ENGAGEMENT WEEK 2024
Scaling experimentation – A catalyst for transformative system change
18th to 20th September 2024
Barcelona
Update: Where available, presentation slides and tools have been added to session descriptions in the programme below.
In September 2024, public and private investors met for the first time in Barcelona for an Engagement Week led by TIPC, Eu-SPRI and the Deep Transitions Lab, which built new partnerships and an emerging community of practice dedicated to profound systemic change.
Under the theme of ‘Scaling experimentation: A catalyst for transformative system change’, participants created the spaces and conditions for fresh exchanges between public and private actors, and new narratives around the agency of investors in tackling transformational failure.
This global forum synchronised emerging work on systems transformation, identifying novel strategies, methodologies and areas for cooperation and mutual value, while exploring practical models and replicable actions for integrating system change into investment practices and policy-making.
For further updates on these themes, sign up for the TIPC Digital Digest or follow the Deep Transitions Lab on LinkedIn.
The Engagement Week was a joint initiative, hosted by the Government of Catalonia, and in collaboration with Eu-SPRI and the Deep Transitions Lab.
Programme
ENGAGEMENT DAY 1: SCALING IN PRACTICE
Wednesday 18 September
TIPC members and DT Lab partners
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Tool: Histories of change
Facilitators:
- Peer learning partners from across the global knowledge community
- Wendy Schultz, Jigsaw Foresight
- Victoria Shaw, TIPC/ Deep Transitions Lab/ University of Sussex
We’ll start work in small groups to meet one another, our peer learning partners, and share our own personal histories of sustainability transitions and working with change across the different knowledge communities.
We will use a ‘Histories of change’ tool to find out who we are and our collective experience and expertise, before considering the opportunity space for connecting, contributing and supporting in the years ahead.
Slides: Systems optimisations vs change
Tool: Systems optimisation vs change tool and reference material
Facilitators:
- Peer learning partners from across the global knowledge community
- Victoria Shaw, TIPC/ Deep Transitions Lab/ University of Sussex
Contributors:
- Phil Johnstone, Deep Transitions Lab/ University of Sussex
- Laur Kanger, Deep Transitions Lab/ University of Tartu
- Oscar Romero Goyeneche, Utrecht University
- Diana Velasco, Deep Transitions Lab/ INGENIO (CSIC/UPV)
Systems optimisation can generate short-term positive effects. However, in the long run it may inhibit scaling, by preserving the unsustainable configuration of a dominant regime, and reinforcing the underlying rules. So how do we know if well-intended policy experiments or investment decisions are optimising or challenging a system?
In this session, we’ll hear about application of these concepts to a number of cases, including mining, deforestation in the Amazon and transformative investment. We will then use an interactive tool to unpack personal experience and shed light on the potential of investments and change interventions to deliver transformative impact.
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Shih-Hsin Chen’s slides
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Contributors:
Jenny Sjöblom, Vinnova
Rob Byrne, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of Sussex Business School)
Sandra Boni, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
- Gilberto Gómez Muñoz, SENACYT Panama
Shih-Hsin Chen, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Chair:
Matias Ramirez, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of Sussex Business School)
This session will bring together those that have worked within TIPC or are working with us over this next phase to share ideas about key achievements, methods and to think about the priorities for scaling up over the next phase of the work.
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Slides from presentation by Hans Stegeman
Transitions and transformation in practice: Triodos Bank’s framework for transformative potential
Hans Stegeman, Chief Economist of Triodos Bank, will share how Triodos identifies companies and organisations that have the potential to positively contribute to transformations. In this informal learning exchange, we will be introduced to Triodos Bank’s framework for transformative potential and explore how different depths of system change are addressed by financing activities, supported by examples.
