ISINNOVA
ISINNOVA is a Rome-based cooperative research institute founded in 1971 that delivers foresight, advisory, communications, and project management services to European public institutions, research bodies, cities, and industry, leveraging its proprietary INSPIRE™ replicability tool and a track record of 130+ completed international projects.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1971
- HeadquartersRoma, Italy
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ISINNOVA does
ISINNOVA is an independent cooperative research institute founded in 1971 and headquartered in Rome, Italy, with approximately 16 team members organized across research, project management, communications, and finance functions. The firm delivers strategic research-based consulting to public institutions, research bodies, industry, and cities across Europe, organized around five research areas: Transport and Mobility, Smart Sustainable Cities, Energy and Environment, Health, and Responsible Research and Innovation. Its primary service lines are Advisory, Communications, Foresight, and Project Management, with a cumulative track record of more than 130 completed international projects and over 100 EU-funded research and innovation projects.
The firm's core technical asset is INSPIRE™ (INnovation System for Planning and Implementing REplication), a registered, proprietary decision-support tool that quantifies the replicability of solutions across technological, institutional, socio-cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions, producing 0–100% scores aggregated into overall rankings. INSPIRE™ has been deployed across 12 countries in EU projects including RUGGEDISED, REGATRACE, and BIOMETHAVERSE. Supporting products include the SINFONICA Knowledge Map Explorer (an intelligent navigation system for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility) and the AI4SoilHealth app, an AI-powered tool for soil health prediction and farmer recommendations deployed across 100 planned living labs and lighthouses. The MICATool extends the firm's analytical reach into cross-sectoral climate neutrality policy assessment.
ISINNOVA's business model is professional services revenue earned primarily through participation in EU-funded research and innovation programs, with Horizon Europe as the central funding stream. The firm acts as both coordinator and partner in competitive consortium proposals, generating revenue through project delivery, research services, and consortium leadership. Distribution is direct, relationship-driven, and built on European research networks including UERA (joined February 2025), APRE's 'Towards FP10' expert group (chaired by Senior Partner Andrea Ricci), and Ecosistema Futuro (founding member, 2025). Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated per project based on scope and duration. The client base is concentrated in the European public sector and supranational institutions, with the European Commission as the dominant underlying funding source.
ISINNOVA firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ISINNOVA
- Legal name
- ISINNOVA
- Website
- https://isinnova.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1971
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ISINNOVA is a Rome-based cooperative research institute founded in 1971 that delivers foresight, advisory, communications, and project management services to European public institutions, research bodies, cities, and industry, leveraging its proprietary INSPIRE™ replicability tool and a track record of 130+ completed international projects.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ISINNOVA industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Research & Innovation Consulting Services
- NAICS
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- ESG, Sustainability & Impact Research (BPAHALAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- EIA/ESIA Documentation & Technical Studies (Air/Water/Noise/Traffic) (EUAHAAAC), Stakeholder Engagement, Indigenous/Tribal Consultation & Social Impact (SIA) (EUAHAAAH), Economic Research, Statistics & Policy Advisory (BPADAMAJ), ESG Governance, Sustainability Reporting & Assurance Advisory (BPAHAFAJ)
Keywords
Where ISINNOVA is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Roma
- HQ country
- Italy
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
ISINNOVA business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- EU Research Project Funding: ISINNOVA generates revenue primarily through participation as coordinator and partner in EU-funded research and innovation programs, particularly Horizon Europe. The organization receives funding for project delivery, research services, and consortium leadership. As a research institute, project funding constitutes the main revenue stream.
- Strategic Advisory Services: ISINNOVA provides advisory services to public bodies, institutions, and stakeholders for creating pathways to sustainable growth and innovation. Services include strategic planning, foresight, and consensus building for medium- and long-term strategies.
- Communication and Dissemination Services: ISINNOVA provides tailored strategic communication services including branding, digital presence management, and multimedia content creation to engage stakeholders effectively for both public and private sector entities.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
ISINNOVA product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ISINNOVA is a cooperative research institute that delivers advisory, communications, foresight, and project management services to public bodies, institutions, and industry stakeholders working on complex sustainability, mobility, energy, and innovation challenges. It pairs these professional services with a proprietary decision-support methodology—INSPIRE™—that quantifies the replicability of solutions across technological, institutional, socio-cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions.
