GOTEBORGS KOMMUN

Their core work

The City of Gothenburg is Sweden's second-largest municipality, operating as a living laboratory for urban innovation across transport, energy, and water management. In H2020 projects, the city contributes real urban infrastructure, policy frameworks, and citizen engagement channels — providing the testbed where smart city solutions are piloted at scale. Their role spans sustainable mobility planning, integrated energy systems deployment, and climate-resilient water infrastructure, always with a focus on translating research into municipal practice.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2015-2018, Gothenburg focused on smart city integration — renewable energy, energy storage, electric mobility, and citizen co-creation through the flagship IRIS project, alongside early logistics work in NOVELOG and automated vehicle coexistence in CoEXist. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward urban mobility policy, zero-emission transport systems, and climate resilience (water management via SCOREwater). The later projects show a municipality moving from broad smart-city experimentation to targeted implementation of green mobility infrastructure and climate adaptation.

Gothenburg is converging on zero-emission multimodal transport and climate-resilient urban infrastructure — expect future engagement in green logistics hubs and urban adaptation projects.

How they like to work

Gothenburg participates exclusively as a partner, never coordinating — typical for large municipalities that provide urban testbeds rather than leading research design. With 167 unique partners across 20 countries in just 7 projects, they operate in large consortia (averaging 24+ partners per project), which reflects their role as a demonstration city rather than a tight-knit research collaborator. This means partnering with Gothenburg gives access to a major Nordic city's infrastructure and policy channels, but project leadership will sit elsewhere.

Gothenburg has built a broad European network of 167 unique partners across 20 countries through 7 projects, reflecting deep integration into the EU smart cities and transport research communities. Their partnerships span Northern, Western, and Southern Europe with no narrow geographic clustering.

What sets them apart

Gothenburg offers something few partners can: a full-scale Nordic city as a testing ground, with political buy-in, existing smart infrastructure, and an engaged citizenry willing to participate in pilots. Their dual strength in both mobility and water/climate resilience makes them unusually versatile for urban innovation consortia. For anyone needing a Scandinavian demonstration city with proven EU project experience and strong municipal commitment, Gothenburg is a top-tier choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• IRIS
  Largest project by funding (EUR 731K) and scope — integrated smart city solutions across energy, mobility, and ICT with citizen co-creation, running 6 years.
• MOVE21
  Most recent and second-largest project (EUR 730K), focused on multimodal zero-emission mobility hubs — signals the city's current strategic direction.
• SCOREwater
  Unusual diversification into urban water resilience and 'sewer sociology' — shows the city thinking beyond transport into climate adaptation.