PEOPLE project partners jointly developed and integrated people-centred development approaches into research, teaching and learning practices. An alliance was formed between a higher education or research institution and an industry partner from the energy efficiency and sustainable energy sectors in each of the four participating countries:

• Slovenia: Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and company Metronik;
• United Kingdom:  Durham University and company Kemuri (1 November 2016 - 31 July 2018) / Durham County Council (1 August 2018 - 31 October 2019);
• The Netherlands: VU Amsterdam and company Alliander;
• Czech Republic: Charles University in Prague and company VUPS.

The project was coordinated by an intermediary organisation from Slovenia, IRI UL (Institute for Innovation and Development of the University of Ljubljana).

Institute for Innovation and Development of University of Ljubljana (IRI UL) is the intermediary organisation between University of Ljubljana and industry and leading research institute in the Ljubljana region of Slovenia. It was established in 2007 and is a non-profit research and development institution whose mission is to foster a long rung and reciprocal cooperation between Slovenian businesses and University of Ljubljana to encourage the transfer and sharing of knowledge, enhance research and development activities, to help create long-term partnerships and opportunities and to drive innovation and entrepreneurship. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, and as the coordinator of the project and leader of Work Package 1: Project Management, IRI UL is responsible for the overall project management, including operational, administrative, financial management, and risk management.

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) is the leading Slovenian research centre in humanities and a cutting-edge academic institution in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It has a multidisciplinary character; in addition to the social sciences and humanities (e.g. anthropology, ethnology, philosophy), its spheres of research cover a wide range of natural and social sciences (e.g. geography, biology, palaeontology). The research network of ZRC SAZU consists of researchers working at eighteen institutes. In the PEOPLE project, ZRC SAZU leads the Work Package 2: State-of-the-art & Methodology. The institution's main role is to identify different implementation practices of people-centred approaches in industry contexts.

Durham Energy Institute is a centre of research and outreach that draws on the expertise of Durham University academics. It generates and supports research at the boundaries between traditional technical disciplines and the social sciences and humanities. Now firmly established as a world top 50 research Institute, the DEI includes 200 researchers across 12 different departments. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, Durham University leads the development of the PEOPLE methodology and is responsible for the overall supervision and coordination of the implementation Work Package 3: Implementation of People-Centred Learning Cycles.

The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) has 22,500 students, approximately 2,800 academic staff and a budget of nearly 500 million euros. The VUA ranks among the top 50 universities worldwide in the social sciences (2015 & 2016 Shanghai Ranking) and offers the highest ranked teaching in Anthropology (National Student Evaluation 2016). Activities for the PEOPLE project will be undertaken by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology (SCA), based in the Faculty of Social Sciences. SCA’s teaching and research strive to combine theory driven work with applied work in industry, third-sector, and public administration. In addition to other tasks within the PEOPLE project, VUA leads the Work Package 4: Evaluation Studies, having overall responsibility for the development of the evaluation methodology, and works closely with the Dutch business partner Alliander in implementing the Dutch case study.

Univerzita Karlova v Praze (Charles University in Prague, CUNI) is an accredited public university that ranks as the best educational and scientific institution in the Czech Republic. At present it has 17 faculties, four institutes and five other centres of teaching. The Charles University Environment Center, which carries out work in the PEOPLE project, is a higher education institute focusing its research on the relations between human society and environment. It is a leading institution in environmental research, especially its socio-economic aspects, in the Czech Republic. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, CUNI leads the Quality Assurance Work Package (WP6) with the main aim of developing and delivering internal and external quality monitoring measures that will guarantee the overall quality of the project processes and results.

Metronik is the leading system integrator for process control and automation in the region and a recognised provider of IT systems for production management and automation. It provides its users with state-of-the-art automation and IT solutions and technology, which offer effective management and control of manufacturing processes and power consumption, lower energy consumption, enhanced process performance and reliability, better repeatability and improved quality, production traceability and product genealogy, and increased productivity and availability of equipment. Metronik also operates internationally and has established long-term cooperation with Slovene universities. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, Metronik leads the Slovenian case study as the participating industry partner, and the Work Package 5 (Dissemination, Sustainability and Community Uptake).

Kemuri Ltd. was founded in January 2014. It manufactures KemuriSense® Smart Power Sockets and provides wellbeing monitoring services for older people living alone. Double power sockets contain sensors that collect motion, temperature and humidity data in addition to power used by connected kitchen appliances, typically kettles and microwaves or toasters. The data is transmitted via the Internet to algorithms that learn patterns of activity and automatically alert significant changes to families or carers. People take action if they think there is a risk of unattended falls, dehydration, malnutrition or hypothermia. Beyond telecare, the products have global potential to be part of the infrastructure of smart homes, offices and factories as method for electricity suppliers to remotely switch equipment. As the participating industry partner, Kemuri was leading the UK case study in the 1st Learning Cycle (PEOPLE partner between 1  November 2016 and 31 July 2018.)

Durham County Council (DCC) is a unitary local authority in the NE of England providing the majority of council services in County Durham for a population of over 500,000 people. DCC Low Carbon Economy Team identifies, develops and implements innovative projects to reduce carbon emissions and develop low carbon economic growth opportunities. The team provide specialist, technical advice on energy and low carbon to internal and external stakeholders, especially those in the business and industrial sectors, and in education. The Council is essentially people focused and must meet the needs of its population - this includes tackling major threats like climate change and generating economic opportunities through innovation, including new renewable energy concepts. DCC is leading the UK case study in the 2nd PEOPLE project Learning Cycle (PEOPLE partner between 1 August 2018 and 31 October 2019).

Alliander is a Dutch energy network company. It employs approximately 7,000 staff. Grid managers Liander and Endinet distribute electricity to 3.0 million customers and gas to 2.6 million customers in an area extending to over a third of the Netherlands, while Liandon provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of complex energy infrastructures. The energy landscape is changing, placing different demands on Alliander’s infrastructure and the provision of information. Alliander aims to play an enabling role in these changes. They facilitate an open energy market and support the sustainable energy choices of their customers and the regions where they operate. Alliander is also working closely with customers to achieve the switch to renewable energy sources. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, Alliander leads the evaluation execution task and the Dutch case study within Work Package 3, ensuring a business push towards realisation of common goals.

VUPS - Výzkumný ústav pozemních staveb – certifikační společnost, s.r.o. (Building Research Institute – certification company Ltd.) is an accredited Czech certification body providing services the building industry and in the production of construction products. It provides testing and verifying of performance of construction products and services. VUPS focuses on the environmental aspects of construction industry, where they deal with life-cycles of products, with their environmental performances, with energy efficiency of buildings, as well as with sustainable buildings. Company VUPS has around 30 employees, they focus on research and development in the field of environment and energy and are working with scientific research organisations in national and international research and educational projects. Among other tasks within the PEOPLE project, VUPS leads the Czech case study and the creation of the PEOPLE community, an enlarged knowledge alliance between higher education, research and industry.

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