Prio
PRIO is a non-profit peace research institute founded in 1959 in Oslo that conducts multidisciplinary research on armed conflict and peaceful relations, serving academic researchers, governments, and international organizations through datasets, peer-reviewed journals, and the AI-enabled VIEWS early-warning system.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1959
- HeadquartersOslo, Norway
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Prio does
PRIO is a non-profit peace research institute founded in 1959 in Oslo, Norway, conducting multidisciplinary research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups, and individuals. The institute operates as one of the world's oldest and most established organizations in its field, with multiple specialized centres covering Cyprus, gender peace and security, the Middle East, culture and conflict, and migration. PRIO employs between 101 and 250 staff and sustains roughly 90 active research projects, supported by a board and an institute-level research directorate.
The institute's core outputs include peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Journal of Military Ethics, International Area Studies Review), proprietary datasets (PRIOGRID, the Opposition Movements and Groups dataset, the Conflict Recurrence Database, and a mirror of the Global Data Lab), and the VIEWS early-warning system, which uses machine learning on open-source data to forecast armed conflict and humanitarian impact. PRIO also operates educational programming such as annual Summer Schools, writing retreats, the Global Fellows network, and Practitioners-in-Residence.
PRIO does not sell commercial products or services. Its operations are financed through project-based grants and framework funding from public, governmental, and philanthropic sources. Major funders include the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission (Horizon Europe), Norad, the European Research Council, and the Complex Risk Analytics Fund (CRAF'D). Research outputs, datasets, and journals are distributed openly to academic researchers, policymakers, governments, international organizations, and the general public via the prio.org website, public events (including Arendalsuka), a monthly newsletter, and active social-media channels.
Prio firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Prio
- Legal name
- Peace Research Institute Oslo
- Website
- https://prio.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1959
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- PRIO is a non-profit peace research institute founded in 1959 in Oslo that conducts multidisciplinary research on armed conflict and peaceful relations, serving academic researchers, governments, and international organizations through datasets, peer-reviewed journals, and the AI-enabled VIEWS early-warning system.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Prio industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Peace and Conflict Research
- NAICS
- National Security and International Affairs (9281), Human Rights Organizations (813311)
- SIC
- International Affairs (9721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Transitional Justice, Accountability & Reparations (BPADAGAL)
Keywords
Where Prio is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Oslo
- HQ country
- Norway
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
Prio business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Project-Based Research Funding: Research financed on a project basis by a range of scientific and policy-oriented funders including government agencies, EU frameworks, and international organizations. Major sources include the Research Council of Norway, Norwegian government ministries, European Commission, and various foundations.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Prio product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PRIO is an independent, non-profit peace research institute that conducts multidisciplinary research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups, and individuals. It produces peer-reviewed journals, open-access conflict datasets (PRIOGRID, OMG, Conflict Recurrence Database), and operates the VIEWS AI-powered violence early-warning system, with research funded on a project basis by governments, the Research Council of Norway, the European Commission, and international organizations.
Product overview
PRIO is a peace research institute that does not offer a commercial product suite. Its primary offerings consist of research publications, datasets (PRIOGRID, Opposition Movements and Groups Dataset, Conflict Recurrence Database, and the Global Data Lab Area Database), academic journals (Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Journal of Military Ethics, International Area Studies Review), events (conferences, seminars, workshops), and various research projects focused on conflict resolution and peace studies.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- PRIO Cyprus Centre: Center focused on peace and conflict research specific to Cyprus
- PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security
- PRIO Middle East Centre
- PRIO Centre on Culture, Conflict and Coexistence
- PRIO Migration Centre
- VIEWS
- EMPOW
- Journal of Peace Research
- Security Dialogue
- PRIOGRID
Products and services
- PRIOGRID Grid-based dataset providing geocoded conflict and peace data for academic and policy researchers studying armed conflict.
- Opposition Movements and Groups (OMG) Dataset Dataset tracking opposition movements and groups globally for researchers studying political mobilization and resistance.
- PRIO Conflict Recurrence Database Database documenting patterns of conflict recurrence for academic and policy analysis.
- Urban Social Disorder v.3 Dataset providing geocoded data on urban social disorder events for use in conflict and violence research.
- Global Data Lab Area Database (PRIO Mirror) PRIO-hosted mirror of sub-national development indicators from Global Data Lab for research on local development outcomes.
