A new Horizon 2020 project, titled “Climate-Resilient Regions Through Systemic Solutions and Innovations – ARSINOE,” in partnership with METU Institute of Marine Sciences, which will last for four years, commenced in October. The project, in which Prof. Barış Salihoğlu and Assoc. Prof. Mustafa Yücel are the leading researchers, brings together 41 partners from 15 different countries across Europe under the coordination of the University of Thessaly. Financed by the European Commission with a total budget of 15 million Euros, the project aims to take innovative steps for adaptation to climate change by delivering regional innovation packages to build an ecosystem and come up with new approaches to find solutions to problems.
As climate change is a complex process connected to other global challenges such as food security, water scarcity, biodiversity depletion, and environmental degradation, ARSINOE is based on the notion that current traditional approaches that focus on only one aspect of the problem are insufficient to fight against it. With the project, a three-tier methodological framework will be developed by including the System Innovation Approach (SIA), which addresses the developing complexity, interdependencies and interconnectedness of contemporary societies and economies by covering the functions of the cross-sectoral systems as a whole and the variety of stakeholders, in addition to the Climate Innovation Window (CIW) which refers to the European Union’s innovations marketplace for climate change adaptation technologies. Therefore, the three-tier set of goals of the project is as follows: integrating the technological, digital, business, governance and environmental aspects with social innovation for the development of climate change adaptation methods to meet the EU Green Deal targets set for specific regions; linking with the Climate Innovation Window to create innovation packages by accurately matching innovators with end-users and regions; fostering the ecosystem sustainability and growth with cross-fertilization and replication across scales, both in Europe and beyond, benefiting from appropriate business models and exploitation-outreach actions.
Nine regions across Europe will demonstrate the ARSINOE three-tier approach as a proof-of-concept regarding its applicability, replicability, potential, and efficacy. These regions are Athens metropolitan area, Mediterranean ports including Port of Piraeus, Limassol and Valencia, Main River in Germany, transboundary Ochrid/Prespa Lakes, Canary Islands, transboundary Black Sea including Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Torbay and Devon counties in the UK, and Southern Denmark.