Chair: Roberta Benedetti del Rio, Deep Transitions Lab
Venue: La Pedrera, Pg. de Gràcia, 92, L’Eixample, 08008 Barcelona, Spain
engagement day 2: Scaling in practice
Thursday 19 September
TIPC members and DT Lab partners
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Tool: Trajectories (niche clusters and initiatives (2018-2024)
Tool: Initiatives and goals by area
Tool: Bundles Lleida pathway presentation
Contributors:
- Teresa Botargues, Diputació de Lleida
- Tatiana Fernández Sirera, Government of Catalonia
- Diana Velasco, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
Join the Government of Catalonia and the Government of the Province of Lleida, in collaboration with the Deep Transitions Lab, for an engaging, interactive session on full-scale territorial transformation. This session will showcase how a shared agenda involving a diverse ecosystem of actors—from producers’ associations, municipalities, councils, and state governments, to chambers of commerce, companies, universities, research centres, private investors, and intermediaries—can drive place-based systemic change.
Drawing on the real-world transformative pathways that include experiences from across the region, participants will explore how the shared agenda has successfully applied transformative innovation and systems change methodologies to address key challenges in building a bioeconomy. Key themes include the development of bioindustries and biobased business models, sustainable energy solutions, and resilient food production systems.
This session will:
– advance both practical and theoretical understanding of Transformative Bundles—coalitions of diverse actors working toward shared transformative goals.
– present a live demonstrator that showcases how a regional strategy has evolved and has created a transformative pathway that can be empowered through Transformative Bundles, demonstrating its possibilities.
– engage participants in a hands-on co-creation session, utilising new tools designed to foster creative collaboration and spark innovation for other initiatives.
– inspire the creation of new demonstrators that promote transformative innovation policy and transformative investment in various contexts, driving long-term, sustainable regional change.
- Tool: Opportunity spaces: unlocking learning from place-based challenges through transformative outcomes
- Animated example
- Transformation Outcomes reference material
- Slides: Place based approaches for scaling transformative impact
Contributors:
- Peer learning partners from across the global knowledge community
- Cristian Matti, Joint Research Centre, European Commission
- Claudia Obando Rodriguez, TIPC/ University of Sussex
- Matias Ramirez, TIPC / University of Sussex
- Victoria Shaw, TIPC/ Deep Transitions Lab/ University of Sussex
Investments and policy decisions can be made more effective by connecting to the transition dynamics of a particular place. From skills to infrastructures, identities to aspirations and culture – the characteristics and conditions of a context may help or hinder progress towards transformative outcomes. But at the same time, scaling requires that we transfer learnings about transitions across diverse places. So how do we combine efforts and share learning, while recognising the distinctiveness of each context? In this interactive session, developed in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission, participants will reference real-world challenges to consider the tools we can use to cross boundaries between diverse actors and geographies.
Group photograph
Launch reception of TRIP European Hub – the launch of this exciting new initiative which will bring together ‘pairs’ of research organisations and governments (local, national, global) doing experimentation together on transformative change initiatives.
Please see the following link for ideas on sites to visit and places to eat and drink:
ENGAGEMENT DAY 3: CONFERENCE
‘Scaling experimentation for transformative system change’
Friday 20 September
TIPC members, DT Lab partners and global knowledge community of partners, scholars and networks
Venue: Palau Reial de Pedralbes
Track 1: Designing policies for scaling organised by EU-SPRI
Track 2: Transformative Investment organised by DT Lab
Track 3: How networks can support scaling organised by TIP Consortium
08.15 – 08.45
Registration
Walk-in and registration
08.45 – 09.20
Welcome and opening discussion
Panel Chair: Johan Schot, Deep Transitions Lab and TIPC
Contributors:
- Richard Azarnia, The Good Investors
- Tatiana Fernández Sirera, Government of Catalonia
- Erika Kraemer-Mbula, University of Johannesburg
The conference and engagement week aligns with the ambitions of TIPC and the Deep Transitions Lab to enable transformative change. Achieving scaled transformations requires the collaboration of a diverse group of actors, but we currently observe a gap in how public and private actors coordinate and align. Often, it is unclear how investments intersect and support each other’s efforts. In this short opening session, we will start a dialogue about collaboration between public and private sectors and explore some of the diverse interests and expectations of conference participants. We will unpack how the conference can serve as a platform to bridge this gap, fostering the necessary dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders, and identify ingredients, instruments and incentives for successful cooperation towards scaling and system change.
