What if going local is the way forward to tackling global challenges?

Traditionally when we think of innovation policies, governments tend to focus on specific sectors or technologies – and these policies are usually aimed at more growth and economic competitiveness. 

But what if innovation alone cannot tackle the major global challenges we face, like climate change, social inequality and resource degradation? 

This was the question that the Government of Catalonia’s Head of Transformative Innovation, Tatiana Fernández, posed in a conversation with GovInsider, when talking about the Spanish region’s innovation strategy.  

According to Fernández, there are already pioneers who are working on the future, so why don’t governments harness the power of their local actors and help bring these solutions to the rest of the community?  

Adapted from the European Union’s innovation strategy, the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of Catalonia 2030 (RIS3CAT 2030) was an upgrade to its 2014-2020 strategy.  

“The real energy for change comes from communities [who are] already experimenting,” she emphasises. 

While the previous strategy focuses on internationalising its local business and research systems, the updated strategy RIS3CAT 2030 shifts its sights towards building social innovation structures and ensuring shared value across economic, social and environmental domains.

“This isn’t a radical idea. Big corporations often work with startups to explore new directions while continuing their core business,” she adds. 

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Empowering local to tackle the global 

The intertwined nature of global challenges - for example, climate change and water scarcity, or an ageing population and rising inequality - means that isolated policies or single-sector approaches simply will not work, Fernández says. 

To drive systemic change more effectively, Catalonia is taking a place-based, challenge-driven approach to empower local actors to address specific territorial priorities in the region - home to about 8 million residents. 

Fernández terms this approach as “shared agendas,” which “bring systems thinking to life – turning high-level principles into practical, place-based innovation.” 

“What sets this approach apart is that it doesn’t assume solutions in advance. Instead, it builds collective capacity to explore alternatives, adapt the institutions, and learn by doing,” she explains. 

While shared agendas involve a long-term, iterative process happening back and forth with multiple actors, she posits this approach is a “necessary one.”   

“By applying a systems lens, shared agendas move beyond treating symptoms - they address root causes,” she notes. 

Shared agendas at work 

To illustrate shared agendas at work, she talks about two examples that have been implemented in two cities in 2019, namely Terres de Lleida, Pirineu i Aran and Manresa-Bages. 

In the case of Manresa-Bages, the community identified ageing and chronic care as priorities.  

As a systems master, the government then brought together 64 partners across healthcare institutions,  small and medium sized companies (SMEs) and major firms to engage in a collective diagnosis of the challenges.  

The main beneficiaries, the elderly and caregivers themselves, were also involved. 

“There, systems mapping helped stakeholders see how chronic care, informal caregiving, technology, and social inequality intersect.  

“This led to a theory of change that guided the development of collaborative solutions - from digital tools to new care models - all rooted in a broader transformation logic,” she explains. 

Instead of developing isolated solutions, this approach of creating territory-rooted business models and value chains is designed for long-term resilience and regeneration, she notes.  

By 2024, the city had mobilised over €4 million (S$5.87 million) and supported 150 entrepreneurial processes, she shares, adding that advanced technologies like 3D printing and AI have played a key role in the solutions. 

Systems thinking from theory to practice 

Fernández believes that systems thinking is not just limited to theory, and can be a practical way to align diverse actors around a shared vision and a coordinated set of actions. 

To kickstart creating a shared agenda, the government would map the relationships between challenges, actors, institutions and behaviours within a given territory.  

Tools like system maps can help local actors visualise the interaction dynamics and feedback loops that sustain the status quo, she explains. 

“This process identifies structural barriers such as fragmented governance, institutional lock-ins, or dominant narratives that block innovation.  

“At the same time, it highlights leverage points for change,” she notes. 

Shared agendas are designed to allow diverse actors to test ideas, learn through ideation, and collaborate across sectors, which then gradually shifts the underlying system and the way the region is governed.  

Futures thinking 

On the massive shift in Catalonia’s innovation strategy, Fernández explains that it is a generational responsibility. 

“We are living in a time of massive ecological and social pressure. If we don’t rethink how we govern and what we prioritise, we’ll leave behind institutions that are unfit to serve future generations,” she explains. 
 

The role of civil servants is also increasingly shifting from siloed experts to complexity navigators, she adds.

As a civil servant with more than two decades of experience, she is committed to “leave behind more than just plans and reports” and wants to “build living systems that can learn, adapt, and care.” 

Instead of only solving and managing problems, she believes in the ability of public institutions to unlock potential in the ecosystem, driving “a new kind of development that is collaborative, inclusive and rooted in territorial needs.” 

Getting leadership buy-in 

Upon observing the effectiveness of shared agendas, the government launched a €22 million call just last month to support universities and research centres to engage in shared agendas, Fernández says. 

Aside from funding, the government also formed a cross-departmental technical team to create and coordinate shared agendas, which reinforces legitimacy, sets direction, fosters departmental alignment, and links agendas to policies and funding. 

“Additional tools include public procurement for innovation, regulatory sandboxes, new public-private partnerships, and cross-departmental collaboration - all mobilised to drive systemic change,” she adds. 

Additionally, the government also revamped how progress is measured.  

“Success isn’t just about visible results. It’s about changing how institutions think, act and relate,” she says, adding that its new indicators look at actor engagement, co-created solutions, learning processes, and institutional transformation. 

On the future of governance in Catalonia, she envisions the regional development to be "led by collectively owned shared agendas - coalitions of the willing - tackling urgent challenges and creating wellbeing, resilience, equity, and collective purpose.”