RESEARCH ORGANISATION FOR THE COMMONS AND PEER TO PEER PRACTICES

Their core work

P2P Lab is a Greek NGO based in Ioannina that researches commons-based governance, peer-to-peer economic models, and participatory decision-making. Their work applies social science frameworks — shared resource management, collaborative governance, incentive design — to practical urban and environmental challenges. In the REFLOW project, they contributed expertise on new business models and governance structures for circular material flows across waste, packaging, textiles, water, and agrifood streams in European cities. They sit at an unusual intersection: political theory meets applied circular economy, with blockchain and open data as implementation layers.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

P2P Lab entered H2020 through HETEROPOLITICS (2017), an ERC Consolidator Grant project where they were a minor partner (EUR 5,000) contributing to abstract political theory around the commons. By 2019, they shifted sharply toward applied work: REFLOW was a full Innovation Action where they played a substantive role (EUR 194,375), bringing governance frameworks and business model design to real-world circular economy pilots across European cities. The trend is clear — from political philosophy to applied urban circular economy, with blockchain and open data as new technical tools added in the later period.

P2P Lab is moving toward applied roles in circular economy innovation projects where their governance and incentive-design expertise can be operationalized through digital tools like blockchain and open data platforms.

How they like to work

P2P Lab has participated exclusively as a partner — never as project coordinator — across both of their H2020 projects. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 31 unique consortium partners across 11 countries, which signals that they join large, multi-partner consortia rather than small bilateral collaborations. This pattern suggests they are valued as a specialist contributor bringing a specific governance or theory lens to broader applied research teams, rather than as a project driver.

P2P Lab has worked with 31 unique partners across 11 countries despite having only two projects, indicating participation in large consortia — REFLOW alone likely spanned multiple European urban pilots. Their network is European in scope, likely concentrated in urban planning, circular economy, and social innovation circles.

What sets them apart

P2P Lab is one of the very few organizations in H2020 whose identity is built explicitly around commons theory and peer-to-peer governance — not as a side interest, but as institutional mission. This gives them a distinct voice in projects that need governance design, community incentive structures, or collaborative business model frameworks rather than technical engineering. For consortium builders working on circular economy, smart cities, or participatory urban systems, P2P Lab fills a role that universities and engineering firms typically cannot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• REFLOW
  Their largest and most substantive H2020 project (EUR 194,375), covering circular material flows across six urban waste streams with governance, blockchain, and new business model components across European city pilots.
• HETEROPOLITICS
  An ERC Consolidator Grant project — the most competitive H2020 instrument — signaling that leading researchers in political theory of the commons considered P2P Lab a relevant specialist partner, even if their funding share was minimal.