A research portal that is commonly accessible to European metropolises

Its launch was announced by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

METREX is the Network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas and it counts some 50 of the continent’s largest urban agglomerations among its members. It is an organization dedicated to promoting the interests of these metropolises and to providing a platform for them to share experiences, organize events and talk about common working solutions.

The Lisbon Metropolitan Area is one of the members and its official website recently reported that on 12 January a research portal had been launched with the aim of facilitating members in getting access to recent research and innovation pertaining to the area of urbanism that might be relevant to their issues and concerns.

Europe has about 120 areas that can be considered metropolitan

The intent to implement such a portal was declared during a METREX conference in Stuttgart back in 2019. The idea behind it was to help metropolitan areas and large cities have the best and quickest access to the latest research in science so that they can introduce many of the new measures and get ahead in the requirements for the EU’s Green Deal.

The goal of METREX was two-fold. On one hand, the aim was to uncover the research capacity that is present within the centres and universities located among the members. This could lead to creating a committed network of experts who would be identified as working on how to push forward with achieving the climate neutrality goals through innovation.

On the other hand, all the information from the various sources and centres would be most useful if systematized and centralized in one repository or a digital library that could serve as an accessible reference point for urban administrations when drafting their policies or wishing to create projects or initiatives with European funding.