INOVA+ is consolidating its position as one of the most active Portuguese companies in the Missions of the Horizon Europe programme, through its participation in four projects under the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change: GRACE, DesirMED, MountResilience and RESIST. Together, these initiatives cover remote rural areas, Mediterranean regions, mountain zones and large-scale demonstrations in several European regions.
The most recent of these projects, GRACE – Growing Climate Resilience in Remote rural Areas through Community Empowerment, started in October 2025 and focuses on remote rural communities in the European Union, which are often on the frontline of climate impacts but have fewer means to respond to them.
GRACE: climate resilience for overlooked rural areas
GRACE, funded under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-07, is an Innovation Action with a duration of 48 months, a total budget of almost EUR 8 million and a consortium of 27 organisations from 16 countries, coordinated by CMCC – Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, in Italy.
Its core objective is clear: to respond to the needs of small and medium-sized communities in remote rural areas, strengthening local capacities for adaptation to climate change. These regions depend on natural resources, face investment gaps and depopulation, and are particularly exposed to extreme events, in a context where Europe is warming faster than other continents.
The project works with five demonstrator regions — Baixo Alentejo (Portugal), Cavallino-Treporti (Italy), Bucklige Welt – Wechselland (Austria), Limfjorden (Denmark) and Västerbotten (Sweden) — and five replication regions in Greece, Slovakia, Ireland, Latvia and Ukraine. The focus lies on Nature-based Solutions, digital technologies and new circular economy models, with the aim of generating environmental, social and economic benefits, while tackling depopulation and ageing in these communities.
INOVA+ played an active role in the proposal stage, co-developing the project with CMCC and organising the Portuguese pilot. In implementation, it co-leads a work package dedicated to regional capacity building and the scalability of solutions. Among the assigned tasks are the activation of Rural Climate Resilience Groups in ten regions, the preparation of a roadmap for demonstrating climate adaptation actions, the design of an upscaling strategy and the coordination of knowledge exchanges between regions. In Portugal, the company also coordinates the involvement of the Intermunicipal Community of Baixo Alentejo, the Polytechnic Institute of Beja and the Mértola Biological Station
DesirMED: Nature-based Solutions in the Mediterranean climate “hotspot”
If GRACE focuses on the remote rural world, DesirMED – Demonstration and mainstrEaming of nature-based Solutions for climate Resilient transformation in the MEDiterranean is centred on the Mediterranean, identified as one of the main climate “hotspots” at European scale
Funded under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2022-CLIMA-01-06, the project started on 1 January 2024, runs for 60 months and is again coordinated by CMCC. It brings together 34 organisations from 10 countries, with a total budget of around EUR 18 million.
DesirMED aims to strengthen the knowledge and capacities of Mediterranean regions so that they can take the lead in their own adaptation pathways, through Transformative Adaptation Journeys. The idea is to move from piecemeal responses to structured pathways that combine Nature-based Solutions, innovative technologies and inclusive social practices, in line with key European frameworks on adaptation and environmental management.
On the ground, the project works with five demonstrator regions — including the Intermunicipal Community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela in Portugal, as well as regions in Spain, Italy, Croatia and Greece — and three replication regions in France, Italy (Potenza) and Cyprus.
INOVA+ once again plays a key role, having participated in the drafting of the proposal. In implementation, it co-leads a work package focused on the scalability of solutions and on financing conditions for Nature-based Solutions in the Mediterranean, developing scaling-up plans in eight regions, assessing the current state of financing and creating business models for climate adaptation solutions tested in the demonstrators. In Portugal, it coordinates activities with the Municipality of Fundão, the Intermunicipal Community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela, the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco and the Association for a Centre of Studies in Sustainable Development.
The project is also linked to MountResilience, with which it shares the same funding topic, functioning as a pair of “sister projects” focused on two distinct bioregions: the Mediterranean and the Alpine/mountain region.
MountResilience: when climate change climbs the mountain
O MountResilience – Empowering mountain communities for climate resilience targets Europe’s mountain regions, where climate impacts manifest particularly intensely. Mountains cover 30% of the Earth’s surface and are home to around 17% of the European Union’s population, providing essential resources and supporting community systems, while also facing adaptation gaps.
Like DesirMED, MountResilience is funded under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2022-CLIMA-01-06. The project started on 1 September 2023, runs for 54 months, is coordinated by the Università degli Studi di Milano and involves 47 organisations from 12 countries, with a total budget of almost EUR 16 million (EUR 15.17 million of EU contribution).
The consortium works with six demonstrator regions in countries such as Finland, Austria, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Switzerland, and four replication regions in Spain, Italy, Croatia and Poland. The approach is based on the design, testing and upscaling of climate adaptation solutions that combine technological innovation, Nature-based Solutions, multi-level governance and citizen engagement. One of the most recent cases to gain visibility was that of Romania, which resulted in an “Adaptation Story” on the EU Climate ADAPT platform, a sign of the growing recognition the project is achieving.
Within the MountResilience architecture, INOVA+ holds central responsibilities: it leads the work package on Knowledge Transfer, Cross-Fertilisation of Experiences and Replication, being responsible for the inter-regional platform for knowledge exchange between demonstrators, the Replication Labs and the Community of Practice that aims to extend the project’s impact beyond the directly involved regions. In parallel, it co-leads the management work package, with responsibilities in administrative and financial management, quality control, risk management and innovation.
RESIST: large-scale demonstrators as a starting point
A decisive milestone in INOVA+’s recent trajectory in the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change was RESIST – Regions for climate change resilience through Innovation, Science and Technology, considered one of the first major climate resilience projects approved under the Horizon Europe programme.
Launched on 1 January 2023, RESIST has a budget of around EUR 25 million for the implementation, over five years, of four large-scale demonstrators in regions in the Centre of Portugal, Catalonia, Southeast Finland and Central Denmark. The results will then be transferred to eight twinning regions, including Baixo Alentejo, through immersive in-person and digital activities.
The consortium is composed of 56 partners, including 11 Portuguese entities responsible for managing around EUR 5 million. Among the organisations involved are INOVA+, the Coordination and Development Commission for the Centre Region, various intermunicipal communities, polytechnic institutes, research centres and innovation-focused entities. The structure also includes European associations, climate change research groups, communication organisations and a venture capital fund, in an effort to ensure that the solutions developed can reach the market and be adopted by citizens and decision-makers.
The operational objectives are ambitious and quantified: increase regional resilience by 10%, boost green investments by 20%, reduce economic losses caused by hazards such as floods by 14% and cut climate protection gaps by 50%. The project also aims to reduce time-to-market and the associated risk for 100 new climate change solutions developed by European providers.
Present on multiple fronts of European climate adaptation
Taken together, GRACE, DesirMED, MountResilience and RESIST map out INOVA+’s involvement in climate adaptation across Europe: from remote rural areas to Mediterranean regions, mountain areas and large-scale demonstrators in multiple Member States.
Across all these projects, the company is associated with proposal design, work package coordination, financial and technical management, knowledge transfer and solution replication, as well as with the articulation between national and international partners. At a time when the European Commission is seeking to support at least 150 regions and communities in their transition towards climate resilience, INOVA+’s presence in this set of initiatives illustrates the growing weight of the Portuguese consultancy in major European consortia dedicated to responding to climate change.
Did you know that INOVA+ is the Portuguese company with the highest participation in Horizon Europe Missions? We have a specialized team that ensures access and support for the participation of various organizations in international consortia and projects. Learn more here!