CLIMATE-ADAPT4EOSC General Assembly: Two Days of Collaborative Progress in Grenoble

The CLIMATE-ADAPT4EOSC consortium convened in person for its first General Assembly on 9-10 July 2025, in Grenoble, France. Hosted by Artelia and CSTB, the two-day meeting provided a valuable platform for technical discussions, strategic alignment, and collaborative planning to advance climate adaptation services within and beyond the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

   

Day 1 – Strategic Framing and Technical Deep-Dives

The first day was hosted by Artelia and opened with welcome remarks from Sébastien Pailhes (Executive Director) and Jean-François Kalck (Director of Environment). These introductions set the tone for a collaborative and forward-looking programme focused on the co-design of meaningful and interoperable climate services.

Thanasis Sfetsos (NCSR “Demokritos”), Project Coordinator, delivered a comprehensive overview of the project’s objectives and implementation strategy. This was followed by a series of partner presentations, including:

• Technovative Solutions and CODATA on EOSC integration and the Stakeholder Forum

• University of Manchester on data strategies for the Climate-ADAPT4EOSC platform

• University of Cambridge on climate service development for EOSC

A dedicated Q&A session allowed partners to delve into cross-cutting questions and reflect on early technical findings.

In the afternoon, participants visited ARTELAB — Artelia’s hydraulic modelling laboratory — offering a hands-on look at how innovative infrastructure is contributing to climate resilience.

The day concluded with four parallel workshops focused on:

• Use case requirement analysis (led by LNEC)

• Interfaces with European Data Spaces

• System architecture and KPIs

• Seamless integration with the EOSC (led by TVS)

Thanasis Sfetsos closed the first day with reflections on the importance o

f co-design, interoperability, and long-term impact.

Day 2 – Use Case Insights and Future Directions

The second day, hosted at CSTB, was opened by Julien Hans (Director of Research and Innovation) and Jérôme Defrance (Head of European Affairs), and centred on progress made across the project’s three pilot use cases:

• Aigaleo, Greece: In this urban area, NCSR “Demokritos”, the National Observatory of Athens and EGL are co-developing JustCURS, a digital twin–based service aiming to foster spatially just and inclusive climate resilience.

• Central region of Portugal: Along Portugal’s vulnerable coastline, LNEC, APA and CNCA are collaborating on OPENHIDRA, a user-oriented service supporting stakeholders in adapting to climate risks in coastal environments.

• Metropolitan France: In this national context, Artelia, Data4 Group, BRGM, and CSTB are developing 3SES (Shrink-Swell risk Service from Space2Earth), which uses satellite data to assess and manage soil deformation risks related to climate variability.

A cross-cutting discussion followed, with an open Q&A session that allowed for technical clarifications and mutual learning across use cases.

The day continued with a thematic workshop led by Simon Hodson (CODATA), focusing on the legal and organisational interoperability of data and services.

Communication and dissemination activities were then presented by G.A.C. Group (France), including contributions from Marc Pattinson, Tom Mackenzie, and Clothilde Bonno, highlighting achievements since the project’s inception and outlining future outreach objectives.

Participants also had the opportunity to visit CSTB’s laboratories, with a guided tour by Nicoleta Schiopu, showcasing state-of-the-art infrastructure for environmental testing and modelling.

The General Assembly concluded with final remarks from Thanasis Sfetsos, reflecting on the shared progress made during the two days and outlining the roadmap ahead for CLIMATE-ADAPT4EOSC.

Acknowledgements

The consortium warmly thanks Artelia, CSTB, and all contributors and participants for their active engagement throughout the event. These two days of exchanges mark a key milestone in the project’s trajectory, reinforcing our collective ambition to deliver impactful, interoperable, and science-based climate services for Europe.

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