📍 Tenerife, Canary Islands | 30 November – 5 December 2025
Between 30 November and 5 December 2025, the Digital Innovation Zone (DIZ) team organized International Sustainability Week—a working and learning visit to Tenerife dedicated to exploring European models for sustainable local development, fostering inter-regional collaboration, and co-creating solutions to support SMEs in the green transition.
Part of the programme was delivered under the European project SustainX by consortium partners Fundación Santa Cruz Sostenible (Canary Islands), bringing together public organizations, research centres, NGOs, clusters, and key stakeholders from the local innovation ecosystem.
Together with our partners from the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași (TUIASI), we explored new collaboration pathways with organizations in the Canary Islands and took part in strategic sessions on sustainability, regional planning, and European green innovation models.
Visit objective: Connecting Romania’s North-East region to European sustainability and innovation models
DIZ’s participation pursued the following main objectives:
- identifying functional, locally applied models of sustainable development in the Canary Islands;
- understanding how NGOs, research centres, public administration, and the business sector collaborate within a coherent ecosystem;
- actively contributing to the co-creation of a pilot One Stop Shop model for SMEs within SustainX;
- facilitating connections between Romania’s North-East region and international ecosystems for sustainability and innovation.
Alongside TUIASI, DIZ represented Romania’s North-East region in the European dialogue on the green transition and responsible innovation.
2 December 2025 – Local models of sustainability and applied innovation
The first working day focused on exploring the Canary Islands’ local ecosystem, with an emphasis on concrete examples of collaboration for sustainability:
- meetings with non-governmental organizations such as HMS Intelligence, focused on strategic analysis, data, and support for sustainable public policy;
- a visit and discussions with research and innovation centres, including Arquimea, where the DIZ team examined how applied research and advanced technologies are transferred to industry and public administration.
These meetings provided valuable insights into the role of knowledge, data, and technology in supporting decision-making for sustainable regional development.
3 December 2025 – SustainX Consortium Meeting & co-creation of the One Stop Shop model
3 December was dedicated to the official SustainX consortium meeting (inter-regional collaboration programme under the I3 Instrument), with a strong focus on co-creation, collaboration, and matchmaking with the local ecosystem.
Key activities included:
- working sessions within WP3 – SMEs Meeting, focusing on SME engagement in the green transition;
- co-creating the SustainX One Stop Shop pilot model designed to support SMEs through integrated innovation and sustainability services and access to ecosystems;
- matchmaking with local stakeholders in the Canary Islands—public authorities, support organizations, innovators, and companies;
- aligning the Canary Islands Regional Action Plan with European and regional strategies (RIS3).
DIZ’s contribution focused on integrating the EDIH Digital Innovation Zone experience into the development of this model, with potential for replication and adaptation in Romania’s North-East region.
4 December 2025 – Study visits: ITC & Palmetum
ITC – Canary Islands Technology Institute
The visit to ITC – Canary Islands Technology Institute offered the DIZ team a clear perspective on how a regional technology institute can operate as a collaboration hub between the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, local public administration, and the European EDIH network.
This integrated model confirms the importance of synergies between public policy, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer—key elements for the continued development of Digital Innovation Zone.
Palmetum – sustainability and urban regeneration
The visit to Palmetum highlighted an emblematic example of sustainable urban regeneration, transforming a former landfill area into a modern botanical garden with educational, ecological, and social functions.
For DIZ, Palmetum provided a tangible demonstration of how innovation, sustainability, and long-term vision can transform local communities.
Perspectives and outcomes
International Sustainability Week strengthened connections between DIZ, academic institutions, and innovation ecosystems in the Canary Islands. Key outcomes include:
- identifying replicable collaboration models to advance the green transition;
- new cooperation opportunities for SMEs in areas such as renewable energy, smart cities, circularity, and energy efficiency;
- reinforcing DIZ’s role as an interface between Romania’s North-East region and European sustainability and innovation ecosystems;
- laying the groundwork for future joint European projects based on co-creation and regional impact.
SustainX remains a strategic programme through which DIZ consolidates its role as a catalyst for European collaboration and a promoter of sustainability-driven innovation.
“Work visits to Europe’s outermost regions offer a profound learning opportunity—not only about sustainability, but also about resilience, adaptation, and innovation under real constraints.
In the Canary Islands, we gained a much clearer understanding of how structural challenges such as ecosystem fragmentation, economic dependence on a single sector, logistical constraints, or limited access to talent can also become catalysts for collaboration, experimentation, and impact-oriented innovation. Dialogue with local SMEs showed us how important it is for European policies and funding instruments to recognize the specific nature of sustainability-based innovation—not just technology-driven innovation.
For Digital Innovation Zone, these experiences are essential: they help us adapt models such as the SustainX One Stop Shop and EDIH services to the real needs of regions, including Romania’s North-East region, which faces similar challenges of economic and social transition. Outermost regions are, in fact, living laboratories for Europe—places where the green and digital transitions must work in an integrated, inclusive, and pragmatic way.”
Cristina Baghiu, Digital Innovation Zone Coordinator