STATUTARNI MESTO BRNO

Their core work

The City of Brno is a Czech municipal authority that participates in EU research projects as an urban demonstration and pilot site, providing real-world infrastructure, regulatory access, city data, and citizen engagement capacity needed to test smart city technologies at scale. Rather than conducting research itself, the city functions as a living laboratory — the place where technology developed by universities and companies is validated in genuine urban environments with real residents and real traffic. Their participation spans smart district energy deployment and advanced urban mobility, making them a go-to partner when consortia need a Central European city to prove their solutions work outside the Western European bubble. The city brings institutional credibility, public authority decision-making power, and direct access to municipal assets such as public transport networks, road infrastructure, and city buildings.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Brno's first H2020 engagement (Ruggedised, 2016) centered on smart energy at district scale — clean energy systems, IoT-connected buildings, smart electro-mobility infrastructure, and air quality, reflecting the city's entry point as a smart energy replication city. By 2020, with SHOW, the focus shifted decisively toward transport: automated road vehicles, shared mobility platforms, MaaS and LaaS architectures, and connected/cooperative transport systems. The trajectory is clear — from energy-driven smart city work toward mobility-driven smart city work, with digital infrastructure and citizen-centered design running through both phases.

Brno is positioning itself as a Central European testbed for autonomous and connected mobility systems, making it an attractive participant for any H2021/HE project needing a mid-sized city with public transport authority access to demonstrate transport automation at scale.

How they like to work

Brno has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — a pattern consistent with cities that contribute urban infrastructure and institutional access rather than research leadership. The 124 unique partners across just 2 projects signals participation in very large, flagship Innovation Actions where consortia routinely include 20–40 organizations; Brno is comfortable operating within complex multi-partner governance structures. Working with them means gaining a city authority as a project partner: access to public spaces, transport assets, and municipal decision-makers, but not a project management engine.

Across two projects, Brno has accumulated 124 unique consortium partners from 15 countries — an unusually broad network for an organization with only two projects, reflecting participation in large-scale European Innovation Actions that routinely span 20+ countries. Their network is pan-European and likely includes other pilot cities, technology companies, and research institutions concentrated in Western and Northern Europe.

What sets them apart

As the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, Brno is a rare Central European urban partner in smart city consortia that are often dominated by Dutch, Scandinavian, or British cities — offering genuine geographic and regulatory diversity that strengthens an EU project's credibility across member states. The city brings something no technology company can replicate: legitimate public authority status, direct control over municipal infrastructure, and the ability to involve real citizens as participants rather than test subjects. For consortium builders needing to demonstrate that a solution works in a post-socialist Central European urban context — with its specific building stock, mobility habits, and institutional environment — Brno fills a gap that no Western European city can substitute.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Ruggedised
  The only project where Brno received EC funding (EUR 300,876), joining Rotterdam, Umea, and Glasgow as a replication city in one of H2020's flagship smart city lighthouse initiatives — a significant endorsement of Brno's urban experimentation capacity.
• SHOW
  Most technically ambitious participation, covering the full spectrum of next-generation urban mobility — automated vehicles, MaaS, LaaS, and connected transport — signaling Brno's ambition to be a testbed for autonomous transport deployment across Central Europe.