Cross-domain collaboration for adaptation strategies: Harmonia consortium and expertise requirements

The HARMONIA project simultaneously addresses three main objectives set by the European Commission for the Horizon 2020 research programme, namely the advancement of global observation systems and derived data management, the adaptation to Climate Change (CC) and the societal challenge of extending the base of awareness and participation in the climate challenge. The extent and complexity of the field of action is matched by an equally transversal and multidisciplinary consortium of 22 European partners from 10 European countries. Of these, 4 are technical universities that guarantee the scientific research base and adherence to the open access knowledge requirements of European research; 9 are SMEs with specific expertise in the fields of earth observation, risk assessment, meteorological analysis, partecipatory processes or data legal management; 9 are SMEs with specific expertise in the fields of earth observation, risk assessment, meteorological analysis or legal management; 4 research institutes bringing specific perspectives on health and well-being risks, on the impact of CC at the urban scale, on the overall analysis of climate change trends and other associated environmental risks; 1 NGO resulting from a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre and the European Agency for Sustainable Development and Eurointegration; and finally 4 municipalities acting as pilot cases to calibrate and test the tools developed within the project. The main novelty of the project is the combination of the social and technical components. In particular, the inclusion of parameters of human health and well-being alongside the parameters of environmental risks and possible damage to the urban structure, and the setting up of a participatory process that includes a broad base of stakeholders, makes it possible to bring the scientific discourse back to a tangible dimension of concrete interest for citizens. This paper discusses the importance of cross-sectoral and vertical integration of expertise to address climate change and promote sustainable development solutions in a non-sectoral way and to maximise the impact of research.