The Impact of Geographical Enablers and Barriers on the Scaling of Grassroots Innovation Initiatives

Supporting grassroots initiatives is a powerful policy tool driving social innovation and contributing to transitions. However, these initiatives often face institutional barriers that need to be addressed. Grassroots efforts highly depend on local context conditions and place-specificity, which are crucial for their success.

By fostering citizen participation and understanding multi-scalar interdependencies, policymakers can enhance the impact of these initiatives and create more favorable conditions for transformative change. Learning from grassroots efforts allows for the development of policies that are responsive to the unique needs and dynamics of different communities, ultimately facilitating more effective and sustainable innovation. In this report, 24 different grassroots initiatives covering the breadth of the EU Green Deal ambitions are compared in terms of how they scale and how these scaling processes are informed by specific local geographic conditions across diverse territorial contexts.