InnoAdapt: A Harmonised Metadata Repository and Innovation Platform for Climate Change Adaptation Solutions in Europe

InnoAdapt: A Harmonised Metadata Repository and Innovation Platform for Climate Change Adaptation Solutions in Europe

Assessing climate change adaptation (CCA) progress throughout  Europe remains challenging due to fragmented documentation, inconsistent metadata practices, and restricted interoperability among regional data systems. These gaps hinder the ability to evaluate adaptation results, compare measures across contexts, and understand which interventions provide significant resilience benefits. Current European platforms such as Climate‑ADAPT and the Copernicus Climate Data Store offer useful resources but often lack structured, comparable information on adaptation solutions, their implementation status, and their links to underlying datasets and tools.

This contribution introduces InnoAdapt, a harmonised metadata repository and interactive innovation platform developed within the Horizon Europe RESIST project to facilitate systematic documentation, comparison, and evaluation of CCA solutions across European regions. InnoAdapt presents an adaptation‑focused metadata schema that records solution types, goals, targeted hazards, implementation maturity, ecosystem services, and spatial extent, while establishing explicit linkages to supporting datasets, models, and decision-support tools. The schema builds on established European frameworks - such as INSPIRE, CICES, and Climate‑ADAPT taxonomies - while remaining practical and interoperable for regional planners.

Implemented using open web technologies, InnoAdapt enables dynamic multi‑criteria filtering, interactive mapping, and cross‑regional comparison of adaptation measures, with a strong focus on Nature‑based Solutions (NbS). These functionalities directly contribute to emerging approaches for evaluating adaptation processes, outputs, and outcomes by offering organized, machine‑readable information that can be linked to monitoring frameworks, Digital Twins, and simulation‑based decision-support systems.

InnoAdapt provides a scalable digital infrastructure that enhances the EU Adaptation Strategy and Green Deal Data Space objectives by integrating harmonised metadata with user-friendly spatial exploration. It provides a basis for more consistent assessment of adaptation effectiveness and cross‑regional learning, ultimately supporting more resilient CCA planning across Europe.

 

Keywords: Climate Change Adaptation (CCA); Metadata harmonisation; Decision-support platforms; Nature-based Solutions (NbS); Cross-regional learning