HELSINGIN KAUPUNKI

Their core work

The City of Helsinki is a major Nordic municipal authority that uses EU-funded projects to advance urban planning, sustainable transport, and smart city transformation. It serves as a real-world testbed for cycling infrastructure, urban mobility solutions, and rural-urban cooperation models. Helsinki brings city-scale implementation capacity — turning research concepts into deployed municipal services and infrastructure across a metropolitan area of over 1.3 million people.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Helsinki's early H2020 involvement (2016-2017) centered on broad smart city ambitions — integrated planning, urban transformation strategy, and lighthouse city demonstrations through mySMARTLife. By 2018, the focus narrowed toward concrete sustainable transport topics: cycling infrastructure, modal shift economics, and transport research coordination. This shift suggests a move from high-level smart city visioning to hands-on implementation of specific mobility solutions.

Helsinki is moving from broad smart city demonstrations toward practical, replicable urban mobility and cycling solutions — expect continued focus on transport decarbonization and active mobility.

How they like to work

Helsinki participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with its role as a city government providing real-world deployment environments rather than leading research. With 93 unique partners across 17 countries, it operates in large, diverse consortia typical of Innovation Actions and lighthouse city projects. This wide network makes Helsinki an accessible partner — they are experienced in multi-country collaboration and accustomed to working with universities, SMEs, and other municipalities alike.

Helsinki has collaborated with 93 distinct partners across 17 countries, reflecting its role in large-scale demonstration and innovation actions. The network spans most of Europe, with particularly strong ties to other Nordic and Western European cities participating in smart city and transport projects.

What sets them apart

Helsinki offers something most research partners cannot: a functioning capital city as a living laboratory. As a municipal authority, it can deploy pilot solutions at city scale, adjust regulations, and provide real citizen feedback — not just simulations. For any consortium needing a Nordic urban testbed with strong digital infrastructure and progressive transport policies, Helsinki is a proven demonstration partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• mySMARTLife
  Largest project by far (EUR 1.26M to Helsinki) — a flagship smart city initiative where Helsinki served as one of three European lighthouse cities for urban transformation.
• Handshake
  Focused on making cycling innovations transferable between cities, with Helsinki contributing its Nordic cycling expertise and urban mobility data over a 4-year engagement.