Product overview
ISINNOVA is an independent cooperative research institute offering strategic research-based solutions to complex societal challenges. The organization operates a platform-plus-services model, combining its core INSPIRE™ tool (a quantitative decision-support system for evaluating solution replicability with 0-100% scoring across multiple dimensions) with specialized services including Advisory, Communications, Foresight, and Project Management. Supporting products include the Knowledge Map Explorer (interactive navigation system for CCAM knowledge) and AI-powered tools like the AI4SoilHealth app for soil monitoring. Services are delivered across five research areas: Transport and Mobility, Smart Sustainable Cities, Energy and Environment, Health, and Responsible Research and Innovation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- INSPIRE™: A decision-support tool that helps teams evaluate how replicable a solution is, where, and why. It quantifies replication potential across dimensions including technological, institutional, socio-cultural, environmental, and economic factors.
Products and services
- INSPIRE™ A proprietary decision-support tool that helps teams evaluate how replicable a solution is across different contexts, assigning a 0–100% replicability score aggregated across technological, institutional, socio-cultural, environmental, economic, and case-specific dimensions.
- Advisory Services Strategic, research-based consulting services supporting communities, policy makers, and industry in developing solutions to complex societal challenges such as sustainability transitions, clean energy, and responsible innovation.
- Communications Services Tailored strategic communication services including branding, digital presence management, and multimedia content creation (videos, animations, infographics) to engage stakeholders effectively for both public and private sector clients.
- Foresight Services Strategic foresight services using horizon scanning and consensus building to craft medium- and long-term strategies for organizations across various governance levels.
- Project Management Services EU research project management services including assistance in securing funding, internationalization, and network expansion support, delivered primarily through participation in EU-funded research consortia.
Quantifiable outcome
- INSPIRE™ tested across 12 countries in multiple EU projects (RUGGEDISED, REGATRACE, BIOMETHAVERSE)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ISINNOVA
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
ISINNOVA technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature3 records
ISINNOVA partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Ecosistema FuturocoreEcosistema Futuro is a landmark initiative promoted by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) to place long-term thinking at the heart of Italy's cultural, political, economic, and social debate. ISINNOVA is a founding member and Andrea Ricci serves on the steering committee and co-leads the Research task force. The initiative connects entities working on futures across natural sciences, technology, economics, and design.
- Urban Europe Research Alliance (UERA)coreUERA is a flagship initiative of JPI Urban Europe created to strengthen partnerships between research institutions and advance urban sustainability. ISINNOVA officially joined UERA in March 2025, gaining opportunity to collaborate with top-tier urban research institutions across Europe. UERA unites approximately 60 research organizations from 20 European countries.
- European CommissioncorePrimary funding source and partner through Horizon Europe and other EU research programs. ISINNOVA participates as coordinator and partner in numerous EU-funded projects addressing sustainable development, mobility, energy, health, and environmental challenges.
- APRE (Agency for the Promotion of European Research)coreAPRE is Italy's agency for the promotion of European research. ISINNOVA's Senior Partner Andrea Ricci coordinates and chairs the APRE 'Towards FP10' expert group, contributing to European dialogue on FP10 research framework (2028-2034). The group produces recommendations for Italy's positioning in European research policy.
- European Environment Agency (EEA)minorEU agency providing environmental knowledge. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page for potential research collaboration in environmental and sustainability initiatives.
- World Health Organization (WHO)minorUN agency for international public health. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page, potentially for health-related research projects including FRESHER health foresight initiative.
- Imperial College LondonminorPrestigious UK university and research institution. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page for potential research collaboration in sustainability and innovation areas.
- Fraunhofer InstituteminorLeading German research organization. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page for potential technology and innovation research collaboration.
- Sapienza University of RomeminorMajor Italian university. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page for potential academic research collaboration.
