Croatian think tank specializing in EU integration policy, multilevel governance, and multi-dimensional impact assessment for European research consortia.
IRMO (Institute for Development and International Relations) is a Zagreb-based public research institute and think tank specializing in EU policy analysis, international relations, and governance. Their core work involves producing policy-relevant research and expert advice on EU integration processes, multilevel governance models, and how decisions flow between EU, national, and regional levels. In applied project contexts, they contribute structured impact assessment frameworks — covering social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions — to cross-disciplinary research consortia. They function as an expert knowledge node: bringing institutional understanding of European policy architecture to projects that need that grounding.
In DiCE, IRMO contributed expertise on EU integration processes, EU policy-making mechanisms, and modes of multilevel governance, including work on a 'differentiation manual' for clustering excellence.
DiCE explicitly identifies IRMO's role as a think tank contributing policy-relevant advice, scenarios, and an experts' network — consistent with their institutional mandate as a public research institute.
In SoPHIA, IRMO worked on an impact assessment model covering social, cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions applied to heritage contexts.
Both of IRMO's H2020 projects started in 2020, so there is no meaningful multi-year trajectory to trace — the keyword shift reflects two parallel workstreams rather than a true evolution. Their earlier project engagement (DiCE) centered on EU governance architecture and policy differentiation, while SoPHIA pulled them into applied impact assessment methodology for cultural heritage. If a trend exists, it is a widening from pure policy analysis toward structured, multi-criteria impact evaluation — a natural extension for an institute that already applies analytical frameworks to governance questions.
IRMO appears to be extending its policy-analysis roots into applied assessment work, making them a potential partner for any project that needs both a European regulatory perspective and a structured methodology for measuring societal or environmental outcomes.
IRMO has never led an H2020 project as coordinator — both participations are in supporting roles (third party and participant), indicating they prefer to contribute specialist knowledge rather than carry project management responsibility. With 19 unique consortium partners across 17 countries from just two projects, they operate inside large, geographically diverse consortia. This profile — deep expertise, wide network, non-leading role — suggests they are a reliable and well-connected contributing partner rather than a project driver.
Despite only two H2020 projects, IRMO has built connections with 19 distinct partners across 17 countries — an unusually broad reach that reflects the large, pan-European consortia typical of CSA (Coordination and Support Action) projects. No strong geographic concentration is evident beyond their Croatian base.
IRMO is one of very few Croatian research institutes with a dedicated focus on EU integration theory and multilevel governance practice — a niche that is hard to substitute when a consortium needs credible institutional knowledge of how EU policy actually works. Their dual footprint in governance policy (DiCE) and applied impact assessment (SoPHIA) means they can bridge the gap between policy framing and measurable project outcomes. For coordinators building Horizon consortia that touch EU regulatory context, cultural heritage, or social impact, IRMO brings both the analytical toolkit and an established European expert network.
