ERASME - UrbanLab

What ERASME - UrbanLab does

ERASME - UrbanLab is the open innovation laboratory of the Métropole de Lyon, established in 1998 and operating as an internal government service (Service Usages Numériques - DINSI - DEES). The organization runs four flagship programs: DatAgora, a territorial data laboratory co-founded with Université de Lyon; L'Incubateur, a one-year incubation program for public-interest projects; Classes Culturelles Numériques (CCN), an educational program pairing students with artists and scientists on multidisciplinary projects; and TransFormer, a pedagogical program building transformation capacities for public sector professionals. Beyond these programs, ERASME develops a portfolio of proprietary tools including DatAtlas (interactive cartography), Parcours à la carte (pedestrian route optimization), Sortons au frais (heat-aware routing), Calque de Plantabilité (plantability dataset intersecting 35 sources), Maquette augmentée (physical-digital 3D modeling), and MapReDeau (AI-driven predictive maintenance for water infrastructure).

The lab serves a diversified public-interest audience: Métropole de Lyon agents, students in middle schools across 50+ CCN instances, 59 partner communes, citizen associations, and start-ups. All services are provided free of charge; ERASME generates no commercial revenue and is funded through the Métropole de Lyon's general budget, supplemented by targeted grants from national programs such as France Relance and CITEO. Operational scale is modest — approximately 26 employees — but reach is broad, with 1,500-2,000 students and 150-200 teachers engaged annually through CCN, 67+ projects incubated since 2020, 1,400+ professionals engaged in DatAgora projects, and 1,400 visitors across 66 events in 2024. The organization's strategic posture is institutional rather than commercial: it functions as the Métropole's instrument for codesign, experimentation, data mediation, and capability-building across public-interest domains.

Name

ERASME - UrbanLab

Legal name

Erasme

Website

https://erasme.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Villeurbanne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Public Funding: ERASME is a public service funded by the Métropole de Lyon budget. The organization does not generate commercial revenue but operates as part of the Service Usages Numériques - DINSI - DEES of the metropolitan government. Programs like Classes Culturelles Numériques are entirely financed by the Métropole de Lyon and partners.
2. Grants and External Funding: ERASME receives support from external funding sources such as France Relance for specific projects like DatAgora. The Calque de Plantabilité project received territorial innovation funding, and some projects like Ficha receive CITEO financing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ERASME is the open public innovation laboratory of the Métropole de Lyon, providing four flagship programs — DatAgora (data valorization), L'Incubateur (one-year public innovation incubation), Classes Culturelles Numériques (CCN, digital cultural education in schools), and TransFormer (capacity building for public agents) — alongside proprietary digital tools (DatAtlas, Parcours à la carte, Sortons au frais, Maquette augmentée, Calque de plantabilité, MapReDeau, Open Badges). Services are delivered free of charge to public agents, citizens, associations, schools, and partner organizations of the Lyon metropolitan territory.

Product overview

ERASME - UrbanLab is an open public innovation laboratory operated by the Métropole de Lyon. Its portfolio consists of four flagship programs: (1) DatAgora — a data laboratory providing data valorization services including the DatAtlas mapping tool, Parcours à la carte route optimizer, Sortons au frais heat mapping, Maquette augmentée physical-digital device, and Calque de plantabilité plantability dataset; (2) L'Incubateur de la Métropole de Lyon — a one-year incubation program for public innovation projects; (3) Classes Culturelles Numériques (CCN) — an educational program pairing professionals with school classes for multidisciplinary digital projects; and (4) TransFormer — a pedagogical transformation program developing training kits and learning experiences for public sector professionals. The organization also develops standalone tools and games such as Open Badges and Course De Fonds.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DatAgora A data laboratory for public data uses and services, jointly operated by Université de Lyon and Métropole de Lyon. It provides tools, methods, and innovative devices to local actors for valorizing general-interest data.
• L'Incubateur de la Métropole de Lyon A one-year incubation program for public innovation projects supporting internal agents and external actors (associations, startups, collectives) in prototyping and testing innovative general-interest projects for the Lyon metropolitan area.
• Classes Culturelles Numériques (CCN) Educational program pairing renowned artists, scientists, and professionals with school classes to work on multidisciplinary thematic projects combining digital culture, cooperative work, and artistic/scientific resources from the territory.
• TransFormer A pedagogical innovation program at the intersection of Learning Labs and Transition Labs, developing learning experiences and methods to build capacities for thinking and acting in uncertain environments, targeting public sector professionals and general-interest organizations.
• DatAtlas

