DAISY was represented at the Future Earth Sustainability Science Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, with two presentations showcasing the project’s latest research on transformative innovations for biodiversity and equity.
Elsa Tsioumani (Transdisciplinary Institute for Environmental and Social Studies) presented DAISY‘s work on selecting, assessing and prioritising social and technological innovations with transformative potential.
Drawing on a three-stage mixed-methods assessment — which began with an AI-assisted long list of 987 innovations identified from scientific literature and patent applications, was narrowed through systematic mapping and expert validation to a shortlist of 49, and ultimately resulted in 29 promising cases — Elsa shared key lessons learned from the process.
Key findings included that technically sound or ecologically promising innovations are not necessarily transformative unless they also demonstrate relevance to systemic change and inclusivity. Achieving ambitious biodiversity goals requires breaking path dependencies shaped by short-term economic interests, while maintaining a pluralistic, justice-oriented and context-specific approach remains crucial when designing intervention mixes for biodiversity and equity.
Katie Mills (Coventry University) presented DAISY‘s case study on the City Nature Challenge (CNC), a global citizen-science movement active across 754 cities that encourages citizens to observe, photograph and engage with urban nature.
In 2026, the CNC recorded more than 3 million observations, over 76,400 species and more than 106,000 participants. Katie’s presentation explored how initiatives such as the CNC can move beyond data collection towards genuine transformative change for biodiversity and equity, and examined the enabling and limiting conditions that shape this potential.
Early findings from the CNC case study highlight the importance of flexible local governance, emotional and social resonance as drivers of sustained commitment, and cross-sectoral partnerships that help address resource constraints. At the same time, tensions between data quality and broad participation, persistent equity gaps, and the risk of techno-fix approaches continue to pose important challenges.
The Future Earth conference provided an important platform for DAISY to connect with the wider sustainability science community and advance discussions on the pathways and intervention mixes needed to place biodiversity on a path towards recovery.
