This project concerns activities of the Utrecht University and its contribution to the EIT Climate-KIC's Transitions Hub regarding co-developing an indicators framework on systemic innovation. The main goal of this project is to contribute to the methodological exploration of a practice-based indicators framework on systemic change and transformation to be further used in technical assistance services in the area of monitoring and learning action. The project seeks to provide actionable knowledge through co-creating, testing, validating and therefore, consolidating and disseminating validated methods. The project activities are designed in connection to the Transitions Hub Working plan 2020. 

• dr. Oscar Romero Goyeneche
• dr. Caetano Christophe Rosado Penna
• Jenny Witte
• prof. dr. J.W. (Johan) Schot

• Prof. Matthias Weber (AIT)
• Dr. Michael Dinges (AIT)
• Dr. Christoph Brodnik (AIT)

While the unprecedented global challenges including climate change and growing inequality call for urgent action, the transition towards a more sustainable and just future remains slow. Currently, change processes are rather incremental and focus on putting a plaster on the wounds caused by our current way of living. The TIPC approach aims at bringing about transformative change instead. Transformative change takes an entire system into consideration including its actors, power dynamics, infrastructures, beliefs and assumptions, and thus strives for deeply rooted transformation on a much larger scale. For example, instead of introducing electric cars to reduce the problematic use of fossil fuels (incremental change), the entire mobility system including the implicitness of travelling by car and plane and the values related to this should be challenged (transformative change).

The MOTION project (funded by EIT Climate-KIC) is developing and testing an innovative methodology to progress transformative change. This is done in close collaboration with three associated EIT Climate-KIC projects and experimenting with the methodology within their contexts to evaluate and enhance their transformative potential. By means of applying an inclusive and participatory approach in which the research team works in equal partnership with the associated projects, a Transformative Theory of Change –  a roadmap for maximising the projects’ transformative potential – is co-constructed. Based on the Theory of Change, a framework for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is developed for each of the projects. This framework provides them with the capacities needed to assess their progress.

MOTION can thus be perceived as an incubator that imparts knowledge and facilitates learning and capacity-building in which project partners will ultimately be able to pass on obtained capacities and implement the learnings of MOTION into a wider context.

MOTION:

• Supports actors (policymakers, funders and transformation agents) in developing a Theory of Change for Systems Transformation
• Develops tools for capacity building and technical assistance
• Offers training to practitioners and transformation agents to acquaint them with the MOTION methodology
• Helps regions and cities rethink and improve their capacity to steer and promote sustainable change

The project started in September 2019 and ends in December 2021. The project findings will be published in blogs, research articles, learning histories, and a handbook for practitioners.

• Jenny Witte
• prof. dr. J.W. (Johan) Schot
• dr. Carla Alvial Palavicino
• dr. Caetano Christophe Rosado Penna

• prof. J. (Jordi) Molas Gallart
• prof. M. (Matthias) Weber
• prof. A. (Sandra) Boni
• dr. C. (Christoph) Brodnik
• dr. P. (Pablo) Mendez
• Paulina Terrazas
• Bipashyee Ghosh