On 5 October, the Green Living Areas Mission co-organised the Solutions Fair in Barcelona, bringing together Interreg Euro-MED projects and local and regional actors from Catalonia, the Valencia Region and the Balearic Islands to explore how tested solutions can be adapted and implemented in new territories.
The event was jointly organised by Catalonia-based partners involved in the coordination of the four Interreg Euro-MED Missions — Innovative Sustainable Economy, Natural Heritage, Sustainable Tourism and Green Living Areas — with a common objective: bringing project results closer to the territories that could benefit from them and creating opportunities for future transfer and uptake.
From project results to territorial action
As many Interreg Euro-MED projects reach maturity, an increasing number of tested tools, methodologies and approaches are becoming available for transfer. The Solutions Fair was designed to facilitate direct exchanges between the organisations behind these solutions and public authorities and other territorial actors facing similar challenges.
Rather than following a traditional conference format, the core of the event took the form of a Solutions Marketplace. Solutions were organised around eight thematic areas:
- Energy and energy efficiency
- Sustainable mobility
- Water management
- Waste and circular economy
- Ecosystems and biodiversity
- Climate adaptation
- Sustainable tourism
- Digitalisation
Through two rounds of exchanges, participants could move between thematic tables, discover solutions relevant to their priorities, speak directly with the organisations that developed them and discuss their potential adaptation to new territorial contexts.
Several Green Living Areas Thematic Projects took part in the Marketplace, including URWAN, BAUHAUS4MED, LOGREENER, E-MED, ART MED, Re-Act Schools, NUDGES and RealUrbanGreen, showcasing solutions and sharing the experience gained through their development and testing.
The event took place under particularly challenging weather conditions. Heavy rain and weather alerts in Barcelona prevented several registered participants from attending, providing a timely reminder of the importance of strengthening the resilience of Mediterranean territories.
Preparing the next phase of solution transfer
For the Green Living Areas Mission, the Solutions Fair comes at a key moment. As many Thematic Projects reach maturity, the Mission is increasingly shifting its attention from testing solutions to facilitating their transfer and uptake in other Mediterranean territories.
The Ecosystemic Transition hUb (ETU) will play an important role in this next phase by making tested solutions more accessible and connecting their providers with territories interested in adopting them.
The next milestone will be ETU Call 2, opening in November 2026. The call will invite local and regional authorities to identify solutions they would like to bring to their territories and apply for tailored support to work with the organisations behind the solutions, adapt them to their local context and prepare their implementation.
The Solutions Fair provided an important first opportunity to build these connections — turning project results into conversations, and conversations into potential transfer opportunities across the Mediterranean.
