collaboration; platform; multi-stakeholder

Ongoing initiative, planned from 25th March 2020 to 31st December 2030

It is often hard  for  a platform to emerge in  which there are multiple collaborators in different sectors, creating a reliance on single decision-making bodies. Through the EDD platform, action toward climate neutrality can be created more easily.

This platform explicitly explains that through a multi-stakeholder format, collaboration in this project will help create tangible solutions toward city transformations in the three lines of work: Sustainable urban recovery, sustainable mobility, and energy sustainability. This comes under SDG 17 ‘Partnership for the goals’.

Outputs also can influence public policies at local and national levels for example, ‘The agreements of the Ville’ which was a response to the COVID pandemic in Madrid as a response strategy.

Though the initial stages of the project were more COVID centered, more transformative partnerships have been able to be incubated in regards to green employment and transformation of what sustainability looks like in four of the biggest cities in Spain, in addition to increasing preparedness for emergency response which was triggered by the pandemic.

This platform is creating an ecosystem for ideas to be created through various actors and stakeholders to approach problems in Madrid. By establishing themselves as a platform at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, EDD has demonstrated a quick and effective approach to the crisis that has ensued since. In creating a platform focussing on different areas they ensured that solutions through collaboration were able to be found.

A new approach to how co-creation occurs within these multi-stakeholder networks is partnership incubation. When EDD communities identify a need for multi-stakeholder collaboration this incubation begins by developing a value proposition & support for the partnership to create short-term action, knowledge collaboration   sustains this on a long-term scale. This is a unique platform for both public and private administrations/companies. On the private side, the inclusion of these companies has meant that opportunities for more effective innovation processes have increased. For public companies, acting within a diverse ecosystem in which all actors are considered as equals allows for faster and bolder actions.

The COVID-19 pandemic was the primary reason for this platform to be established as a space to understand the crisis and what solutions could be formed. It carried on from a previous multi-stakeholder program ACELERA 2030. 

Four different organisations were instigators of this: Ilberdrola (global company in renewable energy), itdUPM (public university innovation center, ISGlobal (Global health research centre), SDSN Spain (the Spanish Sustainable Development Solutions Network).

There are approximately 20 professionals/experts in each of the four communities with EDD. These are the main stakeholders who are able to influence change. 

Companies and experts who have partnered with EDD are also a key stakeholder to this process, they are mainly brought in through the participation incubation projects explained above. This has meant over 500 experts have participated in various projects.

• Political: This platform allowed for political barriers of decision-making to be transcended in a way that actions that are usually slow to happen could be tackled by actors at different levels. 
• Social: This platform was able to enable trust between organisations from the start in the way it was established. There was a sense of collective purpose that was created through the facilitation of distributed and open resources that all organisations involved contributed to in terms of knowledge, skills, and finance areas.
  
• Technical: Technology allowed for the networks to happen and enabled action in a time when action was severely inhibited by the pandemic.

• Social: While the COVID pandemic is what initially enabled the platform to be established in a time of crisis, it still created a significant organisational challenge because of the uncertainty and involuntary digitalisation of work.
  

This project is seemingly easily scalable in a general sense where the overall idea and blueprint can be applied to other countries. It has proven useful for both public administrations and decision-makers and will continue on a long-term scale. For example, this collaboration platform is being taken to other Spanish cities and into South America too to adapt it to their contexts. 

There would be a need for key players/companies in a country to step up to the plate to start the process. Which would likely need help or a framework from the original platform to establish itself and create their own platform that fits the needs of the place it is being used. This would also be dependent on the government structures in the country and how receptive they are to it.

Main positive lessons/opportunities identified:

• Facilitation is crucial and can be undertaken by a diverse stakeholder community to create solutions

Main failures/barriers identified:

• There are still some barriers to having to rely on digital platforms entirely, but this can slowly be remedied as the effects of the pandemic lessen