The Institute has taken up this initiative as part of the Heritage Network, an Indo-European network of 20 leading institutions. 

A Smart City working group was constituted during the second general assembly meeting of Heritage Network hosted by IIT Madras recently.To coordinate the activities and action plans, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur were chosen as Indian coordinators, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, for Europe. 

The aim is to organise research and academic activities that address issues of national interest and wellbeing of society by undertaking joint research projects, academic and research exchanges and industry partnerships with partner institutions in the network.

Along with annual meetings, the plan is to organise a thematic workshop on topics of mutual interest to both Europe and India. 

Various aspects such as exchange programmes, research cooperation, industry participation, funding channels, policy engagement and outreach activities were discussed to draft a roadmap for the network.