TUBA-LYON

What TUBA-LYON does

TUBÀ is a French non-profit association (Association Lyon Urban Data, founded 2014) operating as the designated third-place ("tiers-lieu") for urban data, responsible digital technology, and urban transitions in the Greater Lyon metropolitan territory. Its stated mission is to facilitate encounters and co-construction between entrepreneurs, large corporates, public authorities, higher education and research institutions, and citizens around digital, data, and urban topics. Operationally, TUBÀ combines a physical venue at 227 Cours Lafayette, Lyon, with a year-round programme of approximately 20 events (open cafés, meet-ups, workshops, roundtables, hackathons, and its TUBA'Rex testimony format) that engage over 1,000 citizens annually. Its service offering spans physical collaboration spaces (the LAB living lab, Atelier des possibles, Kiosque 1.0), an experimentation-support programme for SMEs and startups (Le Tube à Essai), an annual data hackathon (Défi Datable), and a growing portfolio of AI and personal-data literacy initiatives including IMMERSION IA, Boussole de l'IA, and Self Data Lab. The association also conducts applied projects on mobility data, air quality, digital identity, and smart-city governance with public and private partners.

TUBÀ does not develop proprietary software; instead it acts as a convening body that applies open-data methodologies, living-lab approaches, and participatory design to urban innovation. Its technology stack is essentially methodological (open data, civic participation frameworks, digital mediation tools) rather than a product platform. Direct monetisation comes from three streams: (i) recurring association membership fees that grant free access to spaces, (ii) pay-as-you-go rental of meeting rooms to non-members at publicly listed rates (€90-€700 HT depending on room and duration), and (iii) project-based revenue through grants, public procurement, and co-development agreements with institutional partners. The most important anchor is Métropole de Lyon, supplemented by EU FEDER co-financing, and recurring project partners include SNCF, Caisse des Dépôts, Atmo AURA, Cerema, Orange, Neovya, CNNum, IGN, IMU, and Datactivist. The coworking space has been closed, leaving meeting rooms and the LAB as the remaining physical assets.

Customer segments are deliberately diversified: professionals and SMEs seek experimentation environments and access to public-sector buyers; public institutions and local authorities use TUBÀ for citizen engagement, open-data strategy, and innovation procurement; higher-education and research bodies leverage living-lab access for applied research; and a general-public segment is engaged through events and workshops. Pricing for room rentals is publicly disclosed; project work is negotiated bilaterally with partners. The organisation is governed by a president (Jean-Philippe Cagne, appointed June 2020) and managed by a director (Frédéric Lecoin, appointed December 2021), and is registered as Association Lyon Urban Data under French law 1901.

Name

TUBA-LYON

Legal name

Association Lyon Urban Data

Website

https://tuba-lyon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TUBÀ is a French non-profit third-place founded in 2014 in Greater Lyon that convenes public, private, academic, and citizen stakeholders around urban data, responsible digital, and urban transitions. It delivers collaborative innovation projects, 20+ annual events, shared workspaces, and AI literacy programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Innovation Services

SIC

Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Venue Sourcing & Site Coordination (HSACAAAD)

Keywords

• Urban data innovation
• Smart city facilitation
• Third place services
• Open data mediation
• Citizen engagement programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership and room rental: TUBÀ provides meeting rooms and event spaces (LAB, Atelier des possibles, Kiosque 1.0) to members and external organisations for workshops, trainings, seminars, and events. Spaces are free for association members; non-members pay rental fees.
2. Membership fees: Access to TUBÀ's spaces and services is granted to members of the association, implying recurring membership fees as a revenue stream supporting the organisation's operations.
3. Project-based public and private funding: TUBÀ conducts collaborative innovation projects with partners including Métropole de Lyon, SNCF, Caisse des Dépôts, and others. These projects generate funding through grants, public procurement, and co-development agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

TUBÀ (Association Lyon Urban Data) operates a third-place (tiers-lieu) in Greater Lyon dedicated to urban data, responsible digital technology, and urban transitions. It provides rentable meeting and experimentation spaces (LAB, Atelier des possibles, Kiosque 1.0), organises 20+ events per year including hackathons, workshops and roundtables, and conducts collaborative innovation projects connecting public authorities, private companies, researchers and citizens around urban mobility, air quality, AI and open-data topics.

Product overview

TUBA-LYON operates as a collaborative third-place (tiers-lieu) focused on urban data, responsible digital, and urban transitions in Greater Lyon. The organization offers physical spaces for collaboration (LAB, Atelier des possibles, Kiosque 1.0), organizes innovation events and hackathons (Défi Datable), and provides mediation and support services for digital projects (IMMERSION IA, Boussole de l'IA, Le Tube à Essai, Self Data Lab). Rather than a unified software product, TUBA functions as a physical innovation hub offering meeting spaces, project facilitation, and educational programs around data and AI topics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LAB A modular experimentation, awareness and knowledge-sharing space functioning as a living lab for testing products and services in real conditions; also used as an event venue for conferences, round tables and workshops by members and external organisations.
• Atelier des possibles A creativity meeting room for 5–12 people, equipped with a video projector, whiteboard and collaborative tools, rented to organisations for workshops, training sessions and small seminars.
• Kiosque 1.0 A compact meeting room for 1–5 people equipped with a TV screen, WiFi and conference-calling facilities, rented to organisations for small group discussions.
• IMMERSION IA An educational and interactive awareness format that familiarises participants with artificial intelligence technologies and their societal implications, delivered as a workshop or program for organisations, students and the public.
• Boussole de l'IA A mediation and decision-support prototype that helps organisations navigate AI implementations and make informed choices about adopting artificial intelligence tools.
• Le Tube à Essai An experimentation support program for SMEs and startups in the Greater Lyon territory, providing guidance, resources and access to TUBÀ's living-lab environment for testing innovative urban-data and digital solutions.
• Self Data Lab An initiative promoting ethical approaches to personal data, empowering citizens and organisations to become active participants in managing personal data through mediation, workshops and tools.
• Défi Datable An annual hackathon that reveals the potential of data for social and environmental challenges in the Lyon metropolitan area, where teams solve real problems using data and creative solutions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1000 citizens mobilised annually across projects and activities
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, significant and minor.

