Annex V: International and non-governmental organizations
This chapter is part of the report 'EU research & innovation for and with cities' that provides an overview of the main EU Research and Innovation (R&I) actions for and with cities to help them accelerate their transition towards sustainability and climate neutrality.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives. Our goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all. We draw on 60 years of experience and insights to better prepare the world of tomorrow.
Together with governments, policy makers and citizens, we work on establishing evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges. From improving economic performance and creating jobs to fostering strong education and fighting international tax evasion, we provide a unique forum and knowledge hub for data and analysis, exchange of experiences, best-practice sharing, and advice on public policies and international standard-setting.
Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum
The Forum operates as an annual event which may take the form of a conference, a workshop or a seminar. Each year, it focuses on a different cross-cutting issue related to sustainable development and green growth. The GGSD Forum is open to a wide range of stakeholders and experts from OECD Committees, agencies, other international organisations, government officials, civil society, academics and the private sector. It aims to identify remaining knowledge gaps and promote new initiatives to effectively address them.
Click here to read more about the Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum.
The Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP) is a global community of policy, business, and finance professionals and organisations committed to collaboratively generating, managing, and sharing knowledge on the transition to an inclusive green economy.
Knowledge and Learning
The GGKP's three knowledge platforms - the Green Policy Platform, Green Industry Platform, and Green Finance Platform – offer quick and easy access to the latest research, case studies, guidance, and tools to empower policy makers and advisors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and banks, insurance, and investment firms to make evidence-based decisions about how to green their operations. Webinars, courses, and academic programmes are also featured on the platforms to facilitate ongoing learning and capacity building for green growth professionals. Users can browse knowledge and learning by 193 countries, 6 regions, and 49 sectors and themes.
Engagement
The GGKP facilitates engagement on knowledge and learning through the Green Forum – an online interactive community space for professionals to share and discuss insights in the pursuit of a sustainable economic transition. The Green Forum includes discussions on global topics and the ability for users to create dedicated groups focused on specific themes, initiatives, and projects.
Established in 2009, the Belmont Forum is a partnership of funding organizations, international science councils, and regional consortia committed to the advancement of transdisciplinary science. Forum operations are guided by the Belmont Challenge, a vision document that encourages: International transdisciplinary research providing knowledge for understanding, mitigating and adapting to global environmental change.
Forum members and partner organizations work collaboratively to meet this Challenge by issuing international calls for proposals, committing to best practices for open data access, and providing transdisciplinary training. To that end, the Belmont Forum is also working to enhance the broader capacity to conduct transnational environmental change research through its e-Infrastructure and Data Management initiative.
Since its establishment, the Forum has successfully led 17 calls for proposals, supporting 134 projects and more than 1,000 scientists and stakeholders, representing over 90 countries. Themes addressed by CRAs have included Freshwater Security, Coastal Vulnerability, Food Security and Land Use Change, Climate Predictability and Inter-Regional Linkages, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Arctic Observing and Science for Sustainability, and Mountains as Sentinels of Change. New themes are developed through a scoping process and made available for proposals through the Belmont Forum website and its BF Grant Operations site.
How the Belmont Forum Works
Scientist and stakeholder support is made possible through Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs),which are the Forum equivalent of a call for proposals.
Each proposal submitted to a CRA theme in the Belmont Forum Grant Operations (BFgo) must consist of a project co-developed by natural scientists, social scientists, and stakeholders that hail from at least three countries. Stakeholder is used in its broadest sense in CRAs, representing the potential to co-develop and co-implement projects with communities, policymakers, business and industry, unionized bodies, tribal organizations, non-governmental organizations, and many others not listed here. Similarly, the Forum’s definition of social science includes the full breadth of social disciplines, including economics and the humanities. The research itself can take place within one or more countries anywhere in the world, but the team itself must be eligible for support from three funding organizations participating in the CRA.
Projects are merit reviewed and awards are made through coordinated funding from individual organizations. For example, a successful project team with participants from the U.S., South Africa, and Japan would be funded so that U.S. project members would receive funding from U.S. institutions at the same time that South African participants and Japanese participants would receive support from their respective institutions. We also partner with funders whose support can cross national boundaries. Details about eligibility and available support for interested applicants can be found in the organizational annexes for each call for proposals.
