The PIONEER Alliance unites European universities to shape inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities. It equips students and lifelong learners with skills to address ecological, social, and economic urban challenges through joint education, research, and innovation.

By connecting academia, public institutions, businesses, and citizens in a quadruple helix model, PIONEER advances the EU Green Deal, the “Fit for 55” package, and 12 UN SDGs.

Bringing together nine universities and one Swiss partner, it builds an open European campus with interdisciplinary programmes, digital and physical mobility, and strong links to 33 urban ecosystems. Guided by co-creation and inclusion, the PIONEER Knowledge Hub develops eight programmes tackling the key challenges of future cities.

Supported by agile governance and a shared strategy, PIONEER fosters transformation across mobility, inclusion, values, HR, and digitalisation, contributing fully to the European Education and Research Areas.

The PIONEER Alliance members consist of 9 partners, participating in different interrelated activities structured in 8 Work Packages:

Avans University of Applied Sciences (NL), Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon (PT), Laurea University of Applied Sciences (FI), TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences (GE), University of Huelva (ES), Università Iuav di Venezia (IT), Tomas Bata University in Zlín (CZ), University of Žilina (SK), and Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH) as associated partner.

This project is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme Grant Agreement n°101177236. Please find more info here.