HARMONIA · Project

Climate Risk Platform That Helps Cities Predict Floods, Heatwaves, and Air Quality Problems

environmentTestedTRL 5

Imagine you run a city and need to know which neighborhoods will flood next summer, where heatwaves will hit hardest, or how air quality will change over the next decade — but all your data is scattered across dozens of satellite systems and weather databases. HARMONIA built a single platform that pulls together satellite imagery, ground sensors, and weather data, then uses AI to turn it into city-level maps showing exactly where climate risks are growing. Think of it as a weather app on steroids — not just tomorrow's forecast, but a full risk picture for urban planners, insurers, and real estate developers. The platform was tested across multiple European cities with 23 organizations contributing data and expertise.

By the numbers

consortium partners contributing to the platform

countries represented in the consortium

EUR 4,999,794

EU contribution to development

SMEs involved in the project

43%

industry partner ratio in the consortium

total deliverables produced

demo deliverables with working implementations

The business problem

What needed solving

Cities and businesses are making billion-euro infrastructure, insurance, and real estate decisions with outdated or incomplete climate risk data. Satellite data exists but is scattered across dozens of platforms, too coarse for city-level decisions, and impossible for non-specialists to interpret. Without neighborhood-level risk mapping for floods, heatwaves, landslides, and air quality, urban planners underinvest in resilience and insurers misprice risk.

The solution

What was built

HARMONIA built an integrated climate resilience assessment platform on top of GEOSS with four demonstrated components: Data Cubes with optimized query architecture for satellite time series, city-scale climate downscaling models, ecological integrity indexes for urban ecosystems, and atmospheric weather reanalysis and forecasting tools. The system uses ML/DL to process satellite imagery and ground sensor data down to neighborhood and building-block resolution.

Audience

Who needs this

Property and casualty insurers needing granular urban climate risk data for underwritingCity governments and urban planning departments preparing climate adaptation strategiesReal estate investment funds requiring climate due diligence on urban portfoliosEnvironmental consulting firms advising clients on EU Taxonomy climate risk disclosureInfrastructure operators (water utilities, transport networks) exposed to urban flooding and heat events

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Insurance & Reinsurance

enterprise

Target: Property and casualty insurers writing urban real estate policies

If you are a property insurer struggling to price climate risk for urban portfolios — HARMONIA developed city-scale downscaling models and data cubes that map flooding, landslide, and heat island risks at the neighborhood level. Instead of relying on outdated risk tables, you could integrate their atmospheric reanalysis and ecological integrity indexes into your underwriting models. The platform was built by a 23-partner consortium across 10 countries, tested with real satellite time series data.

Urban Planning & Smart Cities

any

Target: Municipal governments and urban development consultancies

If you are a city planning department dealing with rising flood events, worsening air quality, and expanding heat islands — HARMONIA built a modular platform that combines satellite monitoring with machine learning to predict exactly which neighborhoods face the highest risk. Their demo deliverables include city-scale climate downscaling and atmospheric weather forecasting tools. The system integrates ground-level data down to neighborhood and building-block resolution.

Real Estate Development

mid-size

Target: Commercial real estate developers and investment funds

If you are a real estate developer evaluating sites across European cities and need to understand long-term climate exposure — HARMONIA created data cubes and ecological integrity indexes that score urban areas for flood risk, ground deformation, soil degradation, and heat island effects. Their platform processes satellite data time series to show how risks are evolving over time, giving you due diligence data before committing to a 20-year investment. The consortium included 9 SMEs alongside major research institutions.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to access or license this platform?

HARMONIA was funded under a Research and Innovation Action with EUR 4,999,794 in EU contribution. Pricing for commercial access has not been publicly disclosed. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated with the coordinator, Politecnico di Milano, or relevant consortium partners.

Can this work at industrial scale for a portfolio of hundreds of cities?