09.20 – 10.10
Keynote
Slides from presentation by Hans Stegeman
Speaker: Hans Stegeman, Triodos Bank
Session Chair:
Johan Schot, Deep Transitions Lab and TIPC
Commentator:
- Anabel Marín, Institute of Development Studies
- Tania Rodriguez Riestra, CO_Capital
Sustainable finance often remains an oxymoron in light of the profound transformations required. Finance, by its very nature, is primarily focused on maintaining the status quo—what it finances, how it finances, and the structures that underpin it. This is true not only for financial institutions but also for regulatory bodies, supervisory authorities, and the language used within the sector. When the status quo is disrupted by emerging risks and deep uncertainties, the only logical conclusion is that finance must evolve as well. Therefore, to effectively finance transformative change, we must rethink not only what we finance and how we finance but also how we organize the entire financial system.
10.15 – 11.00
Parallel session 1
Slides from presentation by Matthias Weber and Stephanie Daimer and from Renée van Dis
Session Chair: Matthias Weber
Contributors:
- Stephanie Daimer, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
- Renée van Dis, INRAE – Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences Innovations Sociétés
Public policies aiming to promote system innovation and transformation need to be well justified by sound rationales and preparatory processes. They also need to draw on a broad understanding of innovation and hence on the engagement of an equally broad range of actors and stakeholders.
The contributions to this session look into the rationales for policies promoting social innovations as key ingredients of goal-oriented transformative change. They also consider the changing roles and responsibilities of researchers in anticipating system transformations and mobilising actor and stakeholder networks in the design and implementation of research projects and funding programmes. Additionally, the session highlights the benefits of applying real-time impact assessment approaches at both project and program levels to advance research addressing societal challenges.
Slides from Kristina Bogner’s presentation
Contributors:
- Kristina Bogner, Utrecht University
- Catharina Ehrnrooth, Ahlström Invest
Moderated by Sandra Boni, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
Transitions require second order learning and thus challenge assumptions, values, beliefs and identities. A question is how individual actors navigate such a process. To answer this question, research needs to focus on the emotional side of transitions and explore how inner transformations work and actors cope with what may be called transition pain. In this session Kristina Bogner will conceptualize and develop this notion of transition pain, while Catharina Ehrnrooth will explore inner transformations from a personal perspective working in a family-owned business. Sandra Boni will reflect on these contributions from a second order learning perspective.
Contributors:
- Eva Valencia, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
- Erika Kraemer-Mbula, University of Johannesburg
- Rob Raven, Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Chair: Bipashyee Ghosh, University College London
Within Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP), much emphasis is given to setting up small scale experimental policy projects. These so-called ‘niches’ provide an essential space to protect and nurture innovations. However, research has also shown that small and stand-alone initiatives are unlikely to deliver on broader societal transformative change – the delivery of which is at the heart of TIP. Across the globe, there is an urgency to scale these micro efforts in a variety of ways. TIPC’s transformative outcomes framework suggest at least four ways to scale experimentation:
- Increased uptake or diffusion of new alternative system rules and technologies in the same context
- Replication and embedding of new system innovations from one Global South context to another
- Circulation of ideas – learning how to govern decentralised infrastructure for instance, in different contexts
- Institutionalisation or formalisation of policy processes – challenges and barriers in the South.
In this session, expert panellists from a variety of contexts in the Global South will be invited to reflect on these scaling processes, with examples from their countries. Specifically, the session will encourage the analysis of fundamental characteristics in their contexts (examples being inequity, unemployment, informality, assumptions of well-functioning markets, and resilience of communities, polycentric grassroots innovations) and whether these characteristics suggest that we need different transformation pathways and strategies in the South, than that in the Global North. Which transformation pathways should we consider to scale innovations from the South?
