The Role of R&I Initiatives in Transformative Change Processes: The Case of EIT Climate KIC and JPI Urban Europe

R&I initiatives are particularly important in transformative change processes. This research investigates two research and innovation (R&I) initiatives that act as intermediaries in the areas of urban transition and climate change mitigation: European Institute of Technology (EIT) ClimateKIC and the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe. EIT Climate KIC has a strong focus on supporting entrepreneurial activities, education and capacity development as well as building networks around thematic areas. JPI Urban Europe aims to offer room for experimentation in policy and practice to build capacity for urban transition. As such, they are both transnational R&I initiatives in Europe with a focus on funding of R&I activities and selected complementary measures for scaling and impact. By drawing on Transformative Innovation Policy literature as well as literature on intermediaries, this paper analyses and compares their strategic objectives, the networks that they develop as well as a selection of their strategic activities to better understand their role and contribution to transformative change processes.