In person, it’s a whole different experience! After a fruitful virtual journey over the past few months, representatives of the three selected proposals from the second Naturethon edition came together in Brussels for the award ceremony and final workshop. The gathering, held on February 5 as part of the Finance Innovation Festival organized by the NATURANCE project, celebrated the outstanding efforts of the teams. Yanchao Wang (COOL MILAN), Francesca Mazza (Green City Champions), and Fabio Tullio (RisorGivers) were presented with certificates recognizing the remarkable work carried out by their groups in shaping green futures.

One of the five pillars on which NATURANCE stands is building awareness and capabilities for green innovations. Accordingly, as the festival’s final session, the “Seeds of Change: Citizens & Cities” event showcased how creative, community-led initiatives can drive change by combining public engagement with co-creation alongside local authorities. The programme featured the keynote “Dutch Tile-Flipping Contest: Restoring Greenery” by Remco Moen Marcar (Frank Lee Concept Agency), promoter of the NK Tegelwippen (tile-flipping) initiative, who also introduced an innovative citizen-science project on butterfly biodiversity in Amsterdam.

Following this, the final interactive session engaged representatives of nine other urban NbS projects from Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Spain. A total of 83 participants took part in a speed-dating poster session: the projects were paired based on similar challenges or approaches and engaged in short, facilitated “dates” to present their work to one another, exchange ideas, and discuss opportunities for collaboration. Participants also listened to these conversations and were invited to actively contribute by providing feedback, suggestions, or reflections.