Developing innovative solutions is only the first step towards more sustainable Mediterranean agriculture. Within NexusLabs, equal emphasis is placed on creating the conditions that allow these solutions to be adopted, adapted to local contexts, and sustained long after the project ends. Supporting this effort is Etifor, a university spin-off and B Corp-certified environmental consultancy with extensive expertise in sustainability governance, stakeholder engagement, innovative business models, and ecosystem services. Drawing on its experience in bridging scientific research with policy and practice, Etifor helps design the governance frameworks, financing approaches, and collaborative strategies needed to replicate and scale WEFE Nexus solutions across the Mediterranean. In this interview, the team reflects on the importance of creating an enabling environment where technical innovation is matched by strong partnerships, effective governance, and long-term sustainability, ensuring the project’s impact extends well beyond the Living Labs.
Q: Mention one challenge you are facing on the ground, or “bet” that needs to be won?
One of the main challenges we are facing is how to move from promising pilot solutions to long-term adoption and real systemic change across very diverse Mediterranean contexts. From Etifor’s perspective, this is not only a technical challenge, but also a social and organisational one.
NexusLabs brings together many types of innovations – from smart irrigation technologies to governance approaches and WEFE Nexus assessment tools – but their successful uptake depends on whether they are perceived as useful, accessible, economically viable, and institutionally supported in each Living Lab territory.
A key “bet” of the project is therefore supporting the creation of enabling conditions for adoption and upscaling. This means working closely with other partners to understand barriers related to governance, stakeholder engagement, market readiness, financing opportunities, and local capacities. In practice, much of our work so far has involved building common frameworks across Work Packages, aligning methodologies, and helping structure pathways for scaling out, scaling up, and scaling deep across the project.
Another important challenge is ensuring that solutions are not simply replicated mechanically from one region to another. Mediterranean irrigated agriculture is extremely heterogeneous, so one of the lessons we are continuously working on is how to balance transferability with local adaptation. This is why collaboration with the Living Labs and continuous dialogue with partners is essential from the very beginning.
Q: Some activities or results we should expect soon?
A: In the coming months, Etifor will continue supporting the development of the adoption, replication, and upscaling pathways for NexusLabs solutions, building on the first versions of the project frameworks already delivered.
One important activity will be the progressive identification and assessment of the project’s exploitable assets and Key Exploitable Results (KERs), together with consortium partners. This includes analysing which solutions have the strongest potential for long-term adoption, what kind of stakeholders they target, and which business and financing mechanisms could support their sustainability beyond the project lifetime.
We are also working with partners on the development of business model frameworks and exploitation strategies tailored to the different NexusLabs innovations and Living Labs. This process involves co-creation activities, stakeholder consultations, and alignment with evidence emerging from the technical and demonstration Work Packages.
Another important step will be the refinement of the adoption and upscaling framework through inputs coming from the Living Labs, impact assessments, and scenario analyses. The idea is to progressively transform the initial conceptual framework into practical roadmaps and blueprints that can help policymakers, practitioners, and local actors replicate successful WEFE Nexus approaches in other Mediterranean territories.
Q: How does this work connect to your experience as a researcher or institution?
A: This work strongly builds on Etifor’s previous experience in sustainability transitions, Nature-based Solutions, stakeholder engagement, and the development of business and governance models for environmental innovation projects. In many previous EU-funded projects, we have worked on the challenge of bridging the gap between innovation and implementation, especially when solutions require behavioural change, institutional coordination, and long-term governance support.
What is particularly interesting in NexusLabs is the strong integration between technical innovation, Living Labs, impact assessment, and upscaling strategies within the WEFE Nexus perspective. Compared to previous projects, NexusLabs places even greater emphasis on combining technological, social, economic, and governance dimensions from the start, rather than treating adoption as something that happens only at the end of the project.
Another aspect that we find particularly valuable is the diversity of Mediterranean contexts involved. Working across different countries and agricultural systems offers an important opportunity to better understand what makes sustainable innovations transferable and scalable under different socio-economic and institutional conditions.
For Etifor, this project is also an opportunity to further advance approaches related to scaling deep, meaning not only spreading solutions geographically, but also fostering long-term changes in mindsets, trust, collaboration, and governance practices around water and agricultural sustainability.
