Innovation has, in many ways, flourished over the past 19 months. In the face of Covid-19, efforts to transform national economies towards a more ecologically and socially responsible approach, while taking advantage of the most recent digital tools, have not slowed down. On the contrary, digital transformation has accelerated, as it became a vital necessity for firms around the globe, and the abrupt reduction in human activities showed both the opportunity and peril of a quick transition towards a carbon-free economy. Barcelona, Milan and Paris innovated their urban development, for example, barrelling through a previously unthinkable increase of cycle lanes as public transport usage plummeted in 2020.
