Prio

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.

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

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

• Peace and conflict research
• Conflict early warning
• Armed conflict datasets
• Peer-reviewed journals
• Policy research briefs

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. 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

Core 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.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative 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 DenvermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEMPOW 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)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAgreement 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)majorTechnology or IntegrationEMPOW 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

Broad 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

• Xx.com/prioupdates
• GitHubgithub.com/prio-data
• Facebookfacebook.com/PRIO.org
• LinkedInno.linkedin.com/company/prio
• Instagraminstagram.com/prioresearch

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Prio