RISTANC – Research and Innovation cooperaton for SusTAinability and reaching EU missioNs objeCtiv

Addressing EU Missions and tackling complex sustainability challenges requires radical collaboration across sectors and disciplines, led by knowledge institutions to bridge local actions with European-wide networks for broader impact. The RISTANC project focuses on the implementation of the EU Mission Restore our Oceans and Waters in Slovenian seas, part of a transboundary region of the Northern Adriatic. In contrast to previous projects from the Mission portfolio, RISTANC emphasizes a bottom-up methodology and social innovation to attract new commitments and funding sources in the regional innovation ecosystem, and to offer solutions with scalability across the EU. Our multi-stakeholder consortium pulls together expertise from across the social sciences, humanities, arts, and marine sciences, all integrated by holistic thinking in order to generate system-wide conclusions on how social innovation can accelerate the Mission. We design two demo solutions to contribute towards the objective of the Mission and further dedicate 60,000 Eur to third parties (local communities, artists, innovators, entrepreneurs) to directly support 5-8 projects, helping us to generate robust conclusions.