What are Deep Demonstrations?
EIT Climate-KIC offers ‘systems innovation as a service’ to help Europe deliver a transformative green recovery.
EIT Climate-KIC’s response to the climate emergency has been to focus our efforts on systems innovation, to generate options and pathways for radical transformations in whole countries, cities, regions, industries and value chains.
Deep Demonstrations are the large-scale projects through which we offer our ‘systems innovation as a service’ model to Europe’s most ambitious ‘challenge owners’ – i.e. the mayors, government ministries, industries and community leaders, and funders who have the means and mandate to tackle Europe’s biggest climate change challenges.
We designed the initiative to meet the increasing demand for our role as an orchestrator of systems innovation. Our systems innovation model uses a balanced portfolio of interventions – across education, technological innovation, citizen engagement, policy, finance and other relevant levers of change – to catalyse fast decarbonisation; to drive climate adaptation and resilience through circular economy approaches; and, in the case of industries, to generate new markets, business models and value chains coherent with a 1.5 degree world.
The world needs inspiration, and proof that inclusive, fast and large-scale change is possible, to achieve net zero in time.
EIT Climate-KIC’s eight Deep Demonstration projects act as:
- a testbed environment for the 1.5C-consistent systems transitions called for by the IPCC, European policymakers and our own strategy and Theory of Change
- sources of innovation and learning that can accelerate change elsewhere, and provide policy inputs.
These demonstrations were launched in 2019 and build on our ten-year track record of climate innovation in cities, industry, land-use and finance, which we bring into the portfolio phase of our demonstration projects. You can explore our larger portfolio of work in these areas here.
Deep Demonstrations are our way of accelerating learning about how to change the world in the context of urgency, diversity and radical uncertainty.
We invite new partners and funders to work with us to expand and progress this initiative, for a rapid and inclusive green recovery across Europe.
Interested? Email us to start the conversation.
‘Innovation-as-usual’ – typically siloed and focused on ‘supplying’ the market with technology-led solutions – is not delivering a 1.5 degree world. We need a new model of innovation. We need innovation to catalyse systemic change. Deep Demonstrations tackle multiple societal challenges in an integrated, holistic way. For example, Healthy, Clean Cities looks at waste, mobility, heat, power, buildings, infrastructure, fuel poverty, skills, jobs, well-being, etc., as a set of interrelated city challenges. Our food-focused demonstration works at the level of a global value chain. It looks at hunger, obesity, health, habits, perceptions, production, distribution and ecological degradation as connected challenges. “Deep demonstrations are intended as inspirational examples of what is possible in cities, sectors, countries and value chains when innovation is orchestrated, collaborative, mission-oriented and demand-led. They represent the ‘growth edge’ of our strategy for tackling climate change through innovation.” Kirsten Dunlop, CEO of EIT Climate-KIC In line with our systems innovation methodology, deep demonstrations have four iterative and non-linear components: We engage Europe’s most ambitious challenge owners – i.e. city mayors, regional leaders, government ministers, community leaders and CEOs of major companies – to secure a clear intent and demand-side pull for transformational change. In this phase we listen to understand local or sectoral challenges, as well as current commitments with regard to decarbonisation and resilience. We start to identify the multiple systems at play in the ‘problem space’ and may also discuss the role of culture, identity, habits, needs and top-of-mind concerns. We work towards a clear commitment to (1) work together on an innovation portfolio focused on catalysing radical transformation of the systems identified, and (2) willingness to bring existing programmes within a systems innovation portfolio logic. (For example, in Slovenia, the intent is to become the world’s first fully circular national economy, using systems innovation as a key tool). Together, we formally map out the relevant systems to identify where and how innovation can play a role in catalysing change dynamics, and we start to design a hypothetical portfolio – i.e. innovation ‘positions’ or leverage points that can address barriers and opportunities. Portfolio positions may include social innovation as well as innovation in finance, technology, policy, governance, citizen engagement, education and other relevant levers of change. We build and manage a portfolio of 30–100 connected innovations designed to address leverage points identified in earlier stages. To activate this live portfolio, we search for multiple innovation solutions and possibilities, and we launch calls for new and unexpected ideas, shaped by what we learn on the ground. We use sense-making and learning to generate actionable intelligence. It is our desire that decision-makers have actionable intelligence and knowledge at their fingertips, to accelerate learning about how to achieve transformation at scale. Beyond EIT Climate-KIC and our Deep Demonstration partners, we also want others to follow our journey and benefit from our learnings. To that end, we are committed to reporting transparently on our Deep Demonstration programme as it unfolds. Feedback loops inform policymaking and dynamic management of the innovation portfolio.
Our methodology
INTENT
FRAME
PORTFOLIO
LEARNING
Circa 40 EIT Climate-KIC partners are already involved as design partners in the Intent phase of Deep Demonstrations, including several core partners. These 40 tend to include city partners, universities, research agencies, and NGOs. Relatively speaking there are few SMEs and large companies in the Intent phase, who we expect to be more engaged in the portfolio phase when innovation is in delivery mode. The Deep Demonstrations process is designed to search for and engage partners with appropriate capabilities, interests and expertise at several points in a carefully designed methodology consisting of four, iterative phases: INTENT-FRAME-PORTFOLIO-INTELLIGENCE. See Diagram 1 for an overview of the Deep Demonstrations Process: These phases involve partners in a number of scoping, planning and design activities, for example: This is primarily ‘funding for time’, i.e. partners providing expertise through a process of discussion, scoping and design; with some specific deliverables needed in systems mapping, for example, stakeholder consultation, funding architecture or economic modelling. All of the Deep Demonstrations are currently still in Intent and Frame stages. The experience of partner engagement so far has been a process of learning as we go, working on ways of adapting the EIT granting mechanisms and requirements to the needs of a different way of working. The latest developments in terms of EIT requirements on KIC financial participation in innovation projects do apply to the Deep Demonstrations but with recognition that these initiatives will be the core value proposition for EIT Climate-KIC going forward. EIT acknowledges the value of EIT investment as seed funding to establish the foundations for these programmes to attract larger scale funding in order to be viable – likely through different forms of blended finance – and wishes to see the role of Climate-KIC BVH as an orchestrator of the process formally recognised and built into agreements with challenge owners and future funders. EIT Climate-KIC’s systems transformation value proposition, derived from EIT Climate-KIC’s 2019-2022 Transformation, in Time strategy, is designed to deliver systems innovation to tackle climate change. This value proposition – ‘systems innovation as a service’ or ‘transformation service’ offers value in different ways to challenge owners, partners and funders. Specifically, the tenets of the overarching value proposition are as follows: Interested? Email us to start the conversation.
Deep Demonstrations content hub
Fifteen cities across Europe are working with EIT Climate-KIC to accelerate their transitions towards carbon neutrality and climate resilience – using joined-up, systems innovation as a key tool.
Read MoreWe’re designing a demonstration to address short-term thinking (in finance and other areas of society) that prevents the 1.5C transition we need.
Read MoreWe work with regions particularly exposed to climate impacts due to the make-up of their landscapes, economies and societies.
Read MoreWe apply systems thinking to help turn a number of specific landscapes across Europe from carbon sources to carbon sinks.
Read MoreWork with us to catalyse a shift towards a healthy food system that can feed future generations within planetary boundaries.
Read MoreWe’re working for democratic and inclusive transitions in regions still economically dependent on fossil fuels and polluting industries.
Read MoreThe government of Slovenia has articulated the ambitious and inspiring aim to become the world’s first fully circular national economy.
Read MoreWe are working with ambitious ports and shipping industry leaders to create a circular, inclusive, net-zero-emissions maritime sector.
Read More