“Governing the Future”: Public Innovation and Network Governance
The Canary Islands Government’s public innovation lab, Islas Responsables Lab (IRLab), organized the event “Governing the Future: Public Innovation, Territorial Transformation, and Sustainability in the Face of Complex Challenges.” This forum brought together representatives from public administrations, social organizations, universities, businesses, and experts to discuss how institutions can adapt to the rapid changes in today’s environment.
During the official opening ceremony, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, emphasized the need to transform institutions in order to anticipate the region’s major challenges and ensure that public decisions translate into concrete results for citizens.
ALC Director Gorka Espiau spoke during the session on “Territories That Transform” with a presentation titled “Network-Based Governance,” in which he shared insights from the Basque model of cooperation among institutions, businesses, universities, and civil society. He also took part in a panel discussion alongside Antoni Vives (City Transformation Agency), Melany Sosa (Science & Innovation Link Office), and Raúl Oliván (Hexagonal LAB) to analyze the public capacities a region needs to transform itself.
The day concluded with a session dedicated to multilevel governance and the opportunities for the Canary Islands to establish themselves as a laboratory for territorial innovation, featuring representatives from GAIN, UN-Habitat Spain, and the universities of the Canary Islands.