TUBÀ (association Lyon Urban Data)

About TUBÀ (association Lyon Urban Data)

TUBÀ is a Lyon-based non-profit association created in November 2014 to connect the many actors involved in shaping the city: public institutions, private companies, researchers, associations, and residents. It positions itself as a territorial innovation hub focused on urban data, collaborative innovation, and citizen participation, with the broader goal of making cities more sustainable, inclusive, and pleasant to live in.

Its work sits at the intersection of technology, digital culture, and social innovation. TUBÀ supports organizations and communities in understanding complex urban, social, environmental, and digital issues, and in turning those insights into concrete projects, services, and experiments that serve the public interest.

Core Values

• Collective intelligence: TUBÀ emphasizes multi-stakeholder collaboration and believes better solutions emerge when public actors, private actors, researchers, and citizens work together from the start.
• Public interest: Its stated purpose is to support territorial needs and improve everyday life for residents, while using digital tools as a means to serve social, environmental, and economic goals.
• User-centered design: The association consistently frames its methods around users’ needs, perceptions, and real-world practices, so that services are useful and easier to adopt.
• Responsible digital culture: TUBÀ promotes a critical and responsible approach to digital technologies and data, not just their technical deployment.
• Territorial sustainability: Its projects and messaging repeatedly stress sustainable, resilient, and inclusive urban development.

Unique Aspects

• A long-standing urban data hub in Lyon: TUBÀ has been active since 2014 and has built a recognized position in the Lyon metropolitan area as a place for smart-city and urban-data collaboration.
• A multi-partner governance model: The association Lyon Urban Data, which operates TUBÀ, brings together around forty partners across three colleges, including public bodies, large companies, SMEs, research institutions, and non-profits.
• A living lab approach: TUBÀ does not only host discussions; it also tests products and services in real conditions through its LAB and project work, combining experimentation with mediation.
• Strong focus on data-related public engagement: Beyond project delivery, TUBÀ regularly runs public-facing formats on personal data, AI, mobility, and urban transitions, making it both an innovation platform and a mediation actor.
• A project-centered evolution: In 2024, TUBÀ stated that it had evolved its model and offers to focus more strongly on projects, while keeping its role as a territorial tool for cooperation and decision support.