Building Collaborative Partnerships: An Example of a 3rd Mission Activity in the Field of Local Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

Reacting to climate change on the regional level requires strategies that take into account various actors. Administrations as driving forces, but also NGOs, enterprises, and citizens should collaborate to achieve sustainable decisions. Universities can moderate between the different actors due to their independent and science-driven perspective. In such a way, building collaborative communities is an indispensable requirement for achieving consensus between different interests, goals, and approaches. The project “BebeR”, presented in this chapter, follows such an approach. As an additional element, citizen science, an opportunity to consider the participation of people who are not tied to scientific work in the development of climate change adaptation measures, can contribute to the enhancement of the acceptance of decisions and became part of the project. The collaborative approach as it is applied in the project “BebeR”, in which a university is not only the coordinator, but in particular the moderator, indicates clearly a 3rd mission activity whereby the university outreaches to local communities, organisations, enterprises, and the public. This requires adequate communication structures, as well as transparent IT-support. All components and the diverse participants form a living laboratory. The chapter presents the overall approach, and the process of building the collaborative partnerships. Some insights into the methods and IT services that proofed to be effective supporting tools will be given. Restrictions, limiting factors and barriers are discussed and conclusions are presented as well as recommendations for future work.