To reach the COP21 goal of nearly-zero energy, zero emission buildings MBLabs Labs strives to unleash the innovation potential of the SMEs of the Construction sector by lowering the entry barriers to test innovative solutions in a network of testing facilities in RTOs and Living Labs in 13 countries, most EU member states (ES, FR, BE, IT, DE, TR, UK, LU, PL, SE, HU, AT, IE) allowing a direct feedback from the end-users during the final development stages. The MBLabs concept consists of 5 innovation pillars: 1) SME outreach by metaclustering & Open Innovation Digital Platform as cornerstones to engage and support SMEs in innovation and testing based on the networks of MBLabs’ 40 consortium partners, targeting over 180 clusters and building upon the sister H2020 METABUILDING project which reaches out to 9000 SME cluster members. 2) OITB Brokerage Business Model: the SEP will be a light brokerage structure in the form of an association - with the consortium partners as members - that serves as a business provider to entities running testing facilities and/or providing innovation services for building envelopes and finances itself through membership fees, adapted to the size and financial capacities of its members, market place revenues and a commission for the brokerage service. 3) Harmonised testing framework for building products development: consisting of guidelines for the characterization of smart/active systems, a detailed and validated energy model and LCAs to assure the application of EU regulatory practices. 4) O3 Building Envelope Testbench (standardized, replicable, affordable, Digital Twin enabled): first fully replicable, standardised, cost-effective Open Source/Open Data/Open Access Building Envelope Testbed enabling virtual testing and made available (co-funded) to some of the project partners. 5) Streamlined access to Living Labs & pilot matchmaking: with a single-entry point, an innovative matchmaking module and standardised internal procedures.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) aim to help societies to address a variety of environmental, social and economic challenges in sustainable ways. They are actions which are inspired by and supported by nature. Some involve using and enhancing existing natural solutions to challenges, while others are exploring more novel solutions, for example, based on how non-human organisms and communities cope with environmental extremes. NBS are energy and resource-efficient, and resilient to change, but to be successful they must be adapted to local conditions. The main objective of the present project is the development of a multi-stakeholder communication platform that will support the understanding and the promotion of nature based solutions in local, regional, EU and International level. Through dialogue uptake facilitation and steering mechanisms as well as knowledge capacity building, the ThinkNature Platform will bring together multi-disciplinary scientific expertise, policy, business and society, as well as citizens. This platform will be efficient, fluent to use and attractive to a wide variety of actors and stakeholders because it merges all aspects of NBS in a clear, pyramidal methodological approach. It will create a wide interactive society that builds new knowledge with a wide geographical scope. As a result, ThinkNature will provide the necessary policy and regulatory tools to solve significant societal challenges such as human well-being, tackling energy poverty, impacts of climate change, etc. through continuous dialogue and interaction.

IWG5’s brief is to deliver the Implementation Plan on energy-efficient solutions for buildings, requiring Member States to put in place measures favouring both innovation in building design and energy technologies for buildings, and the uptake of these technologies by builders. EURAC will offer scientific support establish the performance of eco-building technologies today and assist the IWG5 in setting realistic but ambitious performance targets, then monitoring progress towards them. WIP will organise study tours to buildings that set the standard in eco-renovation or construction. These will be opportunities for IWG5 members to meet the actors responsible and the people who live in or near them to collect their views. ECTP and EUREC will focus on informing IWG5 of the latest thinking around eco-buildings coming from lobbies (NGOs, associations, public authorities, leaders of initiatives like the Mission for 100 Climate-neutral Cities by 2030) and building bridges to the thinkers in those lobbies. Digitisation is a major theme coming in the new proposed EPBD. We will align the EPBD’s innovation-related comitology committees with IWG5. Fed with ideas, quantitative analysis and with white papers produced by Task Forces tackling specific innovation-related topics, the IWG5 will update its Implementation Plan. A new release will come every year and be given lots of publicity. The IWG5 members will be invited to promote it within their ministries, in order to deliver it with appropriate national policies. IWG5-CSA will play close attention to the revision of National Energy and Climate Plans in 2023 (a joint activity with ETIPs) and, depending on the final legislated EPBD, National Building Renovation Plans in 2024. These plans are where Member States lay out the policies to reach their targets. We will work for take-up by countries of each other’s good ideas.

The EU construction industry is challenged to boost innovation of SMEs (99% of companies) inside a traditional sector, to expand its value chain and integrate new dynamic industrial sectors. The European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) is joining efforts with 4 industrial sectors: ICT, Additive Manufacturing, Nature Based Solutions, and the Recycling industry, to underpin and fuel the emergence of new cross-sectoral, cross-border industrial value chains, delivering a metaclustering process to achieve critical mass and boost internationalisation. To reach Clusters and their SMEs in their business environment, METABUILDING will achieve a sustainable and expandable collaborative innovation ecosystem backed by an open innovation digital platform performing 6 main functions: 1) Cross-sectoral/border Digital Marketplace; 2) interactive Knowledge Repository; 3) Industrial commons database with technology assets from EU funded R&D, 4) Business Strategy resourcing, 5) Innovation Funding Scaling knowledge support and 6) Metaclustering Network Management. MB will nurture, mentor and technically assist SMEs and implement several cascade funding mechanisms, achieve at least 140 cross-sectoral, cross-border challenge-based SME-led innovation ideas/projects coming from regional clusters in 6 target countries: Austria, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Hungary. Coordinated by an experienced construction sector RTO, MB will feature: 6 Metaclusters working with 4 EU level R&D roadmapping institutions (ECTP, AM Platform, EuRic and EFB) and 90 clusters with reach to more than 9000 SMEs; 3 National Technology Platforms, 1 national Construction Federation, 1 Industrial Association and 1 Business Network to build an EU level enlarged innovation Ecosystem and value chain with actors involved from across the innovation chain (from EU R&D platforms, RTOs/UNIs, funding bodies, to regionals SMEs; being supported in each country by an External Pool of technical and value chain resources.