USKUPENI TESLA OBCANSKE SDRUZENI

Their core work

UTESLA is a Czech civic association based in Pardubice dedicated to science communication and public engagement with science. Their core work involves organizing and hosting science cafés, public exhibitions, and informal learning events that bring research topics to general audiences — including technology shifts in health, frugal innovation, and open science. In both H2020 projects they participated as a third-party local partner, meaning they served as a Czech civil-society node within larger pan-European consortia, delivering grassroots science communication activities on the ground. Their name references Nikola Tesla, signaling an identity built around making science culturally accessible rather than producing original research.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (SPARKS, 2015–2018), UTESLA's work was broad and multi-format: pan-European exhibitions, science cafés, science shops, open science, and technology topics spanning health and frugal innovation — a wide public-engagement palette. Their second project (SySTEM 2020, 2018–2021) narrowed sharply to a single theme: science education outside the classroom. This suggests a shift from general science popularization toward structured, youth-oriented informal science learning, possibly reflecting the organisation's attempt to build deeper expertise in one niche rather than covering many formats.

UTESLA appears to be moving from broad public science events toward more focused youth science education, though with only two projects in the record (the last ending in 2021) any further trajectory is uncertain.

How they like to work

UTESLA has never served as a project coordinator and entered both H2020 projects as a third party — the lightest form of participation, typically meaning subcontractor or in-kind contributor at a local level. Their two projects were large, multi-partner consortia (52 unique partners across 30 countries combined), which they joined rather than shaped. This profile suggests they are a reliable local delivery partner for Czech civil-society outreach, useful to larger consortia that need regional reach in Central Europe.

UTESLA has been exposed to 52 unique consortium partners spread across 30 countries — a notably wide network for an organisation with only two projects, reflecting the large pan-European consortia they joined. Their geographic footprint is European in coverage, though their local operational base is firmly Czech.

What sets them apart

UTESLA occupies a specific niche as a Czech civic-society actor with a science communication identity — rare among Central European NGOs in having direct H2020 experience, even if as a third party. For a consortium needing a Czech public-engagement partner with credibility in science cafés, informal education, or open science events, UTESLA offers an established local presence and a track record of working within large pan-European frameworks. That said, their limited project volume and third-party-only roles mean any collaboration would rely on their local network and community reach rather than independent research or technical capacity.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SPARKS
  A pan-European travelling exhibition on health technology and frugal innovation — an unusually high-visibility public engagement format that placed UTESLA within a wide EU consortium addressing science-society dialogue.
• SySTEM 2020
  Focused on science learning outside the classroom across Europe, this project represents UTESLA's most recent and thematically focused engagement, signalling a deliberate move toward structured science education.