The magnitude of climate risk as well as the actual damage and harm demands ‘new’ responses that address unprecedented scale and complexity – it needs innovative ideas and collaboration across sectors. But by whom and how? Complex challenges can not only inhibit the emergence of innovative actions for adaptation but also limit the collective ability to elevate existing solutions and actions to the scale necessary for building resilience and managing climate risks.

At the local level, a lack of financial resources and institutional capacity can impede the upscaling of innovative adaptation efforts into broader initiatives. Local governments may also struggle to link local efforts to existing resilience strategies, creating a fragmented patchwork of local adaptation action. At the national level, governments can likewise face challenges in coordinating across public, private, and civil society actors, resulting in siloed efforts that fail to address the cross-cutting nature of climate risks. At the global level, progress on adaptation is continually hindered by both the non-binding nature of international commitments and the ambiguity of defining adaptation as a societal goal and global public good.

Against this background, this Hard Talk Adaptation dialogue explored how innovation can accelerate adaptation action and facilitate a shift from incremental change to transformative approaches. The discussion focused on the enabling conditions, mechanisms, and functions that foster innovations in adaptation and scale existing solutions that support communities in adapting to extreme weather events and building climate resilience. Participants from across sectors and regions recognized the value of innovation ecosystems – incubators, accelerators and living labs – in supporting community-driven solutions and connecting them to national and global adaptation efforts. In addition to technological innovations that reduce risk and enhance resilience, social innovations play a critical role in addressing the underlying inequalities and vulnerabilities that hinder adaptive capacity. Through shared cases and collaborative exchange, the event highlighted that enabling governance structures, dedicated financing, inclusive learning spaces, and cross-sector partnerships are essential to shift from fragmented local initiatives toward integrated and systemic adaptation strategies. In line with the overarching approach of dialogue series, the starting point of the discussion was the experiences of those involved in designing, planning, and implementing adaptation strategies and actions.