Athens features among the five winning cities in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ 2014 Mayors Challenge competition. The competition aims to inspire cities to promote innovative ideas that solve major challenges, improve city life and eventually been spread to other cities. It was 155 European cities that took on the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ challenge of designing creative solutions to critical urban issues, such as public health, youth unemployment, environmental issues, aging population and public safety. Athens’ “Synathina” gave our city a winning position and one million euros to support the implementation of the project. “Synathina” is a public platform that connects the new dynamic input of civil society with local institutions and local authority to collaboratively devise solutions to local problems.
The five million euros grand prize of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge went to Barcelona, for its proposal to create a digital and community “trust network” for each of its at-risk elderly residents.