CENS role: Research partner
Executor department: GIS & RSD
Partner: 29 organizations
Duration (Years): 2017 - 2021
Funding Source: EU HORIZON2020 program, SCC-02-2016-2017
Website: http://www.connectingnature.eu/

The overarching objective of CONNECTING is to position Europe as a global leader in the innovation and implementation of nature-based solutions. The project partners will form a community of cities fostering peer-to-peer, transdisciplinary capacity-building between front-runner, fast-follower and multiplier cities within a ‘transitioning, innovation and governance academy’. This academy will co-develop the policy and practices necessary to scale up urban resilience, innovation and governance via nature-based solutions. An open innovation ecosystem approach bringing together city governments, SMEs, academia and civic society will be used to co-produce usable and actionable knowledge in all cities. CONNECTING will provide the reference framework for a new generation of urban nature-based solution processes and empower transitioning ambassadors who will globalize this approach through a strategy targeting multiplier cities. This novel approach, coupled with the high capacity of the consortium, makes CONNECTING an exciting prospect. In addition, linking all open-sourced data to the OPPLA platform will ensure perpetuation beyond the end of the project.