From capacity building to transformation: helping Europe’s regions learn how change happens

The challenge

Across Europe, regional governments and other public authorities are grappling with interconnected challenges, from climate adaptation and circularity to digital transformation, food security and demographic decline. The regions that applied to the programme described very different starting points. North Sweden is sparsely populated with an ageing population, the Lake Balaton region is under growing climate pressure, and Malta is working to tackle obesity through a mission-oriented approach. What they shared was a gap between knowing what needs to change and knowing how to make it happen.

The problem is not a lack of ambition. Rather, complex challenges continue to be addressed through fragmented structures and sector-specific responses. Different departments may work simultaneously on mobility, housing, energy, skills or economic development without a shared understanding of how these issues interact. As a result, opportunities for integrated solutions are often missed. Regions’ own assessments bear this out. When they applied, regions rated their capabilities across the six dimensions of transformation. Implementation was the weakest: three-quarters of applicants (76%) rated their capacity to carry out adaptable strategies as only “emerging” or “developing”. More than two-thirds (69%) said the same about orchestrating, or aligning interests and structures across institutions.

At the same time, Europe’s regions face very different realities. Approaches that work in a metropolitan region may be unsuitable for a rural territory, while economic and social pressures are experienced differently from place to place. Supporting transformation therefore requires more than policy frameworks or funding programmes. It requires public authorities to develop the capabilities, relationships and confidence needed to navigate complexity and lead systemic change.

What we did

To address this challenge, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched the Preparatory Action on Innovation for Place-Based Transformation (2024-2026), bringing together more than 70 regions from across Europe. Climate KIC led the design and delivery of the programme alongside ERRIN and EURADA.

The initiative helped regions move beyond traditional approaches to innovation and explore how to drive transformation through three interconnected lenses:

• Challenge-oriented innovation, focused on addressing long-term societal challenges rather than isolated projects.
• Transformative innovation, aimed at changing systems rather than incrementally improving existing practices.
• Place-based development, recognising that every territory requires solutions rooted in its unique social, economic and environmental context.

Through the Climate KIC Academy, these principles were translated into a structured Capacity Building Programme based on the JRC’s ACTIONbook for Place-Based Transformation. More than 100 participants from 71 regions joined an intensive learning journey combining online seminars, peer learning, reflection tools and in-person gatherings in Sofia and Florence. Participants were policymakers and practitioners with direct responsibility for their region’s innovation and transition strategies. Most came from regional governments, alongside managing authorities for EU funds, regional development agencies and city and national authorities. The programme comprised eight foundational and three advanced online modules, the first advanced module focusing on circular value chains. Participants also joined thematic working groups of five to ten regions, and two in-person gatherings, in Sofia (November 2025) and Florence (March 2026). The Florence gathering brought together 56 participants, including representatives of the European Committee of the Regions.

Participants worked on real territorial challenges ranging from circular economy and climate adaptation to food security, energy transition and digital transformation. Rather than learning theory in isolation, regions applied new methods directly to ongoing policy challenges.

Alongside this learning programme, seven Experimentation Journeys brought smaller groups of territories together to co-design and test new policy instruments around shared challenges. This created space for regions not only to learn from one another, but also to experiment with new ways of working across sectors, governance levels and institutional boundaries. In one journey, territories from Catalonia, the Azores, Ankara, Ahiler and Malta are working together on food systems. They are exploring how new technologies can support farmers’ autonomy and how regulation might evolve to turn innovation into practice. Peer learning was a deliberate part of the design. The consortium defined success partly in terms of relationships and whether territories would continue to share ideas and build on one another’s work once formal activities ended.

As Davide Magagna from the JRC explained, the goal was for participants “not only to understand new approaches, but to be able to use them in their daily work.”

What changed

Although the programme is still ongoing, clear signs of impact are already emerging. Several regions have moved beyond knowledge exchange to establish lasting collaborative relationships. In Poland, the Opole region strengthened cooperation with counterparts in Greece and France through the iCEAR project, using insights from the programme to improve circular economy policies and support broader governance initiatives focused on participation and policy evaluation.

In the Canary Islands, learning from the programme is already informing advisory work with the regional government on strategic project evaluation, innovation policy design and place-based transformation initiatives linked to the region’s economic priorities.

Participation also generated demand for deeper transformation support. Following the programme, Navarra in Spain engaged with Climate KIC through the ECIV network, where Climate KIC is supporting eight regions to assess their capabilities for the circular transition and develop roadmaps. This is to further strengthen mission-oriented innovation, governance capabilities and circular economy approaches.

Perhaps most significantly, participants reported a shift in mindset. Rather than focusing exclusively on delivering activities and programmes, they began asking broader questions about the long-term transformations they were seeking to achieve. As one participant reflected: “We’re so focused on delivering activities that we don’t always pause to ask the bigger questions. What’s the ultimate purpose? What transformation are we trying to achieve?”

The programme also strengthened peer networks across Europe. Relationships formed through workshops, thematic working groups and in-person gatherings have continued beyond the formal learning activities, creating new channels for collaboration and mutual support.

Reflecting on the experience, Gábor Molnár from Hungary’s Lake Balaton Region described the programme as “a valuable source of practical knowledge, strengthening our commitment to turn shared learning into concrete territorial action.” Throughout the programme, the consortium tracked participants’ learning through surveys after each seminar, facilitator feedback, individual learning diaries and a self-assessment tool measuring how capabilities in areas such as collaboration, systems thinking and policy design evolved.

Why this matters

Beyond the number of people trained and sessions delivered, the programme’s value lies in the capabilities and relationships it has helped build. 
As Nerea Aranbarri Kortabarria, who leads the Capacity Building Programme at the Climate KIC Academy, noted, “Transformation is not a checklist. It’s a process of learning, collaboration and sensemaking.”

This matters because Europe’s transition cannot be delivered through isolated projects or standardised solutions. Different places face different combinations of economic, social and environmental pressures, and they need the capability to interpret those challenges within their own context.

By creating spaces for regions to learn, experiment and collaborate together, the programme is contributing to a growing Europe-wide network for place-based transformation. It demonstrates that achieving systemic change requires investment not only in solutions, but also in the conditions that allow solutions to emerge, adapt and spread; trusted relationships, governance capabilities, experimentation spaces and shared learning.

As Climate KIC Academy’s Carla Alvial Palavicino observed: “If territories start talking to each other, sharing ideas and building on one another’s work, that’s when something real has shifted.” 
The lasting impact of the programme will ultimately be measured in future policy outcomes. But the early evidence already points to the fact that regions across Europe are beginning to adopt new ways of thinking, collaborating and acting, laying the groundwork for more resilient, place-based and transformational approaches to change.