At the Institute for Urban Excellence, we recognise that effective, inclusive and sustainable development is reliant on collaborative inputs from across society. This means that innovations and ideas must be shared between sectors, governance levels, and communities. Our work is positioned at the interface of academia, policymaking, and civil society, where we promote real-world applications to the big questions of the modern era. As a think tank and knowledge broker, we operate in applied research projects, facilitate the dissemination of important societal insights, organise capacity building activities and implement technical assistance programmes. 

Collaboration is all about narrative. Combining the expertise of our team and of our extensive network of partners, we find the right ways to communicate vital messages to those who need to hear them. This means we stay up to date with emerging ideas in our applied research projects, finding ways to open conversations between stakeholders. In our capacity building activities and technical assistance programmes, we take these ideas and turn them into actionable advice and learnings for decision makers, practitioners and communities. Our resources and partners stretch across the globe, allowing us to draw on knowledge and establish connections from a vast array of regions and contexts.