Prague's official city planning institute, contributing municipal authority and co-design expertise to smart city and nature-based urban solution projects.
IPR Praha is the official Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague — a public body responsible for spatial planning, strategic urban analysis, and long-term development policy for Prague. In EU research projects, they contribute a rare asset: direct institutional access to a major European capital's planning processes, spatial data, and decision-making channels. Their EU work has focused on applying smart city concepts and nature-based solutions at the district scale, bringing city government perspective to consortia that otherwise consist mainly of universities and technology companies. They serve as the link between research outputs and actual municipal adoption.
In Triangulum (2015–2020), IPR Praha participated in one of H2020's flagship smart city lighthouse projects, contributing expertise on sustainable district transitions and citizen integration.
Co-creation appears as a keyword in both Triangulum and UNALAB, indicating this is a consistent methodological contribution across their entire EU research portfolio.
UNALAB (2017–2022) focused on Urban Nature Labs, with IPR Praha contributing co-design and roadmapping expertise to nature-based solution implementation.
UNALAB introduced innovative financing models, roadmapping, and scenario thinking as distinct contributions — a notable shift from purely technical smart city work.
In their earliest H2020 work (Triangulum, 2015), IPR Praha was engaged in technology-forward smart city demonstration — low-energy districts, integrated infrastructures, and citizen integration within a large replication-oriented programme. By 2017, their focus shifted toward process and governance: UNALAB's keywords reveal an organization now working on co-design methodologies, scenario thinking, and innovative financing rather than technology deployment. The trajectory is clear — from implementing smart city blueprints toward shaping how cities decide, finance, and govern urban transformation.
IPR Praha is moving away from technology demonstration toward participatory governance and alternative financing frameworks — making them a strong partner for projects that need city-level process expertise rather than hardware or sensors.
IPR Praha has never led an H2020 project — both participations are as a consortium partner, suggesting they engage selectively where their city planning mandate is directly relevant rather than driving research agendas. Both projects were large Innovation Actions with broad European consortia, consistent with their role as a city-government contributor providing access, legitimacy, and local implementation context. Working with them means gaining a direct channel into Prague's urban planning apparatus, but you should not expect them to take on project management or coordination responsibilities.
Despite only two projects, IPR Praha has engaged with 56 unique consortium partners across 15 countries — a reflection of the large, city-focused consortia (Triangulum and UNALAB) that brought together municipalities, universities, and technology providers from across Europe. Their network skews toward urban-focused institutions in Northern and Western Europe.
Very few H2020 participants can offer what IPR Praha brings: institutional authority over the spatial planning of a EU capital city of 1.3 million people. For any project needing a Central European city as a demonstration site, replication partner, or co-design host, they provide direct municipal access that no university or consultancy can replicate. Their combination of formal planning mandate and demonstrated EU research participation makes them credible both to project reviewers and to the city administration that would need to adopt any research output.
