Membership

Two memberships, deliberately different.

City membership and industry membership are not tiers of one product. They exist for different reasons, carry different obligations, and give different rights in the governance of the organisation.

For public authorities

City Membership

For municipalities, metropolitan and inter-municipal bodies, regional authorities and municipal operating companies, in the EU and in candidate countries.

What it covers

Project structuring support through the Accelerator
City Readiness assessment at member terms
Publication of projects and challenges in the pipeline
Full pipeline detail, including other cities' technical requirements and procurement plans
Sector working groups with peer cities
ESCA Academy at member rates
Intelligence, including the working papers behind published briefs
Governance rights: voting, and eligibility for the board

What it asks

A named contact who can actually answer questions about projects
Willingness to publish, including outcomes that were disappointing
Participation in at least one working group

City membership in detail

For suppliers and financiers

Industry Membership

For technology providers, infrastructure and engineering firms, service operators, financiers and SMEs working with European cities.

What it covers

Full pipeline detail: technical requirements, timelines and procurement plans
Notification of market consultations across the network
Participation in sector working groups on equal terms
Intelligence, including the funding radar and reports
Attendance at ESCA convenings
Publication as a member, with sectors and country

What it does not include

Any form of endorsement, recommendation or approved supplier status
Introductions to authorities or forwarding of commercial approaches
Private access to a project before or during a procurement
Influence over specifications, assessments or published intelligence
Any vote or board seat in ESCA governance

Industry membership in detail

Strategic partnership

A programme of work, not a sponsorship tier.

Strategic partnerships are multi-year arrangements covering a defined body of work: a programme, a research agenda, a geography. They are published in full, including their limits.

Strategic partnership

Questions

How membership works.

Why are city and industry membership separate?

Because they are not the same relationship. A city joins to get its projects prepared and delivered; a supplier joins to understand what is being prepared. Putting them in one package would mean either charging cities for a service that mainly benefits suppliers, or giving suppliers rights that belong to cities.

Do industry members have a vote in ESCA governance?

No. Governance rights sit with public authority members. Industry members and strategic partners have no vote, no board seat and no role in deciding what ESCA publishes or assesses.

Does membership affect what ESCA publishes?

No. No member or partner sees an Intelligence item before publication, and no member or partner can require an item to be changed or withdrawn. Factual corrections are made on evidence, from any source, member or not.

Can a member be removed?

Yes. Misrepresenting ESCA membership as an endorsement, approaching an authority through ESCA channels about a live procurement, or breaching the market dialogue rules are grounds for termination.

What is published about members?

Name, category, country, sectors and the year they joined. For strategic partners, the scope and duration of the partnership and an explicit statement of what it does not confer.

Join ESCA

Start with the membership that fits what you are.

If you are unsure which applies, say what your organisation is and what you are trying to achieve. ESCA will tell you which membership fits, including when the answer is that none of them do.

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