On June 24, 2021, the introductory meeting of the Nexus Ecosystem Labs (NEL) was held to operationalize the services designed and defined in the NEXUS-NESS project. The meeting was an opportunity to update and present the context of the 4 NELs in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain and Italy. The 4 NEL leaders presented the geographical and social context of the selected case studies, stakeholders’ typologies involved, and local challenges in water resources management, food and energy production and supply, and ecosystem balances. The four NEL leaders also addressed stakeholders’ engagement in the project toward defining common and synergistic solutions according to WEFE Nexus methodological approaches and the establishment of living labs.
At the end of the meeting, the partners agreed to set up monthly meetings for ongoing update of activities on NELs and a master class, taught by XPRO Consulting Limited, scheduled for September 2021 to learn stakeholder engagement methodologies and establishment of living labs.