Bridging the Gap for Innovations in Disaster Resilience (BRIGAID)

BRIGAID aims to provide integral support for innovations for climate adaptation, focusing on climate-driven disasters like floods, droughts and extreme weather. The project strives to bridge the gap between innovators and end-users, according to the following roadmap:

• Identify 75-100 existing innovations (Technical Readiness Level - TRL 4-8);
• Select the most promising 35-50 innovations for further testing, validation and demonstration;
• Improve these innovations;
• Select and support the 20-30 most promising innovations for market introduction;
• Establish this process to make it an on-going, structural activity beyond BRIGAID’s life time.

One tool utilized to advance the readiness of innovations is an online interactive platform Climate Innovation Window, which presents innovations and connects innovators, end users and qualified investors throughout Europe.

Seven steps form the path to deliver innovations to the market through the assessment and improvement of technical, social and financial readiness:

1. Establishment of a network of test facilities and implementation/demonstration sites across Europe for innovations that reduce impacts from floods, droughts and extreme weather.
2. Strong involvement of innovators: secured support from a broad range of innovation platforms.
3. A Test and Implementation Framework (TIF), which delivers a standardised methodology for an independent, scientific judgment of the socio-technological effectiveness of innovations and the assessment of effectiveness of risk reducing measures.
4. Support in business development through a Market Analysis Framework (MAF+) to identify market opportunities and select business models.
5. Development of a Public-Private Investment and Financing (PPIF) model for securing on-going investments in (clusters of) innovations.
6. Performance of online and offline marketing activities to expose innovations to end users, e.g. an online Innovation Sharing Platform (ISP) as the EU portal for innovations.
7. Strong involvement of end users: secured engagement of end users and potential paying customers.

ECCA 2021 - Climate Adaptation solutions video - BRIGAID