Smart Islands Initiative in Greece

The Aegean Energy and Environment Agency, AEGEA, coordinates the Smart Islands Initiative together with DAFNI Network (the Network of Sustainable Greek Islands). The Initiative represents a bottom-up effort of EU local and regional authorities of islands to highlight islands’ potential to develop sustainably, by hosting integrated solutions that maximise synergies between key infrastructures, i.e. energy, transport, waste, and water. The knowledge produced on optimal resource and infrastructure management can then be transferred to mountainous, rural and generally geographically isolated areas but also scaled-up in cities, helping Europe become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy.

Over 200 islands from 15 countries across Europe have signed the Smart Islands Declaration, the cornerstone document of the Smart Islands Initiative. This Initiative was launched during the 1^st Smart Islands Forum, held in Athens in June 2016, with the participation of over 40 EU island representatives. During the “Smart Islands – Creating New Pathways for EU islands” event that took place in March 2017, over 100 EU and 12 MEPs from countries with islands joined the initiative.