The Forum is open to a breadth of possible funding and support partnerships in its Collaborative Research Actions. Investment in a CRA is not limited only to Forum member organizations, nor is it constrained to only national fundamental research funding agencies and ministries. The Forum strives to make opportunities for interested supporting organizations to connect with the scoping process as early as possible to allow joint discussion and development of the Collaborative Research Action. However, it is possible for any organization providing either in-kind or monetary support to a CRA to join at any time in the development process. An organizational annex details each organization’s investment in the CRA, its particular interest in the theme, who is eligible for support, and the name of a program contact.
Note: not all Belmont Forum members participate in every CRA.
The World Design Organization (WDO)™, formerly known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), is an international non-governmental organization that promotes the profession of industrial design and its ability to generate better products, systems, services, and experiences; better business and industry; and ultimately a better environment and society.
From 12 founding professional design associations in 1957, WDO has grown to include over 170 member organizations from more than 40 nations, engaging them in collaborative efforts and providing them with the opportunity to be heard internationally.
A renewed vision and mission was approved by the members at the general assembly in October 2015 along with an approval to change the name of the organization to World Design Organization.
WDO has United Nations Special Consultative Status.
Montreal (Canada) 9 September 2019 –The World Design Organization (WDO)® today announced that Valencia (Spain) has been named World Design Capital® 2022 as a result of its longstanding design legacy, which has become a leading example of a city’s effective and strategic use of design on the development of public policy and its impact on industry. Valencia is the eighth city to hold this biennial designation.
According to WDO President and member of the WDC 2020 Selection Committee, Luisa Bocchietto, “Valencia’s bid, articulated a compelling proposal that clearly demonstrates the effective application of Mediterranean design, of design for change and design as a key reference point to improve citizen’s quality of life.” The city’s strategic positioning on the Spanish coast, as well as its well-established design expertise was clearly reflected in its bid and promises to deliver a programme that reflects the city’s aspirations and commitment at local, regional, national and international levels. “We also hope that this designation could motivate other regional and Ibero-American cities to bid for a future WDC cycle,” stated Bocchietto.
Located on the southeast of Spain, Valencia is a strategic portal city located on the Mediterranean coast. Their impressive urban infrastructures are directed towards coexisting with the natural and built environment.
With a committed team, strong municipal support and unprecedented private sector involvement, the bidding entity has everything required for developing a strong programme for 2022. The designation is also a unique opportunity to improve sustainable design approaches at regional and local levels.
Shortlisted candidate Bengaluru (India) also mounted an unprecedented bid with the hopes of using the WDC programme as a platform to increase design integration in the city’s governing practices. Regarding the selection process, WDC Selection Committee member Dr. Anne Stenros stated, “It was a true tale of two cities and an example of the polarization of urban progress that will continue to happen over the course of the next 30 years.” A comparatively new design city with design capabilities still in development, WDO aims to build on Bengaluru’s existing potential to develop its bid into a new pilot programme aimed at emerging cities that aspire to apply design in transformative city projects.
World Design Capital is a biennial designation celebrating cities that use design to improve economic, social and cultural life. Previous designations include Torino (2008), Seoul (2010), Helsinki (2012), Cape Town (2014), and Taipei (2016), Mexico City (2018). Lille Metropole will hold the WDC title in 2020.
Econcult - Cultural Economics and Tourism Research Unit
Econcult is the Cultural Economics and Tourism Research Unit of the University of Valencia, in Spain. The unit, established in 1999 and directed by professor Pau Rausell Köster, is part of the Applied Economics Department of the University of Valencia. Econcult conducts high level research on the relationships between culture and development. In the last few years, the unit has participated in several international projects that have allowed its researchers to become part of growing European and global networks.
Source: econcult - Cultural Economics and Tourism Research Unit (University of Valencia)
DESIGNSCAPES (Building Capacity for Design-enabled Innovation in Urban Environments) is a H2020 European project approved under the topic CO-CREATION-02-2016- User-driven innovation: value creation through design-enabled innovation. The overarching aim of the DESIGNSCAPES project is to exploit the generative potential of urban environments in the highest possible number of European Cities to encourage the uptake and further enhancement and up scaling of Design-enabled Innovations by existing enterprises, start-up companies, public authorities and agencies, and other urban stakeholders.
Vision and scope
The focus is on applying design tools and methods, since this offers a systematic approach to conceive user-driven innovations. DESIGNSCAPES aims to achieve a better uptake, further enhancement and up scaling, of Design-enabled Innovation in Europe, through direct financial support to flagship and innovation generating initiatives as well as a huge capacity building effort targeting\ multiple stakeholder groups (citizens, researchers, practitioners, innovators and policy makers). In doing so, the project will foster the linkages between research, policy and practice, while contributing in making Europe a global leader in the domain.