Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CROSS-REIS (CROSS-disciplinary network for research excellence in Regenerative Economy Innovation eco-Systems)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-03-31
In today’s global landscape, disparities persist between science-leading European countries and widening countries in terms of research excellence and innovation. This gap hampers the effective transition to a regenerative economy paradigm, crucial for addressing pressing environmental and societal challenges. Widening countries face limited visibility and competitiveness in the global research arena, hindering their ability to contribute meaningfully to these transitions. In this context, the EU-funded CROSS-REIS project aims to bridge this gap. It will unite higher education and research institutions across nine European countries to foster innovation, knowledge exchange, and sustainable development. It also promotes gender equality, diversity, and inclusiveness while accelerating society’s green and digital transitions. This initiative empowers universities as agents of change.
CROSS-REIS is aimed at fostering excellence in science and promoting collaboration across higher education and research institutions. The project thrives on the transition towards a regenerative economy paradigm and shapes a sustainable future through collaborative research and innovation in contemporary fields such as circular economy, waste management, and urban biodiversity. Through multidisciplinary collaboration and engagement with societal stakeholders, the project team aims to create Regenerative Economy Innovation eco-Systems (REIS) that drive innovative solutions to address pressing challenges like climate change and resource depletion.
For more information, please, visit the project website: https://crossreis.com/(opens in new window).
CROSS-REIS is aimed at fostering excellence in science and promoting collaboration across higher education and research institutions. The project thrives on the transition towards a regenerative economy paradigm and shapes a sustainable future through collaborative research and innovation in contemporary fields such as circular economy, waste management, and urban biodiversity. Through multidisciplinary collaboration and engagement with societal stakeholders, the project team aims to create Regenerative Economy Innovation eco-Systems (REIS) that drive innovative solutions to address pressing challenges like climate change and resource depletion.
For more information, please, visit the project website: https://crossreis.com/(opens in new window).
The CROSS-REIS project fosters scientific excellence through collaboration between higher education institutions from five widening countries and four leading EU research institutions. The main activities and achievements so far include:
Knowledge Transfer and Talent Circulation: The project has initiated familiarization visits, expert workshops, and conference participation to enhance research excellence and mobility. These activities support balanced talent circulation and promote inclusivity across the European Research Area (ERA).
Establishment of REIS (Regenerative Economy Innovation eco-Systems): Technical work has focused on building multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral frameworks addressing challenges in circular economy, waste management, and urban biodiversity. The regional digital platform and online Knowledge Agora provide open access to research outputs and methodologies.
Methodological Innovation: The consortium has been developing tools and indicators to measure regenerative economic activity, including metrics related to biodiversity.
Research Assessment Reform: Efforts to align evaluation criteria with open science, diversity, and real-world impact have been mainstreamed, particularly through academic mentoring and pilot assessment activities in widening countries.
Green and Digital Transition Support: Through research and workshops the project contributes to Action 11 of the ERA Policy Agenda, advancing systems thinking and digital modelling for regenerative development.
Knowledge Transfer and Talent Circulation: The project has initiated familiarization visits, expert workshops, and conference participation to enhance research excellence and mobility. These activities support balanced talent circulation and promote inclusivity across the European Research Area (ERA).
Establishment of REIS (Regenerative Economy Innovation eco-Systems): Technical work has focused on building multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral frameworks addressing challenges in circular economy, waste management, and urban biodiversity. The regional digital platform and online Knowledge Agora provide open access to research outputs and methodologies.
Methodological Innovation: The consortium has been developing tools and indicators to measure regenerative economic activity, including metrics related to biodiversity.
Research Assessment Reform: Efforts to align evaluation criteria with open science, diversity, and real-world impact have been mainstreamed, particularly through academic mentoring and pilot assessment activities in widening countries.
Green and Digital Transition Support: Through research and workshops the project contributes to Action 11 of the ERA Policy Agenda, advancing systems thinking and digital modelling for regenerative development.
The CROSS-REIS project is currently generating promising results that have strong potential to go beyond the existing state of the art in the field of regenerative economy and innovation ecosystems. One of the key ongoing developments is the creation of a cross-disciplinary modelling framework that aims to integrate circular economy practices with broader aspects such as urban biodiversity, social inclusion, and quality of life. This innovative approach is designed to support more comprehensive and systemic assessments of regional transformation and resilience. In parallel, the project is developing the “Knowledge Agora” – a digital, open-access platform intended to serve as a central hub for sharing methodologies, research data, training materials, and policy tools. This platform is expected to facilitate co-creation between researchers, industry partners, and policymakers, fostering a more connected and impactful research ecosystem. The project is also working on the design of new indicators and metrics to assess the institutional and regional readiness for a regenerative economy, focusing on innovation capacity, knowledge absorption, and cross-sectoral collaboration. For these results to achieve their full impact, further steps will be necessary, including piloting and demonstration activities and strengthening of IPR and innovation management capacities. Additionally, the long-term uptake of these outcomes will benefit from the establishment of supportive policy and regulatory environments, particularly those that incentivize circular business models, public-private-academic partnerships, and institutional reforms in research assessment and career development.