Although it may be hard to believe right now, Europe is full of initiatives that could teach the rest of the world how to thrive.

While we often hear about Germany’s renewables ambitions, we think it’s time to also acknowledge the ambitious work of other European countries that can easily be overlooked.

For example, France is building its first “district smart grid” across the entire city of Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, covering the electricity needs of about 10,000 people in a 160,000-square-meter area while increasing efficiency and reducing carbon. Initially based on a 2009 pilot to build the first energy-positive office building in Europe, this community-scale project called IssyGrid is unique for France since it comes from a group of businesses located in the community and has expanded to other companies. It’s an innovative approach involving multiple players and shows that smart grid development is a new opportunity for local businesses.

In addition, a new building project being built near Amsterdam called Park 20|20 has the goal of becoming the “first full service Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) working environment” in The Netherlands. This unique office development is based on a human-centered design approach and uses C2C principles. That means all the main building materials can be endlessly recycled. How’s that for inspiration?

We’re looking forward to featuring a keynote panel on IssyGrid, a Convergence Talk about Park 20|20, and many other interesting initiatives showing VERGE in action at our Convergence Paris event on June 13-14.

For more inspiration, check out our recaps from VERGE Boston and Living Future below.