Finally, what is the role of place in transition dynamics in the South and is it arguably a more important unit to focus on, for strategies for upscaling projects for just transitions?
11.00– 11.30
Refreshments
11.30 – 12.15
Parallel session 2
Slides from presentations by Gaston Heimeriks and Wouter Boon
Session Chair: Sandra Boni, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
Contributors:
- Gaston Heimeriks, Utrecht University
- Oscar Romero, Latin American and Caribbean Hub for Transformative Innovation
- Wouter Boon, Utrecht University
Commentator: Lasse Bundard, Austrian Institute of Technology
Making the step from experimentation to generalisation requires attention to the dynamics of the expansion and consolidation of experimental solutions, their replication and proliferation, the challenging and reframing of both problems and solutions, and the circulation and anchoring of new forms of knowledge in different contexts. Intermediation processes play a key role in generalisation, and with them the networks and organisations driving these processes.
Drawing on the understanding of transformative change as generalisation of system innovations, the contributions to this session develop a conceptual framework that interprets transformative change as the result of a sequence of generalisation points, each requiring active intermediation to stay on a transformative path. This is illustrated by examples from agro-food transitions and by the challenges faced by universities in assuming such intermediary roles.
Session Chair: Roberta Benedetti del Rio, Deep Transitions Lab
Contributors:
- Caetano Penna, Centre for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE)
- Alison Paton, Generation Foundation
- Philipp Essl, Better Society Capital
Impact investing will not be sufficient for addressing the polycrisis the world is facing. The Deep Transition Lab has proposed a new transformative investment philosophy which, if implemented, will change the rules of the finance industry. Caetano Penna will introduce these rules.
Alison Paton will explore what the law says about investors’ duties to pursue impact and how these can be put into practice. She will provide an overview of ‘A Legal Framework for Impact.’ James Burrow and Philipp Essl will explore BSG’s experience with impact investing, lessons learned and why BSG is moving to a system impact approach.
Contributors:
- Glenda Kruss, Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CESTII), South Africa
- Oabona Nthebolang, Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), Botswana
- Angela Sarcina, STI for SDGs Roadmap, European Commission/Joint Research Centre (JRC)
- Tshepang Mosiea, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa
- Rob Byrne, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of Sussex Business School)
Chair:
Chux Daniels, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of Sussex Business School)
The African continent needs economic growth to respond to the multiple and pressing development challenges confronting it. However, key actors acknowledge such growth must be sustainable, inclusive and focus on long-term systems change. And that science, technology and innovation (STI) has a major role to play in this growth and development.
To this end, several Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) experiments and projects and STI for SDGs roadmaps have been conducted across Africa in recent years. The goal is to deepen understanding of how TIP and STI can better support sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development that is transformative. This session brings together leading experts to present the lessons gained from these and to discuss avenues for scaling up the experiments, pilots and roadmaps with a view to realising deep systems change that propels the continent towards a more inclusive and sustainable development.
12.15 – 13.15
Lunch
13:15 – 13:50
Afternoon plenary
Led by Wendy Schultz, Jigsaw Foresight
A short facilitated session to strengthen connections between the diverse stakeholders and build momentum for new relationships and actions.
14:00 – 14.45
Parallel session 3
Slides from presentations by Dimitrios Pontikakis and Katharina Jäger
Contributors:
- Dimitrios Pontikakis, Joint Research Centre
- Katharina Jäger, Austrian Institute of Technology
- Matthias Weber, Austrian Institute of Technology
Transition pathways are by now quite well understood in conceptual terms; modelling the effects of policy interventions on these pathways remains a challenge, but would be of great help in informing policy design and monitoring. The contributions to this session present different approaches to the modelling of various facets of transition pathways. One such approach introduces an empirical agent-based model that explores potential pathways for the ‘twin transition’ of European regions towards a climate-neutral economy. This model simulates knowledge creation in green and digital technologies across European regions, aiming to evaluate the impact of various transformative innovation policy mixes on supporting the twin transition. Another approach in this session presents a system dynamics model for evaluating transformative policy scenarios, particularly in the context of climate change mitigation. This model aims to quantify potential policy gains from aligning demand-side and supply-side policies.
