Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation - Case Study: Nord-Vest and Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The objective of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation (TI) to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies in the specific territory - region Nord-Vest and the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania.The report belongs to a series of case studies which all draw on the conceptual framework on transformative innovation for better CCA previously defined in the JRC report, that also articulated the methodology for territorial case studies. The series of case studies comprises various biogeographical regions with a variety of climate risks, various institutional contexts, different ranges of population sizes, and demonstrating a diversity of approaches to transformative innovation and CCA, based on empirical analyses. A full list of the case studies is provided in Annex 3. The framework of the analysis against conceptual framework of transformative innovation for better CCA takes the form of an analytical grid, structured into seven dimensions, each of them representing one of the key features of the TI approach where the dimensions are understood as essential conditions for the design and implementation of the transformative CCA strategies. These TI dimensions are as follows: - Directionality; - Articulating instrument portfolios and defining synergies between funding sources; - Ensuring cross-domain synergies; - Increasing breadth and depth of stakeholder involvement; - Setting up effective multi-level governance models; - Making room for experimentation; and - Securing high levels of policy intelligence, learning and strategic capacity. Each section sets out the main questions to be addressed in the territory in relation to its respective transformative innovation feature. This Report provides the findings for the city of Cluj-Napoca and the region of Nord-Vest in Romania, taking into account multilevel governance also at national level, as at November 2023 and is the result of a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC), DG CLIMA and DG RTD. The revision of the policy documents, of measures introduced and the interviews with the policy makers signposted that despite numerous CCA measures have been put in place in Cluj-Napoca and the Nord-Vest region, lots of actions linked to the established TI for CCA conceptual framework will still need to be put in place in order to assure climate resilience of the territory. While this study proposes numerous specific practical ways forward within each TI dimension, an overall recommendation is that a systematic, quantitative climate risk and adaptation assessments will be needed at various territorial levels in order to make the CCA more transformative. For that aim, the JRC has developed a Self-Assessment Framework that will be thoroughly explained in the upcoming policy brief.