- PwC ItalyminorProfessional services firm. Listed as collaboration partner on ISINNOVA's global network page for potential advisory and consulting collaboration.
- JPI Urban EuropecoreJoint Programming Initiative for coordinating European urban research. Parent organization of UERA. Through UERA membership, ISINNOVA participates in defining European urban research priorities through Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda contributions.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ISINNOVA competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Fraunhofer Institute: Germany's largest applied research organisation, collaborating with ISINNOVA on joint projects. Comparable in EU research consortium participation and sustainability/innovation portfolio, though significantly larger and broader in scope.
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden: Swedish state research institute participating in EU projects across sustainability, mobility, and responsible innovation. Comparable as an applied-research peer competing for EU project leadership and providing policy advisory.
- TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research): Dutch applied research organisation active in EU research consortia on sustainability, mobility, energy and health. Comparable as an applied-research peer competing for Horizon Europe project leadership, with similar foresight and policy advisory capabilities.
- Tecnalia Research & Innovation: Spain's largest applied research centre, participating in EU Horizon projects across sustainability, mobility, and digital. Comparable to ISINNOVA as an EU research-performing organisation, but with significantly larger headcount and broader industrial footprint.
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Finland's applied research institute with strong EU funding participation across sustainability, mobility and responsible innovation. Comparable to ISINNOVA in its Horizon Europe consortium participation and foresight services for public institutions.
Direct peers
- VITO: Belgian Flemish Institute for Technological Research, focused on sustainability, climate, energy, and environmental research with strong EU project participation. Closely comparable to ISINNOVA on environmental research, foresight, and consortium-based delivery to public-sector clients.
- ICLEI Europe: European secretariat of ICLEI working with cities on sustainable urban development, mobility, and climate neutrality. Comparable to ISINNOVA in EU-funded urban sustainability and replication projects (e.g., Handshake cycling replication) targeting municipalities.
- IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis): Austria-based international research institute applying systems analysis to sustainability, energy, and policy challenges. Comparable in quantitative foresight and systems-thinking approach, including projects like MICATool on climate-neutrality policy assessment.
- EIT Climate-KIC: EU-backed climate innovation community coordinating systemic innovation, foresight and replication across European regions. Comparable to ISINNOVA in deep EU institutional linkage and in supporting replication of sustainability solutions across cities.
- Wuppertal Institute: German research institute focused on sustainability transitions, climate policy and resource strategies, active in EU-funded foresight and transition research. Comparable in advisory/foresight work for public institutions and in methodological orientation.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ISINNOVA social profiles
Digital presenceISINNOVA financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ISINNOVA leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
ISINNOVA funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ISINNOVA 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 ISINNOVA
What does ISINNOVA do?
ISINNOVA is a cooperative research institute that delivers advisory, communications, foresight, and project management services to public bodies, institutions, and industry stakeholders working on complex sustainability, mobility, energy, and innovation challenges. It pairs these professional services with a proprietary decision-support methodology—INSPIRE™—that quantifies the replicability of solutions across technological, institutional, socio-cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions.
Is ISINNOVA a public or private company?
ISINNOVA is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was ISINNOVA founded?
ISINNOVA was founded in 1971. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ISINNOVA based?
ISINNOVA is headquartered in Roma, Italy, in the Europe region.
How does ISINNOVA make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. EU Research Project Funding is the primary driver. The others are strategic Advisory Services and communication and Dissemination Services.
Who are ISINNOVA's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Fraunhofer Institute, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), Tecnalia Research & Innovation and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Direct peers are VITO, ICLEI Europe, IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis), EIT Climate-KIC and Wuppertal Institute.
Does ISINNOVA have an API?
No public API is recorded for ISINNOVA.
What industry is ISINNOVA in?
ISINNOVA's product category is Research & Innovation Consulting Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHALAL, ESG, Sustainability & Impact Research, with a secondary code of EUAHAAAC, EIA/ESIA Documentation & Technical Studies (Air/Water/Noise/Traffic). Its NAICS code is 5416 and its SIC code is 8700.