MWCC and Business Finland held a press conference on May 24 at the residence of the Finnish ambassador in Spain, in which a representation of the Community of Madrid, MWCC and members of Business Finland, the Economic and Commercial Office of Finland, explained the areas in which fields of collaboration are most likely to be established, among which decarbonisation initiatives stood out, particularly in the field of construction and building.

The press conference also made reference to the ‘Decarbonized Cities’ program, an “innovative ecosystem of solutions for the cities of the future”. The meeting, which gave continuity to the visit recently made by representatives of the Community of Madrid and MWCC to various cities in the Nordic country, is part of the “alliance between the two countries” to “develop initiatives in the field of building, alternative materials, energy and waste management following climate neutrality criteria from the planning phase to the execution and exploitation phase thanks to the public-private collaboration of Spanish and Finnish companies”, said David Garcia Nuñez, president of MWCC.

‘Decarbonized Cities’, a program presented on April 18, seeks to turn the Nordic country into “a world-renowned provider of sustainable and carbon-neutral solutions” for urban concentrations, for which it seeks to establish international collaboration agreements and find Business partners.

From left to right, David García Núñez; Tatiana Martínez Ramos and Iruela; Jose Luis Moreno; Saree Rautio; Pertti Kortejärvi and Daria Mashkina. Photo: Interempresas Media.

More than an urban project

In this sense, the MNN project is a first level objective, since it intends to build 10,500 homes, four thousand of which will be managed by the Madrid City Council “to develop public housing policies”, as Tatiana explained. Martínez Ramos e Iruela, adviser for the Madrid Nuevo Norte Office and director of Innolab-Urban Solutions.

The press conference began with the intervention of the Finnish ambassador to Spain, Sari Rautio, who stressed that the Nordic country aspires to achieve climate neutrality in 2035, fifteen years before the objective established by the European Union, an advance as a result of its traditional commitment to Finnish institutions and companies for environmentally friendly solutions. Rautio added that “for almost a decade we have been occupying the top positions in the rankings that measure environmental performance”, thus endorsing the possibilities of sharing knowledge offered by companies and organizations (clusters, universities, research centers… ) from the Nordic country.

25,000 million euros of investment

The director of the Madrid Nuevo Norte Office of the Community of Madrid, José Luis Moreno Casas, described the project as very ambitious, which, he said, will generate investments worth 25,000 million euros. Moreno pointed out that decarbonization during construction and building is a very important aspect, an area in which the contribution of Finnish companies can be very relevant. In this sense, one of the initiatives that will be carried out during the urbanization and construction phase of MNN will be the reuse and use of part of the material that will be obtained in the dismantling of current buildings and infrastructures located in the area.

“The Madrid City Council has declared MNN as a 360º decarbonization demonstration area with an energy model that covers different areas. We anticipate that all energy generation will come from renewable sources, that public transport will be zero emissions, that we want to have infrastructures such as storm tanks that allow us to take advantage of rainwater”. In addition, Moreno highlighted MNN’s interest in having the hot and cold networks powered by renewable energies, among which geothermal energy stood out. For all this, warned Moreno, “it will be necessary to have an accompanying legislative framework.”

At another point in the presentation, Tatiana Martínez —who remarked that one of the objectives of the regional government is to promote public-private collaboration— pointed out that together with Fundación Metrópoli and MWCC “we have the firm intention of attracting the best ideas, practices and projects to get them up and running on MNN. Spain is a leader in engineering, but we need the knowledge to have innovative and disruptive solutions that fit into this ambitious project”.

Smart City Innovation Cluster (SCIC) CEO Pertti Kortejävi explained that the cluster’s goal is the promotion of smart Finnish solutions. Kortejävi drew attention to the variety of companies that are integrated and SCIC, from multinationals to startups, united in the search for innovative solutions applicable to areas such as sustainability, the use of resources and the decarbonisation of the economy; also in areas related to smart cities, such as digital twins.

Innovation lab

The president of the Madrid Capital Mundial association (MWCC), David García Núñez, pointed out that the collaboration established with Business Finland makes it possible to learn about the practices and solutions implemented in success stories. The MNN project is not just an urban initiative, but represents an innovation laboratory whose closest example, he said, is that represented by Singapore.

García Núñez —who pointed out that the distance between the Plaza de Neptuno and Plaza de Castilla is 5.6 kilometers, the same distance between the northern limit of MNN and the Plaza de Castilla, to add that the deadline for completing all the infrastructures and buildings projected in MNN is 25 years old— stated that “Spanish companies have a high capacity for leadership in urban solutions, engineering and innovation. The connection with Finland will facilitate strong enrichment in both directions. Together, through sustainability and innovation, we are going to create a new way of making a city”.

Daria Mashkina, Senior Advisor at Business Finland, highlighted that the Government of Finland allocates 2.8% of its GDP to innovation, an amount that is almost triple the average for the European Union, which is slightly less than 1%; however, the Finnish Executive intends to reach 4% in 2030. Mashkina said that in the Nordic country “there is a very high level of knowledge in the hands of organizations and startups that do not have the necessary resources for networking, so through from Business Finland, in collaboration with SCIC, we facilitate collaboration with projects such as MNN, whose potential is especially relevant in relation to the development and implementation of solutions oriented towards digitization, carbon neutrality and green transition”.