Session Chair: Johan Schot, Deep Transitions Lab and TIPC
Contributors:
- Jess Daggers, TransCap Initiative
- Viliana Dzhartova, Reimagined Futures
Moderated by Laur Kanger, Deep Transitions Lab and Tartu University
System mapping has become an important tool for implementing transformative and systemic forms of investing. In this session, we will explore and compare various mapping approaches and discuss their role in the investment process. Jess Daggers will introduce systematic investing and mapping tools used, Laur Kanger will introduce the rule mapping approach by DT Lab, and Viliana will then introduce the Reimagined Futures mapping work with investors, including a map developped on transformative investing.
Please see the following links for an introduction to this work:
Contributors:
- Jessica Ambler, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Immanuela Badde, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
- Xoan Garcia, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- Cristian Matti, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
- Marina Planas, The NTWK (TheNetwork)
Moderated by Mikael Roman, UNECE Transformative Innovation Network
In the present context of global transboundary sustainability challenges, international organisations are expected to play a critical role in designing, coordinating, as well as implementing policies and measures that support and scale innovation-driven societal changes. But, what can international organisations really do? What are the opportunities and present constraints? To what extent are existent international organisations fit-for-purpose? In Barcelona, a panel led by UNECE will reflect upon these issues by comparing some experiences from a diverse set of international organisations, addressing the European context, as well as other regions.
14.45 – 15.15
Refreshments
15.15 – 16.00
Parallel session 4
Slides for presentations by Manuel Laranja
Additional background information provided by Diana Velasco, Caetano C. R. Pena, Johan Schot and Jordi Molas-Gallart
Session Chair: Gilberto Gómez Muñoz, SENACYT Panama
Contributors:
- Jordi Molas-Gallart, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
- Manuel Laranja, Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG)
Commentator: Stephanie Daimer, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
The lack of capacities and capabilities is often seen as hampering organisations trying to take on a more proactive role in shaping transformative change. All organisations involved need to support the development of new institutions and cultural norms and to adapt to them, and this cannot be done with the current sets of capacities and capabilities. Importantly, the challenges faced and the kind of policy responses being proposed call for new public sector roles.
This session will identify the sets of capacities and capabilities required to fulfil these roles, discuss different typologies and explore their application to policy analysis. One contribution of this session will introduce the Transformative Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy concept (TMOIP), proposing capacities for government agencies to develop transformative missions, illustrated through a case study of Vinnova. The other contribution will present a complexity-sensitive view of socio-technical regime changes, examining how different capacities relate to dynamic patterns of systems change.
Contributors:
- Jess Daggers, TransCap Initiative
- Alison Fort, TWIST – Investing for Systems Change
- Jonas Torrens, Utrecht University
Session Chair: Johan Schot, Deep Transitions Lab and TIPC
Connecting academic research to the investment process brings its own challenges and opportunities. This session will explore examples of various attempts to do so and building on lessons learned it will seek to develop a set of ideas or even guidelines for how to organize the collaboration. Jonas Torrens will introduce the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium work connecting science, technology and innovation funding agencies with researchers, and his view on transdisciplinary research. Jess Daggers will talk about the TCI experience, combining field building, prototyping systemic investing and research, and Alison Fort will introduce how TWIST is developing a systematic approach to investing working with researchers.
