The PIONEER Alliance aims to shape the future of inclusive, sustainable and resilient cities providing students and lifelong learners dedicated skills in a European environment.

The PIONEER Alliance universities train altogether over 130.000 students with more than 17.500 faculty and staff members on 33 campuses, 32 cities and 16 regions. All PIONEER partners are interested in the development of education and RDI activities focused on the future cities to serve societal issues and needs. The PIONEER Alliance will orchestrate pan-European learning co-creation that link Education and Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) in a Knowledge Hub in constant interactions with its Ecosystems in a Forum in order to provide high quality education that will meet the needs of the European labour market and future inclusive, sustainable and resilient cities.

Pioneering sustainable cities and communities

PIONEER leverages the European University Initiative to bring together our institutions in a federal organisation with a joint development strategy which provides a clear added value to inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities.

Despite occupying less than 2% of the planet’s surface, cities are home to 56% of the world’s population and generate more than 80% of global GDP, according to the United Nations. They consume 78% of the world’s energy and 80% of the world’s food. 60% of greenhouse gas emissions come directly from cities, and indirectly, at least another 20% of emissions are caused by city dwellers. This is why the United Nations has dedicated one of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 11, to sustainable cities and communities, with the explicit mandate to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. As the UN put it: “For all of us to survive and thrive, we need new, smart urban planning that creates safe, affordable and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions.”

Progress on more than 50% of targets of the SDGs is weak and insufficient. This is a key concern for our students, staff and other key stakeholders, and one that we, as an institution, are committed to addressing. As an impact-driven European University Initiative with a clear competence in urban affairs, we accept our responsibility to better fulfil our mission to educate the citizens of the future and to engage partners and stakeholders to discover, co-create and implement new solutions by focusing on well-defined challenges.

To succeed, we can no longer work alone, but must come together at the European level, alongside our public and private partners. Together, we need to rethink the role of cities, not only as drivers of societal change, but also as beacons of sustainability.

We will help European cities to become more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, as stated in SDG11, in order to realise their potential in the face of increasingly pressing challenges at European and planetary level.

Read more: Download Mission Statement