Research Projects

The mySMARTLife project (Smart Transition of EU Cities Towards a New Concept of Smart Life and Economy) wich pursues the smart transition of EU cities towards a new concept of smart life and economy, forms part of the Horizon 2020 program. The European Commission has endowed the project with a budget of €22 million with the aim of developing a strategy allowing the transformation of current urban areas into sustainable environments capable of responding to the most important challenges facing cities in the coming years. In this respect, the project is based on the understanding that in order to attain this goal it is necessary to conceive a new integral urban planning model that is focused on the one hand on the concept “smart people”, i.e., the development of an agreeable space that encourages human activities and the involvement of citizens in decision making, with the aid of new information systems; and on the other hand, the concept “smart economy”, characterized by providing incentives for the creation of new business models that can have a great socioeconomic impact and at the same time foster public-private partnerships and small businesses linked to innovative schemes. 

Nantes (France), Hamburg (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland) will act as lead cities or “lighthouses” in order to perform a full-scale implementation of the new urban planning methodology and thus validate it on all levels, with data for at least two years, before replicating it in the follower cities of Varna (Bulgaria), Bydgoszcz (Poland), Rijeka (Croatia) and Palencia (Spain). On a technical level, the schemes will focus on mobility and urban infrastructure management and on the energy model, in both cases making use of the existing ICT solutions.  

Esade, through the Center for Public Governance (EsadeGov), will take charge of analysing the key factors for ensuring that the business schemes promoted by these new urban models in the future will be consistent and lasting. To this end, the study will focus primarily on the analysis of planning, implementation and funding, without neglecting key factors for governance such as citizen participation and the relationship with stakeholders. 

Contact: 

Francesc Pardo 

Principal Researcher at Esade

francesc.pardo@esade.edu 

Video of Horizon 2020 Projects 

Project REPLICATE_ Renaissance of PLaces with Innovative Citizenship And TEchnology. 
Horizon 2020 program. Call: H2020-SCC-2014-2015 "Lighthouse" 
5 years  
Start data: February 1, 2016 
29 M euros 

REPLICATE is a “Lighthouse” project that aims to integrate technological solutions that enhance quality of life for citizens across Europe by demonstrating the impact of innovative technologies used to co-create smart city services with citizens, and to prove the optimal process for replicating successes within cities and across cities. 

The consortium driving REPLICATE is made up of 36 members. 

Contact: 

Francesc Pardo

francesc.pardo@esade.edu 

Project COMPOSITE (Comparative Police Studies in the European Union) 
7th European Framework Programme 2010-2014  
4 years  
10,532,000 euros 

Research project focused on the processes of change in police forces across Europe. Some of these change projects achieve their goals, but some fail or face serious problems. COMPOSITE attempts to ascertain which factors contribute to the success or failure of these change processes based on the study of organisational structures, identities and cultures, as well as leadership styles and processes. 

COMPOSITE consists of 15 partners from ten European countries. It co-operates with the police forces in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Macedonia, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the UK. 

Contact: 

Tamyko Ysa  / tamyko.ysa@esade.edu 

Project ALICE-RAP (Addictions and Lifestyles In Contemporary Europe - Reframing Addictions Project)  
7th European Framework Programme 2011-2015  
4 years 
10,000,000 euros 

ALICE RAP (Addictions and Lifestyles in Contemporary Europe – Reframing Addictions Project) is the first major European study on addictions and its impact on wealth, health and stealth. The objective of this project, which will run for five years and cost 10 million euros co-financed by the European Union, is to stimulate public and comprehensive dialogue and discuss current and alternative approaches in relation to addictions. 

To achieve this objective, ninety of the best European researchers in twenty-five countries will investigate, document and analyse the actors, policies and benefits that have shaped attitudes and current governance in relation to addictions, including drugs and gambling. It will analyse the business of addiction through studies into the revenues, profits and participants of legal and illegal trade, and the impact of providers on substance use and behaviours, as well as analysis of networks of influence as respect to policy responses. 