Contributors:
- Rowan Conway, Just Transition Finance Lab at LSE’s Grantham Research Institute
- Ana Milena Osorio Garcia, Latin American and Caribbean Hub for Transformative Innovation
- Harm van den Heiligenberg, Province of Utrecht
Moderated by Jessica Ambler, OECD
Much work has been done on why and how best to engage the public in experimentation and demonstration activities that precede upscaling. Citizens likely also have a deliberate role to play in the broad and multi-scalar diffusion of emerging solutions, which can require processes of de- and recontextualization or, at minimum, the consideration of place-based insights. However, as a design approach, citizen participation has generally remained small-scale, experimental, and concentrated at certain stages of R&I and policy development. This session will explore the roles that the public can play in scaling experimentation for transformations, including the co-design of policy innovations to support adoption and, in parallel, phaseout or discontinuation of established ways of doing things. Contributions will also explore some of the challenges and enablers to scaling up transdisciplinary STI and policymaking activities.
16.05 – 16:50
Parallel session 5
Slides for presentations by Kejia Yang and Elvira Uyarra
Contributors:
- Kejia Yang, University of Oslo
- Elvira Uyarra, University of Manchester
Chair:
Stephanie Daimer, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
Generalisation of novel experimental solutions is just one side of the coin of transformative change; phase-out of unsustainable practices is the other side that, unfortunately, has received much less attention in recent years. One contribution of this session examines how regional policies influence coal phase-out strategies in China, emphasizing the need for context-specific governance structures. The second contribution, explores place-based approaches to transformative innovation policy, highlighting the role of problem-framing, valuation, and market formation in shaping regional innovation trajectories.
Session Chair: Janaina Pamplona da Costa, Department of Science and Technology Policy, University of Campinas, Brazil
Contributors:
Albert Bravo Biosca, Innovation Growth Lab, NESTA
Diana Velasco, Deep Transitions Lab and INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
- Rob Raven, Monash Sustainable Development Institute
This session explores how to accelerate multi-system change (Schot & Kanger, 2018) through experimental engagements with stakeholders involved in addressing systemic challenges with an emphasis on the finance component. Based on practical experiences, the presentations showcase how different action-research platforms have developed methodologies involving researchers, policymakers, investors, practitioners, and organized civil society to test and prototype collective solutions to tackle contemporary and context-specific sustainability problems in systems such as food, mobility, and energy.
The NESTA Innovation Growth Lab and the Deep Transitions Lab will present the definition and types of experiments they have developed so far. An emphasis on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the experiments will provide the participants with an opportunity to reflect on experimental engagements in their own organisations. The experiences will also present the challenges of working in transdisciplinary settings and the capabilities required for these types of approaches.
Contributors:
- Ursula Harman, Wyss Academy for Nature
- Ana Osorio, Latin American and Caribbean Hub for Transformative Innovation
- Mario Murcia, National Business Association of Colombia
- Oscar Romero, TIPC Latin American Hub
Moderated by Matias Ramirez, Science Policy Research Unit
This session addresses the multifaceted challenges of biodiversity collapse and new biodiversity controls in the Latin American region and its relationship to sustainable transitions. It will focus on two areas, firstly how transitions thinking can be applied to slow and ideally reverse deforestation trends in the Amazon area through a discussion of system optimization, reconfiguration and system change approaches. Secondly, how trade deals such as the EU’s Green New Deal are changing the patterns of international trade in natural resources-based products that have traditionally been the basis of exports and foreign from the global south.
17.00 – 17:30
Closing reflections
Contributors:
- Gilberto Gómez Muñoz, National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation, Panama
- Tshepang Mosiea, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa
- Tania Rodriguez Riestra, CO_Capital
- Jenny Sjöblom, Vinnova, Sweden
- Matthias Weber, AIT Austria Institute of Technology
Moderated by Victoria Shaw, TIPC and Deep Transitions Lab
In this short closing session, representatives from the investment, research and TIPC policy communities will briefly unpack learnings from the conference and summarise what they see to be the most important next steps and actions for scaling experimentation, expanding niche practices and fostering collective action between public and private actors on transformative system change.
19.00 – 21.30
Visit to the Cantina Lab at Can Batlló, a self-managed community and public space, for an end-of-conference gathering. The visit will include an opportunity to hear about Can Batlló’s history and activities with the local community to transform this area of Barcelona. This event will be accompanied by a tapas meal and drinks in an informal setting.