CityZone is Israel's first urban-tech living lab at Park Atidim, co-run by Tel Aviv Municipality, Tel Aviv University and Park Atidim. A national beta site backed by NIS 40M, it runs a year-long smart-city and smart-mobility accelerator.
40 NIS million
R&D Infrastructure Fund investment for national beta sites (2024)
Details
Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
CityZone (Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality / Tel Aviv University / Park Atidim)
Period
2019–present
Keywords
urban tech, smart mobility, living lab, startup acceleration
Context
CityZone is a smart-city living lab and beta site at Park Atidim in Tel Aviv, launched as an active programme in 2019 through a joint initiative of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Tel Aviv University and the Atidim business park.
Objectives
The lab gives urban-tech startups access to real-world city infrastructure — roads, public spaces and mobility corridors — to test and validate smart-city and smart-mobility solutions, supported by a year-long accelerator focused on market readiness and business scaling.
Activities
In 2024 the Israel Innovation Authority selected CityZone as one of five national beta sites under a NIS 40 million R&D Infrastructure Fund investment, enabling companies to run real-world critical-infrastructure pilots. CityZone belongs to the European Network of Living Labs and takes part in the EIT Urban Mobility ACCESS TO EUROPE programme, and plans are underway to host Israel's first vertiport for electric aerial vehicles.
Results
The main documented outcome to date is the national beta-site designation and its accompanying NIS 40 million co-investment; publicly available sources do not yet report pilot-completion counts or the number of startups scaled through the programme.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Part of a NIS 40 million national R&D Infrastructure Fund investment shared across five beta sites; specific budget dedicated to Park Atidim alone is not separately disclosed.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Living lab active since 2019; the core accelerator runs on a one-year cycle, with the national beta-site designation and vertiport plans representing a 2024-onward expansion phase.
Staffing & skills
joint programme team drawn from Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Tel Aviv University and Park Atidim
Conditions for success
multi-stakeholder governance across municipality, university and business park
national government co-investment via the Israel Innovation Authority
access to live urban infrastructure for real-world pilot testing
membership in international networks (ENoLL, EIT Urban Mobility) supporting cross-border scaling
Where it fits
Governance type
public-private-academic partnership
Scale
city site within a national programme
Income level
high-income
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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