Stronger Together: Stakeholder Engagement in the EU-CHINA BRIDGE project

By Dr. Dagmar Kiyar, Wuppertal Institute
Collaborating for a Greener Future: The EU-CHINA BRIDGE Project’s Contribution to Decarbonisation
Decarbonising energy-intensive industries is one of the major challenges of our time. Innovative approaches and international cooperation are needed to make progress in this area. This is where the EU-CHINA BRIDGE project comes in, promoting dialogue and collaboration between European and Chinese researchers. The project aims to develop new strategies to reduce emissions in energy-intensive industries and ultimately achieve net-zero emissions.
Bridging Research and Reality: The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement
A key element of the EU-CHINA BRIDGE project is the active engagement and involvement of stakeholders. Through three co-creation cycles, the project promotes dialogue between researchers, policy makers and industry representatives. These interdisciplinary exchange formats provide a platform for discussing and refining research results, ensuring that the developed strategies are not only theoretically feasible, but also practically relevant and implementable.
The co-creation activities are based on the principles of credibility, relevance, and legitimacy. This is done using a structured approach, including the Power-Interest Matrix, which is used to prioritise stakeholders based on their influence and interest in the project. By prioritising a diverse group of stakeholders, the project ensures that a wide range of perspectives are considered in the discussion.
To encourage creativity and develop innovative solutions, the project utilises proven methods such as the Three Horizons Model and Future Wheel. These strategic approaches encourage the workshop participants to engage in creative, collaborative processes and work together to find new solutions to challenges.
A Structured Approach for Maximum Impact
Each co-creation workshop follows a clear, structured process; the purpose and objectives and the expected results of the meeting are defined in order to bring all participants up to the same level. To ensure smooth organisation, roles and responsibilities are clarified at an early stage. Agendas are clearly structured and background materials are distributed in advance to prepare participants for focused discussions. Documentation is produced after each workshop to capture key learnings and decisions. Participant feedback is collected to continuously improve the co-creation process. In addition, the results are shared not only with the project participants, but also with a wider audience via newsletters, social media, scientific conferences and publications.
Capacity Building for Effective Collaboration
Another important component of the project is internal training and learning. An online workshop was held in September to prepare all project participants for the co-creation process by presenting the methodology, key tasks and best practices. After each co-creation cycle, a reflection session with leading researchers from both regions will take place, allowing for the exchange of ideas and experiences and further improvement of the process.