Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HIGHLANDS.3 (Collective Approach of Research and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Highland)
Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2025-08-31
Highland regions, home to vital ecosystems and providing numerous goods and services, often lack evidence-based models and tools for sustainable local development. The EU-funded HIGHLANDS.3 project aims to promote inclusive sustainable development in highlands (ISDH). The project team carried out collective and impact-driven research and innovation to build a shared vision of ISDH and advance the capacities of researchers, managers, users, and policymakers. Knowledge was exchanged in eight successive Research and Innovation Sessions (R&ISs), each of which focused on a particular aspect of sustainable highland development. The R&ISs included collective learning, collaborative research, and capacity-building on data collection, analysis, and modelling. An online interactive platform was created to display and store the outputs of these sessions.
The strength of HIGHLANDS.3 is that it was born out of the confluence of several existing networks working on highland issues both in Europe and around the world. We thus utilized existing networks at many scales (from local initiatives to global connections) and, through the secondment activities, strengthened these networks and created new ones within and between sectors and institutions to improve the quality of the research and innovation processes focused on ISDH. The R&IS process and its inherent use of participatory systemic methods were designed to maximize the potential for the formation of new relationships and the expansion of existing networks. These networks must be active, viable, long-term oriented, and sustainable if the platform of initiatives is to be globally shared beyond the life of the project.
The strength of HIGHLANDS.3 is that it was born out of the confluence of several existing networks working on highland issues both in Europe and around the world. We thus utilized existing networks at many scales (from local initiatives to global connections) and, through the secondment activities, strengthened these networks and created new ones within and between sectors and institutions to improve the quality of the research and innovation processes focused on ISDH. The R&IS process and its inherent use of participatory systemic methods were designed to maximize the potential for the formation of new relationships and the expansion of existing networks. These networks must be active, viable, long-term oriented, and sustainable if the platform of initiatives is to be globally shared beyond the life of the project.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project had to deal with a lot of rescheduling of meetings and planned events.
During the pandemic, many meetings were held virtually, which led to useful structures for the post-pandemic period, where meetings firstly continued to take place mainly virtually, especially meetings over greater distances.
As the situation stabled and personal meetings became more possible, the Research & Innovation Sessions (R&IS) could be implemented.
Even though the destinations of some sessions needed to be changed, all eight R&IS were successfully held at the following locations:
1- Massif Central and Pyrenees (September-October 2021)
2- Alps (September-October 2022)
3- Andes (February-March 2023)
4- Capathians-Romania & Greece (September-October 2023)
5- Malawi (February-March 2024)
6- Cape Verde (November 2024)
7- Vietnam (March 2025)
8- Spain & Portugal (June-July 2025)
All the R&IS have been highly successful. They contributed a lot towards the strenthening of existing networks and the creation of new ones, not just regarding the ISDH, but also the project partner organisations.
The data collected in all interviews is available in the ISDH Decision Support Platform, which can be accessed via the Highlands.3 Homepage: https://www.highlands3.eu/isdh-platform(opens in new window).
Next to the R&IS, the individual secondments of staff members of the partner institutions have also been highly successful. After a rather difficult start, due to the pandemic, we are happy to say that 525 of a total of 540 Secondments have been conducted.
During the pandemic, many meetings were held virtually, which led to useful structures for the post-pandemic period, where meetings firstly continued to take place mainly virtually, especially meetings over greater distances.
As the situation stabled and personal meetings became more possible, the Research & Innovation Sessions (R&IS) could be implemented.
Even though the destinations of some sessions needed to be changed, all eight R&IS were successfully held at the following locations:
1- Massif Central and Pyrenees (September-October 2021)
2- Alps (September-October 2022)
3- Andes (February-March 2023)
4- Capathians-Romania & Greece (September-October 2023)
5- Malawi (February-March 2024)
6- Cape Verde (November 2024)
7- Vietnam (March 2025)
8- Spain & Portugal (June-July 2025)
All the R&IS have been highly successful. They contributed a lot towards the strenthening of existing networks and the creation of new ones, not just regarding the ISDH, but also the project partner organisations.
The data collected in all interviews is available in the ISDH Decision Support Platform, which can be accessed via the Highlands.3 Homepage: https://www.highlands3.eu/isdh-platform(opens in new window).
Next to the R&IS, the individual secondments of staff members of the partner institutions have also been highly successful. After a rather difficult start, due to the pandemic, we are happy to say that 525 of a total of 540 Secondments have been conducted.
Impact and results:
Enhancing the potential and future career perspectives of the staff members: capacity building of staff, strengthening female participation, in-depth exploration in the field visits; exchange; opening new perspectives, strengthening the science-society link and stimulating local stakeholders to innovation.
Development of new and lasting research collaborations: strengthening or mostly establishing new co-operations between partner organisations; strengthening or mostly establishing new integration of partner organisations into mountain networks; leading to new research topics.
Running ISDH Platform, which can be accessed via the Highlands.3 Homepage (https://www.highlands3.eu/isdh-platform(opens in new window)) giving visibility to the interviewed initiatives and enabling international collaboration.
Enhancing the potential and future career perspectives of the staff members: capacity building of staff, strengthening female participation, in-depth exploration in the field visits; exchange; opening new perspectives, strengthening the science-society link and stimulating local stakeholders to innovation.
Development of new and lasting research collaborations: strengthening or mostly establishing new co-operations between partner organisations; strengthening or mostly establishing new integration of partner organisations into mountain networks; leading to new research topics.
Running ISDH Platform, which can be accessed via the Highlands.3 Homepage (https://www.highlands3.eu/isdh-platform(opens in new window)) giving visibility to the interviewed initiatives and enabling international collaboration.