MINDSET Project Kicks Off with Partnership Meeting in Cork

The MINDSET project officially launched on Friday, 21st March, with a kick-off meeting hosted by lead partner ERNACT at the Cork Centre for Architectural Education in Cork City, Ireland. The event brought together the European project partners from Finland, Ireland and Sweden to begin collaborative work on applying Regional Mission-Oriented Innovation (RegMOI) to address societal challenges across the Northern Periphery and Arctic region.

 The meeting introduced the project’s objectives, work package structure, and planned activities. Partners from Umeå University and University of Helsinki shared insights from the preparatory phase, which laid the groundwork for MINDSET’s approach to innovation and the selection of skills development, climate change and public real state and housing as the main societal challenges to be addressed in the project.

Discussions centred on the initial steps of defining the RegMOI concept and preparing tools and training to engage and build capacity of regional stakeholders.

The afternoon sessions reviewed the communication plan, project management framework, and coordination tools. The meeting concluded with an open discussion and agreement of holding the next in-person meeting in Sweden.

The kick-off sets a strong foundation for the MINDSET project as it moves forward in promoting innovation-led responses to regional challenges through collaborative, mission-oriented approaches.

 “We are very excited to start this project that will enable us exploring new ways of applying innovation in a way that suit NPA territories when addressing concrete societal challenges at their local and regional level”, commented Jose Manuel San Emeterio, from lead partner ERNACT.