COMUNE DI MILANO

Their core work

The City of Milan is one of Europe's most active municipal governments in urban innovation, using EU-funded projects to test and scale solutions for sustainable food systems, circular economy, climate adaptation, and citizen engagement across its metropolitan area. As a large public authority governing a city of 1.4 million, Milan brings real urban infrastructure, policy-making authority, and a massive citizen base as a living laboratory for piloting smart city technologies, nature-based solutions, and participatory governance models. Their contribution to consortia is not academic — they provide the regulatory environment, public services, and urban testbeds where research prototypes meet real-world deployment.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Milan's early H2020 work (2015–2018) centered on cultural engagement, responsible research and innovation, and public outreach — projects like NACCA (contemporary art conservation) and MEET (science communication events) reflect a city promoting citizen-facing culture and science activities. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward hard urban challenges: climate adaptation, food system transformation, circular economy, energy communities, and security infrastructure. The portfolio matured from "engaging citizens with science" to "deploying cities as laboratories for sustainability transitions," with Milan increasingly taking on coordination roles in later projects.

Milan is evolving from a participant in awareness-raising projects toward a lead city partner in climate, food, and circular economy deployments — expect them to seek coordination roles in urban sustainability missions under Horizon Europe.

How they like to work

Milan overwhelmingly joins as a participant (18 of 20 projects) but has taken on coordination twice in recent years (CENTRINNO and FOOD TRAILS), signaling growing ambition. With 403 unique partners across 39 countries, they operate as a high-connectivity hub — they rarely repeat the same consortium, instead bringing a broad European network. For potential partners, this means Milan is an experienced, low-friction city partner that knows how to contribute urban testbed access and policy expertise without demanding consortium leadership.

With 403 unique consortium partners across 39 countries, Milan has one of the broadest collaboration networks of any European municipality in H2020. Their reach spans virtually all EU member states and associated countries, with no narrow geographic cluster — they are a genuinely pan-European city partner.

What sets them apart

Milan stands out among European city governments because it combines genuine policy-making authority with an unusually diverse project portfolio spanning food, climate, digital, circular economy, and security — most cities specialize in one or two domains. Their dual role as both a regulatory authority and a living lab operator means they can offer what universities and research institutes cannot: the ability to pilot, regulate, and scale solutions within a real metropolitan government. For consortium builders, Milan provides both a credible urban testbed and a pathway to policy adoption.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FOOD TRAILS
  Milan's largest coordination role (EUR 1.46M) and a flagship for their urban food policy expertise — directly building on their recognized Milan Urban Food Policy Pact.
• Sharing Cities
  Their single largest grant (EUR 1.95M), deploying integrated smart city infrastructure at scale — energy efficiency, local renewables, and citizen engagement in one project.
• CENTRINNO
  Second coordination role, combining circular economy with urban regeneration of industrial areas — shows Milan stepping up from participant to project leader.