Regional transformation for more sustainability and innovation

In the TRAWOS project, coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Ecological Spatial Development (IÖR), Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, along with other research institutions and local partners, is investigating in four case study areas how structurally weak regions can better harness their potential in transformation processes. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for research and education.

Innovations are key drivers of social change and set the pace for apparent progress in human development. However, in light of crises such as climate change, species extinction, and resource scarcity, the negative consequences of this progress are also becoming apparent. It has long been clear that a transition to more sustainable ways of life and economic systems is necessary. How can this transformative change be achieved in cities and regions? How can they increase their ability to adapt—their “transformative capacities”—and thereby initiate and accelerate processes such as the energy transition? What role do innovations play in this? These questions are the focus of the project“ATRAKTIV—Building Transformative Capacities to Activate Regional Innovation Systems,”which began its work in November 2022.

The project aims to challenge the traditional understanding of innovation, which is primarily focused on technological progress and economic growth. The ATRAKTIV project therefore focuses not only on technological and economic innovations but also on social innovations linked to sustainable and public-good-oriented ways of thinking, acting, and organizing.

The project team is investigating how these diverse developments can be harnessed in a good way to drive transformative change at the regional level in four relatively peripheral and rural regions without a strong economic hub, which are generally classified as “structurally disadvantaged” counties: Görlitz (including the Upper Lusatia region) in Saxony, Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein, and Kyffhäuser and Saale-Holzland in Thuringia.

The work focuses on three overarching objectives:

1. Bringing together existing knowledge from transformation studies, the geography of innovation, sociology, and civic engagement research, and developing a new theoretical framework for assessing societal capacity for innovation.
   
2. Underpinning a theoretical framework with empirical evidence and developing indicators: Together with local stakeholders, the project team aims to identify those patterns and practices of action at the regional level that are suitable for advancing transformative change toward sustainability.
   
3. Developing concrete approaches, methods, and tools to build capacities that enable the activation of local innovation systems contributing to transformative change.

Project Consortium:

• Leibniz Institute for Ecological Regional Development (IÖR, coordinator of the overall project)
• Leibniz Institute for Regional Studies (IfL) in Leipzig
• Institute for Transformation, Housing, and Social Spatial Development (TRAWOS) at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
• Institute for Social Innovation, e.V. (ISInova), Institute for Cooperative Studies, e.V., and the Seminar on Rural Development (SLE) at the Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute for Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin