challenges with innovative discounts for public transport and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) vouchers.

The winning idea was the app 'Wom3n', an application intended to help both Slovenian residents (including children and people with disabilities) and tourists in using public transport in the country. The app works in connection with smart bracelets and regular cards that measure the steps that people take in kilometres. These are then converted into points that are monetised as discounts for different Slovenian mobility products, such us bus and train tickets and funds for better transport equipment for people with special needs. 

The second idea, promoted by Active8 Planet group, addressed the problem of increasing car ownership. The team proposed a three-year preliminary project, which would serve as a basis for the introduction of a MaaS scheme. The scheme would distribute vouchers (e.g., for €200) among city users that can be used for various forms of sustainable mobility: car-sharing, bike rental, train and bus tickets. The budget of any unused vouchers would be allocated to local mobility projects on which residents would then vote.

Both ideas will be presented at the workshop that EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Slovenia is organising with the Association of Urban Municipalities of Slovenia in February 2022. EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Slovenia will organise another hackathon in spring 2022.