The Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR) – lead partner

The Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region is a public institution responsible for the regional development of the Ljubljana Urban Region (LUR). With its interdisciplinary knowledge and approach it identifies the challenges of the future and turns them into development opportunities for the region, contributing to a higher quality of life and a responsible and innovative society. The agency’s main tasks include preparing, coordinating and implementing regional development programmes, providing advice and expert support to local decision-making bodies and ensuring the coordinated development of the 25 municipalities in the LUR. Strategic planning of projects, for which it draws most of its funding from various European funds, is also of major importance. Within the projects, it develops innovative mechanisms and business models with high applied value in the fields of sustainable mobility, prudent use of natural resources, energy, exploitation of creative and cultural potential and better accessibility of user-friendly public services.

“Jožef Stefan” Institute, Department of Knowledge Technologies

The Jožef Stefan Institute is Slovenia’s largest research organisation, conducting cutting-edge research and development in technologies including communications, computing, knowledge and environmental technologies. The Knowledge Technologies Unit has some 40 highly-educated experts conducting research and developing applications in the field of artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on machine learning, data analysis and mining, language technologies and decision support. The Unit is particularly relevant for the development of criterial systems and multi-criteria evaluation models and their integration into decision support systems. For example, in the field of transport, a system (and software) for optimal tunnelling has been applied, and application areas also include health, agronomy, food production and security.

LUZ d.d. (Urban Institute of Ljubljana)

The company is home in spatial planning, focusing on an integrated approach to all the areas and building blocks that make up a quality (public) space. Independently and in conjunction with business partners, companies, experts and groups, the company carries out tasks in the fields of spatial and urban planning, architecture and landscape architecture, environmental protection, transport planning and infrastructure design, municipal infrastructure, energy and spatial informatics. The company is rapidly developing new areas of work and establishing itself in the field of urban economics and is testing the possibilities offered by international projects, where an interdisciplinary team of highly educated professionals is key.

IPoP – Institute for spatial policies

IPoP works in the public interest in the fields of environment, spatial planning and sustainable mobility. Within the last it focuses mainly on active mobility, parking policy, strategic transport planning and the development of spaces and places tailored to people, not cars. In addition to research in these areas, it introduces models and practices that reduce car use in everyday life in spaces throughout Slovenia, e.g. “Pedestrian Bus”, “Bicycle Train”, Parking Pulse Analysis, “Open Street”, Walkability Plan, Safe School Arrival Zone, etc. It continuously follows advanced practices abroad and keeps an overview of local needs through continuous commissions and campaigns for municipalities. IPoP is also a developer of municipal parking policies, a service they have already implemented for a number of municipalities. It has also been involved in the preparation of some integrated transport strategies. It is an active member of the Sustainable Transport Policy Coalition.

GoOpti d.o.o.

GoOpti d.o.o. is an international road passenger transport company. It is a platform for organising group transport. It operates through a franchise system and is present in Slovenia, Italy and Croatia with local operators. The most innovative part of the GoOpti platform is the system of pricing models and smart algorithms based on machine learning principles. These models allow the company to organise flexible transport at the desired times from home to the final location, even for the price of a bus with reliable and professional transport companies. The key to successfully moving people from drivers to passengers is the combination of reliability, flexibility and affordable price, which GoOpti has successfully achieved in airport transfers and is trying to achieve the same success in other areas of passenger transport.

CER Partnership

CER is a non-governmental organisation with public interest status in the field of energy. It is Slovenia’s first Sustainable Economy Partnership. It brings together over 80 companies, educational and research institutions and NGOs and has established itself in the period of over a decade as one of the key players in active promotion of a climate-neutral economy. It is a project-oriented company with extensive experience in obtaining various sources of funding (grants, memberships, sponsorships) and in applying for and managing national projects. It initiates regulatory reform initiatives and organises business breakfasts, conferences, roundtables, educational programmes, expert and business delegations, best practice tours, research, publications, hackathons and campaigns, and participates in two competence centres, KOC INOVATIS and KCDM 3.0. Staff are certified in sustainability management.

ZDS – Association of Employers of Slovenia

The Slovenian Employers’ Association g.i.z. is the first voluntary (non-profit) economic interest association in Slovenia, which brings together more than 1,000 Slovenian companies from all sectors of the economy, together representing more than 50% of the business in terms of number of employees and total revenue in Slovenia. The main objective of the ZDS is to conduct social dialogue and to represent and protect the interests of employers. The ZDS is the Slovenian employers’ representative in BUSINESSEUROPE, IOE (ILO) and BIAC (OECD). It also has a seat on the National Socio-Economic Council and various other tripartite councils and committees in Slovenia and abroad. It promotes corporate social responsibility and participates in collective bargaining at all levels, is involved in social and labour market policy issues and legislation, and participates as a representative of the social partners in various government working groups. It also provides advice and a range of training and educational activities for its members.

Nordland Research Institute (NRI)

NRI is a well-established research organisation in Norway and is involved in national and international projects funded by the Research Council of Norway and the EU (Horizon 2020) and other funds. Projects focus on entrepreneurship, environment and welfare, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. NRI has an interdisciplinary team of experts and long experience in transdisciplinary research projects involving a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors in relation to societal and environmental challenges. The Institute is also a partner of the Norwegian Research Centre for Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change (Noradapt) and is actively involved in research in the fields of circular economy, economics, green innovation, tourism, social innovation, transport and spatial planning.