SCORE (Smart Control of Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities) was a Horizon 2020-funded project aimed at strengthening climate resilience in European coastal cities. In response to the growing threats posed by climate change, such as extreme weather events, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise, SCORE integrated SMART technologies, nature-based solutions and living labs to develop effective, scalable, and sustainable adaptation strategies.
About The Project
SCORE placed a strong emphasis on Ecosystem-Based Approaches (EBAs), which leverage natural processes to enhance coastal protection, improve biodiversity, and foster sustainable urban development. By combining EBAs with smart digital technologies, SCORE enabled cities to enhance climate monitoring, prediction, and adaptation strategies. However, these innovative solutions must be tested, refined, and validated through real-world applications to ensure their long-term viability and effectiveness.
To achieve this, SCORE established a network of 10 Coastal City Living Labs (CCLLs) across seven European countries. These CCLLs serve as collaborative platforms where local communities, researchers, policymakers, and businesses co-design and implement climate resilience solutions tailored to their specific geographic and socio-economic contexts. Each CCLL followed a structured methodology to support its establishment, stakeholder engagement, and co-creation processes. Each CCLL was developed using a flexible framework, ensuring project goals were achieved, while allowing for contextualisation to the local context. SCORE’s CCLLs are located in:
- Ireland: Sligo & Dublin
- Portugal: Oeiras
- Spain: Vilanova i la Geltrú, Benidorm & Oarsoaldea
- Italy: Massa
- Slovenia: Piran
- Turkey: Samsun
- Poland: Gdańsk
The project has produced numerous key results, including a EBA catalogue, co-creation toolkit, amongst others – all providing new results that are impactful at both the European and local levels. Discover the full list of results on SCORE’s website.
ERINN Innovation’s Role
ERINN Innovation played a pivotal role in the project’s success, leading the knowledge transfer activities and the establishment of the living labs.
Notably, ERINN Innovation undertook a comprehensive, rigorous mixed-methods approach to systematically capture lessons learned from the SCORE’s ten CCLLs to support the further establishment of CCLLs beyond SCORE.
In the early stages of the project, ERINN Innovation, with the support of WP2, developed a methodological framework and calendar to carefully capture insights from both technical and non-technical activities, thereby providing a holistic picture of how the CCLLs have adapted and matured over time. By engaging directly with CCLL partners through surveys, interviews, and interactive sessions, online and in-person, we were able to build a rich catalogue of the evolving challenges, successes, and best practices of the SCORE approach.
This work and commitment, has lead to the development of Navigating Living Labs – Lessons Learned (see below). This guidebook gives specific recommendations and learnings for new living labs to take on in their journey.
Above: The Navigating Living Labs – Lessons Learned Guidebook
ERINN Innovation has led the development of a series of courses hosted on the SCORE Online Learning platform. These courses cover a variety of topics including nature-based solutions, monitoring in coastal communities and living labs.
“It’s been a fun challenge to capture the huge amount of work done by the wider SCORE team across new mediums. I will miss getting to work on the unique tasks we as ERINN have had the chance to lead on, such as the Lessons Learned and designing Massive Open Online Courses. And of course I will miss working with this talented and ambitious consortium – I’ve found the whole SCORE team hugely inspirational!”
– Casey Borklund, Project Officer at ERINN Innovation.
The Project’s Legacy
While SCORE is winding down, its legacy is far from over. With 10 CCLL established across Europe, these communities will continue to engage in co-creative activities, making their coastal areas increasingly resilient to climate change. The CCLLs bring together stakeholders for all walks of life and with varying priorities from, citizens, policymakers, businesses to discuss the climate challenges of their community. The CCLL creates a space for dialogue and collaboration at a time when it is truly needed. The empowerment of the communities is the true legacy of the project.
“SCORE has really shown me the power of community-level work. I am continuously impressed and inspired by the folks within the CCLL, both SCORE partners and beyond, who show up and are so dedicated to ensuring their community is taking action. I am honoured to have met and worked with these folks and look forward to seeing where these relationships take us.”
– Rochelle Caruso, Project Manager at ERINN Innovation.
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