CATALYSE

Knowledge Institutions Catalysing Local Action for Net Zero

Many cities are already pursuing innovative approaches to climate protection and sustainability. However, these efforts are often fragmented and insufficiently embedded in long-term strategic frameworks. CATALYSE examines how mission-oriented policies can enable a more comprehensive transformation – moving beyond isolated pilot projects to embed and strengthen a sustainable transformation within local contexts.

The focus is on institutions and organisations that act as transformative hubs in regional and municipal knowledge and education landscapes in the context of research and development. By aligning more closely with mission-oriented policy approaches, CATALYSE fosters stronger integration among diverse stakeholders, including city administrations, businesses, policymakers, civil society organisations, and citizens. In doing so, it ensures that knowledge generation and innovation translate into tangible, long-term transformation at the local level.

CATALYSE addresses three key challenges:

  • Climate protection measures are often insufficiently anchored in local contexts
  • The potential of social innovation remains largely unexploitet
  • Urban innovation processes are frequently project-based and short-term

In response, the project creates inclusive spaces for joint action, promotes mutual learning across cities, and strengthens the capacity of knowledge institutions to act as agents of transformation.

CATALYSE works with four pilot cities where local priorities are aligned with global climate goals:

  • Leipzig: Adapting the Climate City Contract at neighbourhood level
  • Manchester: Positioning knowledge institutions as catalysts for integrated urban innovation
  • Rotterdam: Advancing a fair heat transition towards climate neutrality
  • Vienna: Shaping a climate-neutral future through the integrated district development of inner-city industrial and railway brownfield sites

Coordinated by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and supported by ten European partners, CATALYSE lays a strong foundation for lasting change. By bridging science and practice, local action and European ambitions, the project helps ensure that climate neutrality becomes not just a policy objective, but a lived reality in the cities of tomorrow.

Project duration
09/2025 – 08/2028

Funded by
EU (Horizon Europe)

Consortium
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (Lead), Frauenhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung EV, The University of Manchester, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH, Greenovate ! Europe, Stadt Leipzig, Anderen B.V. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority, superwien urbansism ZT GmbH, future.lab TU Wien

Project team at future.lab
Christian Peer
Ruth Höpler

Further information
Horizon Europe
CATALYSE

Header Bild: TU Wien future.lab, Zeynep Ögdül, 2025