Developing an enabling environment for social innovation that links actions across the whole field and supports the full exploitation of their potential is vital to addressing societal challenges both in Europe and globally. While there is increasing interest for social innovation as a means of addressing societal challenges, there is also considerable variation in the extent to which different countries and regions have embraced social innovation. There are many research and policy projects and incubation and acceleration programmes with valuable outcomes but these are still largely disconnected. Thus, the overarching aim of this project is to create a ‘network of networks’ of social innovation actors. This Social Innovation Community (SIC) will identify, engage and connect actors including researchers, social innovators, citizens, policy-makers, as well as intermediaries, businesses, civil society organisations and public sector employees. Through our cross-cutting Work Packages, we will deliver engagement, research, experimentation, learning and policy activities that engage with and support each of the networks. We will ensure that our cross-cutting activities are complementary and build on each other’s work, rather than operating in silos. As such, this SIC aims to deepen and strengthen existing networks, forge new connections between networks, and create new links to actors and networks which hitherto have not been included in the field of social innovation. The aims of such a community are to generate new social innovations, develop and scale up successful ideas to share and spread knowledge more effectively in order to improve research, practice and policy-making. By creating an enabling environment for social innovation, the project will improve the overall framework conditions for social innovation in Europe. This in turn will support the creation of opportunities for growth and for overcoming the current social and economic crisis affecting much of Europe.

The UTOPIZE project is a response to the pressing urban, ecological, and social challenges reshaping Europe, driven by climate change, social exclusion, energy poverty, aging populations, and other complex issues. Aligned with the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles of sustainability, inclusivity, and aesthetics, UTOPIZE proposes a participatory framework that involves communities in the co-design and governance of public spaces across urban, peri-urban, and rural environments. The project is structured around the concept of UTOPIA, not as a static ideal but as an evolving process of community engagement. Through UTOPIA Labs, citizens co-create and transform their neighbourhoods, utilizing digital tools like Extended Reality (XR) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enhance real-time urban planning and decision-making. These labs foster inclusivity by involving marginalized communities such as ethnic minorities, low-income populations, people with disabilities, and others at risk of exclusion. UTOPIZE's approach is deeply participatory, involving communities at every stage from local activation events to co-design workshops. The project operates across three demonstrator countries—Portugal, Italy, and Sweden—before expanding to six additional countries through a Twinning Program, ensuring scalability and adaptability. UTOPIZE aims to create resilient, sustainable, and culturally relevant public spaces that strengthen social cohesion and reflect the local identity and history of each neighbourhood. The project also integrates Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and sustainable materials into the design and transformation of public spaces, contributing to environmental resilience and climate neutrality goals. By bringing together experts from multiple disciplines—architecture, engineering, social sciences, and the arts—UTOPIZE ensures a holistic and transdisciplinary approach to urban transformation. UTOPIZE’s comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework.

In TRANSFORM three European regions join forces and open up their R&I activities to co-create more responsible approaches to innovation. Lombardy in Italy, Brussels in Belgium and Catalonia in Spain are all leaders in experimenting new pathways for territorial development. TRANSFORM brings them together to design, test and disseminate three sound co-creation methodological frameworks (participatory research agenda setting; design for social innovation; and citizen science). These frameworks will be at the forefront of implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3). They provide approaches and application areas of responsible and accountable territorial development through new forms of local decision-making. They have also proven beneficial in aligning science, innovation and society, making R&D more responsive to citizens’ needs, concerns and aspirations. The three initiatives will implement a mutual learning process within and beyond Europe, pairing with a parallel co-design exercise in Boston (Massachusetts, US). The work in these three clusters will support and increase co-creation and participatory processes within their R&I ecosystems, both building on existing regional commitments towards transformative opportunities and strengthen the opening effect on the organisations involved. Regional governments involved in TRANSFORM will reflect on, experiment with, learn from and adopt RRI approaches to their R&I policies and actions. Concrete examples of inclusive and sustainable territorial development will be attained, thus providing a set of reliable Policy Recommendations to transforming regional R&I ecosystems towards RRI. TRANSFORM will also be integrated into Strategic Roadmaps for the implementation of RRI within S3, addressed to S3 key players, for maximum benefit across all S3 Thematic Platforms.

The New Delivery Model established in Regulation EU 2115/2021 entails significant changes to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) governance with the introduction of Strategic Plans and new monitoring, review and evaluation requirements. The CAP is expected to contribute significantly to the Green Deals ambitions, securing the achievement of sustainability and resilience goals for the EUs Agri-food systems. Innovative governance models are essential to enable result-based policymaking to deliver the best policy pathways to facilitate the green transition. Tools4CAP will (1) support the implementation of National Strategic Plans 2023-2027, and (2) lay the foundations for sound preparation of Post-2027 Strategic Plans. Accordingly, Tools4CAP establishes a flexible and participatory Coordination & Support Action designed to boost learning, exchange processes, and adoption of innovative solutions and good practices for the design, monitoring and evaluation of CAP Strategic Plans. Tools4CAPs methods and tools will cover three key areas: (1) quantitative modelling tools for ex-ante and ex-post evaluations, (2) participatory and multi-governance decision tools, and (3) novel data and monitoring solutions. The project will deliver a comprehensive inventory of methods and tools used in the 27 Member States, methodological guidelines on innovative solutions and a Handbook of good practices. Results will be integrated in a Capacity Building Toolkit, designed to enhance science-policy interfaces. Tools4CAP utilises a Stakeholder Engagement Platform to boost bottom-up adaptation of innovative methods and tools. It will establish a Replication Lab to demonstrate their use in 10 Member States and to promote their uptake across the EU-27. The project will also set up a Capacity Building Hub to help end-users (ministries, management authorities, paying agencies, other stakeholders) reinforce their capacity to use innovative tools, including models used by the European Commission.

RURBANIVE will develop 6 Rural/Urban Enablers (RUEs), innovations in six domains favouring bi-directional rural/urban synergies and a well-being economy. A digital space, the “Community Store”, the prominent result of RURBANIVE, will integrate the RUEs along with the “Community of Practice Suite” of policies, facilitating rural/urban communities to create strong synergies. The Community Store will make possible synergies and recommendations, online interaction, dialogue, collaboration, and participation of rural/urban stakeholders. Rural/urban immersiveness (RUI), exploiting the endless capabilities of immersion, will promote experimentation and innovation in rural/urban areas. Immersive campaigns emerging from co-creation activities will be tailored to the potential of 7 Rural/Urban co-Creation Labs (RUCLs) and will enable rural/urban interactions through enhanced social connectivity and experimentation. The 7 RUCLs will represent different geographical and socio-cultural EU contexts, and RUI will ensure that stakeholders across specificities are included in prototyping, testing, piloting, and demonstrating the RURBANIVE results. A novel rural/urban innovation framework, supported by social and technical innovations, will enhance territorial governance and existing policy tools by equipping RUCLs with tangible outcomes on improving their rural/urban synergies. Participatory processes will support dialogue and cooperation, enabling stakeholders to assess and evaluate approaches and scenarios that contribute further to developing synergies and recommendations. The Open Call will fund projects developing their own RUEs, based on the six RURBANIVE RUE domains, to be applied in other rural/urban areas and be available on the project's Community Store and the RUI. An inviting and sustainable ecosystem will be created around RURBANIVE to maximize the project's impact. The broad application of the project innovations will be enabled through the creation of business model.