Latest news about Research Project: 

May 2011: The IGDP in the Alice-Rap macro research project   

Contact: 

Tamyko Ysa  / tamyko.ysa@esade.edu 

LIPSE Project– Learning from Innovation in Public Sector Environments  
7th European Framework Programme 2012-2016  
3,5 years 
3,168,998.40 euros 

Research project focused to identify the facilitators and barriers to social innovation in the European public sector as well as study the impact (outcomes) of these processes in terms of efficiency and effectiveness but also of other political and social values (fairness, access or equality). LIPSE consists of 12 academic partners in eleven European countries. 

MICINN-MCIU 2021: Enhancing the Quality of Our Public Services: Assessing the Effects of Organisational Forms in Public Services Quality. Duration: 3 years.

MINECO 2016: Predicting Collaboration Success: an empirical approach on the performance determinants of cross-sector collaborations. Duration: 3 years. 

MICINN 2009: Public-private partnerships and organisational change. Duration: 3 years. 

MEC 2006: Systems of public-private partnership in public services provision: Management and empirical evidence analysis. Duration: 3 years. 

IMSERSO 2006: Duration: 1 year. 

The group, recognized as an emerging research group between 2005 and 2009 by the Agency for Administration of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), focuses on knowledge surrounding leadership and innovation in governance. 

In 2009, it became a consolidated research group recognized by the Generalitat de Catalunya. 

The GLIGP’s research focuses on the following key lines: 

The exercise of leadership in public organizations: 
On the one hand, this deals with concepts and leadership styles and their manifestations in the public environment and, secondly, public management models based on results. 

Governance models for policy implementation and the provision of public services: 
On the one hand, this deals with developing relational patterns and network management regarding the preparation, design and implementation of public decisions and, secondly, it focuses on public-private partnerships. 

Escola d'Administració Pública de Catalunya (EAPC) financial aid to public management 

The Escola d’Administració Pública de Catalunya (EAPC) awards grants for carrying out research on public management, public law, administrative organisation, public-sector economics and public services.   

Aid to public management (2013). Technological Innovation and Collaborative e-Government: Managing the Benefits and Risks of Exchange Projects in Catalonia aims to go further and improve the critical success factors model and thus the analysis and management of the key variables of e-Government inter-operability processes. 

Aid to public management (2011-2012). Managing interoperability in E-government in the Catalan Public Administrations.  

1) Download to the executive summary of the final report 

2) Download the final report  

3) Access to the debate-discussion on interoperability essentially held in Congress Interoperability and Security in 2013 and stating that the study participated. 

Aid to public management (2009-2010). Collaborative network portfolio management. This research project seeks to look into how a network portfolio approach can help improve network management.    

Aid to public management (2007-2008). Professional public management in Catalan administrations. Study on current conditions and challenges for its institutionalisation and development. 

Aid to public management (2005-2006). Public management scenarios in the twenty-first century. The central purpose of this project is to provide public managers a chance to reflect on how to improve their skills and tackle the complexity of the scenarios in which they work. 

Aid for research projects in the field of democratic quality 

Following the mandate of promoting innovation and research in the field of citizen participation and democratic quality, the Innovation and Quality Program Department of Democratic Governance and Institutional Relations promotes research in the field of democratic quality through a public call of research grants. To this end, on December 11, 2012, the Department of Governance and Institutional Relations and the Agency for Management of University and Research (AGAUR ) signed a collaboration agreement aimed at managing the call for aid research projects in the field of democratic quality by 2013. The call, with a maximum of 60,000 Euros, intended to promote research on various topics of interest to improve the democratic system, such as the relationship of citizen participation in power structures, new technologies and globalization, the government, systems of democratic quality indicators and citizen management of public spaces, among others. 

On July 18, 2013 it was resolved this call. Among the eight projects selected is the Institute of Governance and Public Management, "Social Networks, transparency and open government in Catalonia", directed by Dr. Mila Gasco (mila.gasco@esade.edu). 

2010 Research Training 
Financial assistance to recruit new research personnel. 
Duration: 4 years. 

BE Scholarships: PhD study abroad 
Six-month period for an EsadeGov PhD student at Cardiff University