The platform was designed as a modular, scalable system working on top of GEOSS and DIAS infrastructure, which already cover global satellite data. The data cubes architecture was specifically built for query optimization across large datasets. Scaling to additional cities would depend on local ground-sensor data availability.

Who owns the IP and can we license it?

As an EU-funded RIA project with 23 partners, IP ownership is typically shared among consortium members according to their grant agreement. Politecnico di Milano as coordinator would be the first point of contact. Individual modules may have different IP holders depending on which partner developed them.

Does this comply with EU climate reporting regulations?

HARMONIA was explicitly designed to support Paris Agreement adaptation and mitigation measures and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals monitoring. The ecological integrity indexes and atmospheric data tools could feed into EU Taxonomy and CSRD climate risk disclosure requirements. Based on available project data, specific regulatory certification details are not confirmed.

How long would integration take?

The platform is modular by design, meaning individual components like the data cubes, downscaling models, or air quality modules can be integrated separately. The project ran from June 2021 to January 2025 and produced 29 deliverables including 4 demos. Integration timeline would depend on which modules you need and your existing data infrastructure.

What data sources does the platform use?

HARMONIA integrates satellite data from GEOSS, Copernicus DIAS, ESA TEP, and urban TEP platforms, combined with in-situ ground sensors and auxiliary spatial data. The system processes satellite time series and can incorporate data down to the neighborhood and building-block level. Machine learning and deep learning are used to extract insights from these combined data streams.

Is there ongoing support or is this a finished research project?

The project officially closed in January 2025. Ongoing support would depend on whether consortium partners have commercialized specific modules. The project website at harmonia-project.eu and the 9 SME partners in the consortium suggest commercial interest in continuing development beyond the research phase.

Consortium

Who built it

HARMONIA's 23-partner consortium across 10 countries is unusually large and well-balanced for business adoption. With 10 industry partners and 9 SMEs making up 43% of the consortium, this is not a purely academic exercise — nearly half the team came from companies that need to commercialize results to survive. The mix of 3 universities, 5 research organizations, and 5 other entities (likely public authorities or NGOs) means the platform was stress-tested against both scientific rigor and practical usability. Politecnico di Milano as coordinator brings strong engineering credibility. The geographic spread across Italy, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Switzerland, and the UK covers diverse European climate zones, making the platform more broadly applicable.

POLITECNICO DI MILANOCoordinator · IT
KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLANparticipant · SE
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF REMOTE SENSING COMPANIESparticipant · BE
DIMOS PEIRAIAparticipant · EL
ALPHA CONSULTANTS S.R.L.thirdparty · IT
IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNASparticipant · EL
COMUNE DI MILANOparticipant · IT
STOLICHNA OBSHTINAparticipant · BG
ASSIMILA LIMITEDparticipant · UK
EURONET CONSULTINGparticipant · BE
URBASOFIA SRLparticipant · RO
HUMANITAS MIRASOLE SPAparticipant · IT
ILMATIETEEN LAITOSparticipant · FI
RESILIENCE GUARD GMBHparticipant · CH
GEOSYSTEMS HELLAS IT KAI EFARMOGESGEOPLIROFORIAKON SYSTIMATON ANONIMIETAIREIAparticipant · EL
ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI GEOFISICA E VULCANOLOGIAparticipant · IT
EREVNITIKO PANEPISTIMIAKO INSTITOUTO SYSTIMATON EPIKOINONION KAI YPOLOGISTONparticipant · EL
CREOTECH INSTRUMENTS SPOLKA AKCYJNAparticipant · PL
UNIVERSITATEA DE VEST DIN TIMISOARAparticipant · RO

How to reach the team

Politecnico di Milano (Italy) — reach the project coordinator through the university's research office or the HARMONIA project website contact page

Order a report on this consortium See POLITECNICO DI MILANO profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want an introduction to the HARMONIA team to discuss licensing their climate risk platform for your city or portfolio? SciTransfer can arrange a direct meeting with the right technical contact.

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