• SNCF (direction digitale)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNCF partnered with TUBÀ on the 5G use case study in Part-Dieu and Perrache stations (2018–2019) and co-organised citizen consultation events on digital identity with CNNum. TUBÀ conducted observation, ideation, and prototyping workshops with railway agents and travellers to identify new digital service opportunities.
• Métropole de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMétropole de Lyon is the primary institutional backer of TUBÀ. TUBÀ serves as the designated third-place for urban data and digital transitions for the Greater Lyon territory, conducting projects on mobility data, air quality, and smart city governance.
• Caisse des DépôtsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funded the [R]-Challenge open innovation programme alongside Métropole de Lyon and Atmo AURA. The challenge sought digital, technological, and social innovation projects to improve air quality on the Lyon metropolitan territory (2017–2019).
• Atmo AURAmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAir quality observatory for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, providing data and expertise for the [R]-Challenge and URPOLSENS study. Contributed air quality data and scientific knowledge to innovation projects hosted at TUBÀ.
• DatactivistsignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerA cooperative specialising in open data that co-developed methodology and tools with TUBÀ, including the Open Data Canvas framework, hackathon checklists, and data visualisation guides shared via TUBÀ's toolbox.
• CeremasignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in TUBÀ's 'Données de mobilité et ville apaisée' roundtable alongside Neovya and Orange. Contributed expertise in urban mobility modelling and intelligent city frameworks, including the AVATAR AI traffic data project.
• CNNum (Conseil national du numérique)significantStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered on the digital identity (Identité numérique) mediation programme including citizen consultations, open cafés, and meet-ups held at TUBÀ. CNNum contributed the 'Identités Numériques, clés de voûte de la citoyenneté numérique' report as a knowledge base for the events.
• IMU (Institut des Mondes Urbains)significantStrategic or Co-development PartnerFinanced and labelled the URPOLSENS study on air quality perception, conducted by researcher Lou Herrmann (EVS laboratory, CNRS) and presented at TUBÀ. Represents TUBÀ's connection to academic research networks.
• CivitanominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstalled its 'troc de gestes' (skills exchange) system at TUBÀ's LAB from February to May 2023. A skills-time exchange experiment where participants give an hour of their knowledge to receive an hour of another's expertise, fostering social bonds and professional enrichment.
• Neovya Mobility by TechnologysignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in TUBÀ's mobility data roundtable and is part of the Software République ecosystem (with Orange, Renault Group, Dassault Systèmes, Atos). Contributed expertise in mobility simulation and modelling tools such as HUBSIM.
• OrangesignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in TUBÀ's mobility roundtable and contributed to the Software République open innovation ecosystem. Provides mobile data and smart city expertise, including the Hexadone open data platform and Flux Vision mobility analytics.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Station F: World's largest startup campus in Paris, hosting accelerators, corporates, and programs. Comparable to TUBÀ in providing physical event/workspace infrastructure and running educational programming, but vastly larger scale and for-profit operator model.
• Paris&Co: Parisian innovation and economic development agency operating multiple thematic incubators (urban, mobility, AI). Comparable to TUBÀ in public-interest urban innovation convening and partnership-driven project delivery, though city-owned and operating across many verticals.
• Cap Digital: Paris-based competitive cluster for digital and environmental transformation, convening enterprises, research labs, and public actors. Comparable to TUBÀ in cross-helix convening role and project-based funding, but with broader geographic scope and a B2B cluster mandate.
• Euratechnologies: Lille's flagship tech incubator and innovation campus, backed by Lille Métropole. Operates at larger scale than TUBÀ but shares the French 'metropole-backed digital innovation hub' positioning and offers comparable event, workspace, and corporate-innovation programs.

Direct peers

• Le Cargo: Caen-based third-place (tiers-lieu) for digital and urban innovation, organized as an association with public-sector backing. Highly comparable to TUBÀ in mission, structure, and non-profit governance, though in a different French metropolitan area.
• La Paillasse: Parisian third-place dedicated to open-source and citizen innovation, organized as a non-profit with public-interest mission. Comparable to TUBÀ in association status, neutral convening, and open-data/open-innovation ethos, though focused on biotech and civic tech rather than urban data.
• Cantine Numérique: Network of coworking and innovation spaces across French cities. Comparable to TUBÀ in community-led, association-driven digital third-place model with public-sector support, though distributed across multiple cities rather than focused on one territory.

Regional players

• Barcelona Smart City: Municipal program coordinating smart-city, urban data, and citizen innovation initiatives in Barcelona. Comparable to TUBÀ in public-sector-backed urban-data and citizen-engagement mission, but serving a different geography and operating as a city program rather than an independent association.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tuba_lyon
• Facebookfacebook.com/tuba.lyonurbandata
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tuba-lyon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about TUBA-LYON