On 13 May 2026, Syxis successfully concluded the conference “From Sustainability to Funded Innovation” at the VILNIUS TECH Sustainability Hub, bringing together researchers, universities, public institutions, innovators and industry actors to explore how sustainable ideas in the built environment can evolve into concrete European-funded projects.
The event highlighted the need to connect sustainability challenges, innovation ecosystems and European collaboration opportunities within the construction and building sector.
Throughout the day, participants explored the role of Horizon Europe, Built4People and the New European Bauhaus in shaping the future of sustainable construction, while also working hands-on on proposal building, pilot definition and consortium creation.
The conference featured contributions from experts across European innovation and the built environment ecosystem, including representatives of the NCP and Research Council of Lithuania such as Gintauta Žemaitienė and Akvilė Eglinskaitė, together with researchers and professors from VILNIUS TECH Sustainability Hub including Rūta Mikučionienė, Tatjana Vilutienė, Rasa Džiugaitė-Tumėnienė and Tomas Gečys.
“Innovation creates real impact when technologies, people and sector challenges are connected inside the same ecosystem. This event was designed to create exactly that collaborative space.”
Building Innovation Ecosystems for the Future of Construction
The morning sessions focused on the transformation of the built environment through collaboration, sustainability and European innovation ecosystems.
Participants explored how initiatives such as Built4People Innovation Clusters support the creation of stronger European networks by connecting industry, research organisations, public authorities and technology providers around common sustainability goals.
A key message emerging from the discussions was that innovation in construction and buildings cannot happen in isolation anymore. The sector increasingly requires cross-disciplinary collaboration capable of combining expertise in digitalisation, circularity, energy efficiency, materials, BIM methodologies and user-centric building design.
Several presentations showcased practical examples and research activities developed within the Lithuanian ecosystem, including sustainable neighbourhood planning, digital construction tools and innovative structural engineering approaches.
The sessions also underlined the importance of demo environments and pilot validation activities, showing how real operational contexts are essential to test technologies, validate methodologies and generate scalable impact for future European projects.
RaRe²: From Demo Case to European Project
Syxis also presented the RaRe² Project as a concrete example of how a European consortium is built around real industrial needs, complementary competences and validation pilots.
The session illustrated how the project evolved from an initial concept into a structured Horizon Europe proposal involving 22 partners across 9 countries and multiple demonstration environments.
Participants gained insight into the logic behind consortium creation, work package organisation and proposal preparation, understanding how successful EU projects are developed by matching:
- call requirements,
- necessary competences,
- the right partners,
- and concrete pilot scenarios.
The RaRe² project also demonstrated the importance of combining industrial demo cases with cross-cutting expertise such as AI, digital twins, co-creation methodologies, dissemination and upskilling activities.
From Call Analysis to Co-Creation: The Interactive Workshop
In the afternoon, participants moved from theory to practice through an interactive workshop dedicated to the first phases of building a Horizon Europe proposal.
Working in groups, attendees analysed real European calls related to Built4People and the New European Bauhaus, learning how to interpret expected impacts, identify strategic priorities and understand the logic behind EU funding programmes.
The workshop then focused on collaborative proposal building: participants discussed potential pilot ideas, identified complementarities between organisations and explored how different competences could be combined into future consortia.
More importantly, the activity showed how European projects are not simply built around technologies, but around engagement, co-creation and continuous collaboration between actors with shared objectives.
The session became a practical exercise in ecosystem thinking — demonstrating how communities, partnerships and trust-building activities are fundamental to transforming ideas into actionable projects.
Looking Ahead
The conference confirmed the growing interest in collaborative ecosystems capable of accelerating sustainable innovation in the built environment.
By combining strategic insights, real project experiences and hands-on co-creation activities, the event created a valuable space where stakeholders could exchange ideas, identify synergies and begin shaping future European collaborations together.