STADT GRAZ

Their core work

The City of Graz is Austria's second-largest city and a municipal public authority that brings urban governance and real-world implementation capacity to EU research projects. Their H2020 participation focuses on testing and deploying sustainable energy and transport solutions at city scale — from district heating transformation to smart city logistics. Graz serves as a living laboratory where research outcomes are piloted in actual urban infrastructure, providing the regulatory environment, citizen engagement, and municipal data that research consortia need for real-world validation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), Graz engaged as a demonstration city — piloting energy-saving measures and sustainable logistics through lighthouse projects like GrowSmarter and NOVELOG. From 2020 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward energy transition infrastructure (renewable district heating, sector coupling) and climate resilience (AI-based wildfire management). This evolution shows a municipality moving from showcasing individual smart city technologies to tackling systemic decarbonization and environmental risk.

Graz is moving from technology showcase projects toward deep decarbonization of urban energy infrastructure and climate adaptation, making them a strong partner for energy transition and resilience-focused proposals.

How they like to work

Graz participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — typical for municipalities that provide urban testbeds rather than leading research design. With 150 unique partners across 23 countries in just 4 projects, they operate in large, multi-city consortia where their role is to implement and validate solutions in a real urban context. This makes them easy to work with for researchers who need a mid-sized European city as a deployment site.

Despite only 4 projects, Graz has built a remarkably wide network of 150 partners across 23 countries, reflecting participation in large-scale demonstration consortia that span most of Europe.

What sets them apart

Graz is Austria's second city and a UNESCO City of Design with strong municipal commitment to climate neutrality. As a public authority rather than a research institution, they offer something most partners cannot: direct access to city infrastructure, permitting, public procurement, and citizen engagement for real-world pilots. Their combination of energy, transport, and climate resilience experience makes them a versatile urban testbed partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RES-DHC
  Their largest-funded project (EUR 108,871), focused on transforming fossil-based district heating to renewables — directly aligned with EU decarbonization priorities.
• TREEADS
  An unexpected topic for a Central European city — AI-driven wildfire management signals Graz's expanding engagement with climate adaptation beyond traditional urban energy.