The Municipality of Maia (Portugal) has developed an application as a partner city for the URBACT program under the "Transfer Networks" typology, aimed at supporting cities in testing innovative, transferable, and scalable solutions for specific urban challenges.

It is a project led by the city of Getafe, addressing the issue of energy poverty and the role of citizen participation. It will also include the creation and management of a data analysis system to identify and assist vulnerable groups based on their sociodemographic and spatial characteristics. The Getafe project (already implemented) will serve as the inspiration for this initiative, “EPIU - Energy Poverty Intelligence Unit” (previously supported by the Urban Innovative Actions program with approximately €5 million), which the other cities will seek to learn from.

Partner cities in the network (such as Maia) are expected to address their policy challenges through a participatory approach involving all local stakeholders. These stakeholders will form a URBACT Local Action Group (LAG), which will play a crucial role in the process by bringing together representatives from various sectors, including local authorities, businesses, civil society organizations, and citizens.