Transformative innovation for better climate change adaptation :Case study : Leuven, Belgium

The aim of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies, based on empirical analyses. The study draws on the conceptual framework on this question previously defined for the JRC (European Commission, 2024), and the methodology for case studies articulated in the same report. The case study research comprises overall 14 case study reports covering 16 different territories from across the EU and beyond, casing various institutional contexts, a variety of biogeographical regions within different climate risks, different ranges of population sizes, and representing a diversity of approaches to CCA and transformative innovation. The framework takes the form of an analytical grid, structured into seven sections, each of them representing a key feature of the ‘transformative innovation’ approach where the features are understood as essential conditions for the design and implementation of CCA strategies with this high level of ambition. Each section sets out the main question(s) to be addressed in relation to its respective transformative innovation feature. This report provides the findings for the city of Leuven, Belgium, as at October 2023, and is the result of a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC), DG CLIMA and DG RTD.