OPEN & AGILE SMART CITIES

Their core work

OASC is a Brussels-based international network that drives interoperability and open standards for smart city platforms across Europe. They help cities adopt shared data architectures — digital twins, IoT frameworks, and open data systems — so that urban technology solutions can scale across municipalities rather than remaining locked to a single vendor or city. Their work spans the full smart city stack: from geospatial data infrastructure and traffic modelling to citizen engagement processes and rural digital services.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

OASC's early H2020 work (2017-2019) centred on IoT interoperability and cybersecurity governance — foundational infrastructure topics. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward urban digital twins, geospatial analytics, and citizen-facing applications like co-creation and social innovation. By 2021, they expanded beyond cities entirely into rural digital services and climate-driven urban transformation, signalling a broadening mission from pure smart city tech toward societal impact and sustainability.

OASC is moving from technical interoperability standards toward climate action and inclusive digital transformation, making them increasingly relevant to green transition and social innovation consortia.

How they like to work

OASC participates exclusively as a partner — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for a network organization that provides cross-cutting expertise rather than leading specific research agendas. With 165 unique partners across 27 countries in just 5 projects, they operate in very large consortia and function as a connector node. This means partnering with OASC gives you access to a wide European network of cities and technology providers.

Remarkably broad network for a 5-project participant: 165 unique consortium partners spanning 27 countries, reflecting OASC's role as a pan-European city network. Their partnerships reach across nearly all EU member states and likely include municipalities, technology companies, and research institutions.

What sets them apart

OASC occupies a rare position as a city-driven interoperability alliance — they don't sell technology, they define the shared standards that let city technologies work together. This makes them a trusted neutral broker in consortia where multiple cities and vendors must agree on data formats and APIs. For anyone building a project that needs to deploy solutions across multiple European cities, OASC is one of the few organizations that can guarantee cross-city compatibility.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NetZeroCities
  Their most recent and socially impactful project (EUR 271,875), directly targeting the EU's 2030 net-zero city ambitions with a focus on systems change and citizen engagement.
• DUET
  Largest OASC project by funding (EUR 368,750), combining digital twins with HPC, big data, and geospatial analytics for urban decision-making — their most technically ambitious work.
• SynchroniCity
  Their earliest H2020 project, establishing the IoT Digital Single Market vision that became the foundation for OASC's subsequent interoperability work.