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% of incubated projects tested in the field
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• Université de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 June 2020Co-founder of DatAgora along with the Métropole de Lyon (Erasme and Service Données Métropolitaines). Provides research expertise, interdisciplinary academic resources, and connection to university laboratories for data innovation projects.
• L'Atelier Canopé de LyoncoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorResponsible for logistics and operational follow-up of the Classes Culturelles Numériques (CCN) program. Handles registration management and program coordination with schools.
• LIRIS (Laboratoire d'Information, Image et Systèmes)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch laboratory providing scientific expertise for DatAgora projects including Maquette Augmentée development and Calque de Plantabilité. Led by Gilles Gesquiere, director of VCity project and LabEx Intelligences des mondes urbains.
• BelleBouffeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCitizen association partner in DatAtlas food projects including DatAtlas Alimentation and the Open Data Alimentaire Territorial project. Contributes to crowdsourcing and citizen engagement in food data collection.
• TelescoopminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDigital cooperative that redeployed the DatAtlas solution after the Métropole decided not to continue the application internally. Now makes the tool available to other interested Collectivités.
• Eau du Grand LyonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWater utility partner in the MapReDeau project for predicting canalization maintenance needs using historical intervention data and territorial models.
• DRANE and DAAC (Education Authorities)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic education authorities closely associated with the CCN program, providing institutional support and integration with national education frameworks.
• Communes of the Métropole de LyonmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner59 communes partnered in various programs including Sortons au Frais (13 cities), Parcours à la Carte, and CCN hosting. Provide local context and participate in data collection and project testing.
• Cultural and Scientific Institutions of the MétropolemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor cultural institutions (Villa Gillet, Institut Lumière, Archives Départementales, CAUE, etc.) partner in CCN program providing artists, expertise, and venues for student projects.
• L'Education NationalecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench National Education system partnered with CCN program, integrating digital cultural classes into school curricula and training frameworks since 2020.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• The GovLab (NYU): NYU research lab focused on using data and technology to improve governance. Like ERASME, it combines academic research (LIRIS partnership) with public-sector data projects such as open data and decision-support tooling.

Broad incumbents

• Open Data Institute (ODI): UK-based nonprofit building an open, trustworthy data ecosystem; runs incubation-style programs and data-literacy training. Comparable to DatAgora's data-mediation and capacity-building mission.
• NESTA: UK innovation foundation running programmes in government innovation, education, and data for public good. Comparable to ERASME's combined innovation-lab, education (CCN), and data (DatAgora) portfolio at a larger scale and broader scope.
• Government Digital Service (GOV.UK): UK government unit responsible for digital transformation of public services, including data platforms and open standards. Operates at national scale and serves as a benchmark model for ERASME's public-sector digital service ambitions.
• Etalab (Direction interministérielle du numérique): French government's interministerial digital and open-data directorate, co-founding partner of France's open-data policy. Like ERASME, it operates open-data and data-mediation tools, but at the national level rather than a metropolitan one, making it a broader incumbent in the same French public-innovation space.

Direct peers

• 18F (US General Services Administration): US federal government digital services team embedded in GSA that builds and procures digital tools for public agencies. Direct counterpart to ERASME's role as an internal government team developing digital tools and methodologies for the Métropole de Lyon.
• Code for America: US nonprofit that partners with governments to build digital services and runs fellowship/incubation programs for civic innovation. Closely comparable to ERASME's Incubator and DatAgora missions in mission, structure, and methodology.
• La 27e Région: French association that experiments with and prototypes public-policy innovation with regional governments. Direct French peer of ERASME in running codesign, prototyping, and public-sector transformation programs for territorial administrations.
• Barcelona Digital City: Municipal government's digital innovation programme, including data-driven city projects, citizen participation platforms, and digital rights initiatives. Direct European peer of ERASME in the city-level public-innovation lab model.

Regional players

• La Fabrique des Mobilités: French innovation platform focused on sustainable mobility, running open-innovation, experimentation, and incubation programs similar to ERASME's Incubator. It is a thematic French peer with overlapping methodology though a different sector focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC6DBR8YbGdgHRLgRG2XqjeA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/erasme-urbanlab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 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 ERASME - UrbanLab