During the first reporting period, ENVRINNOV focused on strengthening innovation capacity and collaboration across the environmental Research Infrastructure (ENVRI) community. Key activities included mapping existing innovation services across ENVRIs, conducting a community-wide needs and gaps analysis, and developing a Catalogue of Innovation Services. These efforts also contributed to the creation of the ENVRI Innovation Resources Toolbox, a central resource to support innovation-oriented service development and cross-sector collaboration.
The project also defined a capacity-building strategy to strengthen innovation competences among ENVRIs. This strategy was piloted through the first training session held at EGU 2025. The training brought together RI representatives, researchers, and industry to explore practical approaches to co-innovation.
In addition, ENVRINNOV implemented four pilot cases to test different models of collaboration between environmental Research Infrastructures, research organizations, and industry. These pilots covered a range of innovation activities, including the development of drone-based methane detection systems, co-creation of miniaturized sensor electronics, demonstration of scientific monitoring services using low-cost sensors and drone imaging, and the creation of open-source software tools for data processing. Together, these pilots provided valuable insights into the practical implementation of innovation models, co-design methods, and the potential for partnerships between RIs and industry.
Building on these outcomes, the project launched the development of a long-term Innovation Roadmap for the ENVRI community and began scoping options for the establishment of a sustainable ENVRI Innovation Hub model. These efforts aim to ensure the sustainability of ENVRINNOV results beyond project duration, and enhance the innovation capacity of the ENVRI community, and strengthen collaboration fort he development of future new technologies and services.
