MAIA project launches cutting-edge knowledge tools at ECCA 2025

June 19, 2025 –Between June 16-18, 2025, Palacongressi in Rimini, Italy, hosted the 2025 edition of the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA). Organised by the European Commission with JPI Climate and now in its 7th year, this is the first time this important gathering has been held in Italy.

Scientists, experts, politicians, professionals and the business world met to discuss and promote integrated and timely strategies capable of addressing the challenges related to climate change, tracing a path for a more resilient future at European level through collective, informed and systemic action.

“We have experienced three very intense and interesting days – says Giulia Lorenzoni, project manager of the MAIA (Maximising Impact and Accessibility of European Climate Research), which presented at ECCA 2025. “This has allowed us to showcase our project, the result of three years of work, which we are continuing thanks to the commitment of the 15 European partners that make up the MAIA Consortium.” 

In the various sessions organised from 16 to 18 June at ECCA, experts and scientists such as Maria José Sanz, MAIA Project Coordinator and Scientific Director of the Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3), and Iñigo Rodilla, MAIA Project Manager, explained how the project’s activities contribute to achieving the objective of maximising the impact and accessibility of research on climate change. 

In this regard, the MAIA Knowledge Toolkit represents a way to transform how people access, navigate and use information on climate change. These advanced digital tools improve knowledge sharing, simplify research and contribute to overcoming the divisions that can exist between different countries, promoting instead collective action. 

• The Knowledge Toolkit includes the MAIA Connectivity Hub, a smart, intuitive tool for research and discovery based on the MAIA Climate Change Taxonomy, which facilitates access to European resources from a single platform. 

• Also included in the MAIA Knowledge Toolkit, SummarAIse is an AI-powered tool that allows users to quickly identify the most relevant information by extracting key terms and summaries from climate-related documents. 

• MAIA Discovery Services offers a platform that connects climate innovators and solution providers with end users looking for knowledge, data or collaborations. This facilitates connections between supply and demand, allowing users to explore climate research projects, technologies and organisations. This makes it easier for the results of innovative research, pilot projects or prototypes coming out of research institutes to find concrete applications—offering decision makers valuable tools to take action. On the final day of the conference, MAIA project partners organised a well-attended side event focusing on the Business Discovery services to introduce the benefits to potential users. 

By the end of the event, participants were in agreement on some fundamental points: 

• We can no longer treat the issues of climate mitigation and adaptation separately.
• It is necessary to work with stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of effective climate solutions. 
• It is necessary to consider the impact of climate adaptation activities and policies on local communities and economies. 
• Difficulties remain in communicating complex issues, concepts and data to non-specialist interlocutors. 
• There is an urgent need to make climate data and knowledge more accessible, interoperable and useful, with a view to achieving climate adaptation solutions that are customised and adapted to different local contexts.

Alongside presentations, MAIA’s communications team also interviewed a series of notable experts, from researchers to politicians. These included:

• Anna Montini, Rimini’s Councillor for Ecological Transition and Blue Economy
• Philippe Tulkens, Deputy Head of the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change and Head of the Climate and Planetary Boundaries Unit at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission
• Susanne Mecklenburg, Director of the Climate Office of the European Space Agency (ESA)
• Petra Manderscheid, Executive Director of JPI Climate, partner of the MAGICA Project and one of the conference organizers
• Sam Longman, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Environment, Transport for London
• Professor Juergen Kropp, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.