Dr. Carlo Sessa, Senior Researcher and Executive Board Member of EMEA, participated in the conference “Resilient futures: Integrating Circular and Regenerative principles with Smart strategies for sustainable urban infrastructure” and the subsequent cross-fertilization event, organized by the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic engineering (UL-FGG), on 12-14 March 2025. The first day the conference delivered presentations on regenerative practices in the Slovenia context – focusing on the use of smart strategies in designing resilient cities, energy communities challenges and opportunities and ISO standards for smart cities and measuring urban quality of life – and hosted discussions with participants from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania on transferability of the experiences and good practices. In the second day, the exchanges continued focusing on the RE:GEN-U project “Transition to a Regenerative Economy” led by the UL School of Economics and Business, and with a visit to the Ljubljana Innovation Hub, currently engaged in the EU Mission 100 Climate-Neutral Cities, where the information on the City of Ljubljana Climate Action plan has been shared.
In the afternoon of the second day, Dr. Sessa presented an updated systemic perspective of the different CROSS-REIS activities, suggesting next steps to support the implementation of the CROSS-REIS living labs in the widening partners countries. An important step is the adoption of a Living Lab CANVAS model to frame the stakeholders’ engagement process, focusing in each country on a distinct Regenerative Innovation eco-System (REIS) mission and asking the local partners to describe the key elements for a living lab business model: values, visions, field, local actors, organizing team, orchestration of community involvement and networking, operational costs and revenue streams.
Looking forward to the project later stages, until the end of the project in 2028 and beyond, Dr. Sessa suggested also to orient – as a common drive for all country labs – the activities towards co-designing digital twin prototypes for territorial (urban or rural) development planning. These may help building the regenerative innovation ecosystem on focus in each country, with a digital transformation approach aiming to steer systemic change, and eventually deliver regenerative outcomes in the twinned “socio-cyber-physical-ecological” system.
The Cross-disciplinary Network for Research Excellence in Regenerative Economy Innovation Ecosystems (CROSS-REIS) is committed to advancing knowledge and research that fosters regenerative economies. Regenerative economies are built upon principles that not only sustain but restore and revitalize natural ecosystems and societal well-being. In this context, CROSS-REIS brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from across Europe and the Mediterranean region to engage in collaborative efforts to enhance research capacities and develop innovative solutions. EMEA is leading WP6: “Global and Local Collaboration: Think globally, act locally”. Global and Local Collaboration aims to engage citizens, cities, regions, and non-academic actors in the transition towards a circular economy.