- VIEWS - Violence & Impacts Early-Warning System AI-powered early warning system using machine learning and open-source data to produce global forecasts of armed conflict for humanitarian and policy actors.
- Journal of Peace Research Peer-reviewed academic journal published by PRIO covering peace and conflict research, distributed through academic channels and subscriptions.
- Security Dialogue Peer-reviewed academic journal published by PRIO covering security studies and policy.
- Journal of Military Ethics Peer-reviewed academic journal published by PRIO addressing ethical questions in military affairs.
- International Area Studies Review Peer-reviewed academic journal published by PRIO covering international area studies and regional analysis.
Companies that use Prio
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Prio technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Prio partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala UniversitycoreCollaborative partnership on the EMPOW project (Women's Empowerment in Peace Processes). Uppsala University and PRIO work together on creating datasets on women's agency and gender reforms throughout peace processes.
- University of DenvermajorEMPOW project collaboration covering historical trends and key international women's empowerment processes from 1945 to 2025. Provides additional research expertise and historical perspective.
- Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Sikt)coreAgreement for data protection services - Sikt provides Data Protection Officer services and assesses PRIO researchers' processing of personal data for research purposes before processing starts.
- Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)majorEMPOW datasets designed to be interoperable with UCDP data, enabling harmonized analysis of women's empowerment across peace processes.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Prio competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): IISS produces strategic analysis and datasets (Military Balance, Armed Conflict Survey) overlapping with PRIO's security and conflict data work, serving similar defense and policy audiences.
- RAND Corporation: RAND is a much larger policy research organization conducting defense and security research with a comparable mix of datasets, policy briefs, and government-funded project work.
- Chatham House: Chatham House is a broader international affairs think tank with overlapping research on conflict, security, and governance, and a comparable model of independent research funded by governments and foundations.
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Carnegie is a globally established foreign policy think tank producing research and policy recommendations on conflict and peace, with substantially larger scale and a broader geographic footprint than PRIO.
Emerging players
- Peace Direct: Peace Direct is a smaller NGO focused on local peacebuilding, overlapping with PRIO's peacebuilding research and policy engagement but operating as a programmatic rather than research-led organization.
- ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project): ACLED is a newer, more productized conflict event-data platform that competes with PRIO's conflict datasets and shares many of the same humanitarian/policy end users.
Direct peers
- International Crisis Group: Crisis Group produces field-based conflict analysis and policy recommendations to governments and international organizations, overlapping heavily with PRIO's policy advisory role and donor base.
- SIPRI - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: SIPRI is the closest direct peer — an independent peace and conflict research institute publishing flagship datasets (arms transfers, military expenditure) and policy reports, with the same Scandinavian institutional model and similar funder base.
- SWP (German Institute for International and Security Affairs): SWP is a publicly funded European think tank advising the German government on foreign and security policy, mirroring PRIO's advisory role to Norwegian ministries and similar funder/government relationship.
- Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP): UCDP at Uppsala University produces the canonical global armed conflict dataset and is a named data-integration partner of PRIO; comparable in scale, methodology, and academic positioning.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Prio social profiles
Digital presencePrio compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Prio financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Prio leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Prio subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries5 records
Prio funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Prio M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Prio
What does Prio do?
PRIO is an independent, non-profit peace research institute that conducts multidisciplinary research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups, and individuals. It produces peer-reviewed journals, open-access conflict datasets (PRIOGRID, OMG, Conflict Recurrence Database), and operates the VIEWS AI-powered violence early-warning system, with research funded on a project basis by governments, the Research Council of Norway, the European Commission, and international organizations.
Is Prio a public or private company?
Prio is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Prio founded?
Prio was founded in 1959. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Prio based?
Prio is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, in the Europe region.
How does Prio make money?
One revenue line is on record: project-Based Research Funding.
Who are Prio's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Emerging players are Peace Direct and ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project). Direct peers are International Crisis Group, SIPRI - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SWP (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) and Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).
Does Prio have an API?
No public API is recorded for Prio.
What industry is Prio in?
Prio's product category is Peace and Conflict Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADAEAK, Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming, with a secondary code of BPADAGAL, Transitional Justice, Accountability & Reparations. Its NAICS code is 9281 and its SIC code is 9721.