Driving Change Through Social Innovation
We work with communities, organisations, and policymakers to co-create inclusive, lasting solutions for environmental and social challenges through participatory innovation.
Building Resilient Communities for a Sustainable Future
WE&Bs defines social innovation as
“Novel approaches to meet social needs and to generate the behavioural changes required to address environmental challenges. With social innovation, at WE&B, we aim to empower citizens and generate new social relations or models of collaboration to foster resilience and systemic change”
WE&B addresses the multifaceted dimensions concerning human development and well-being through the social and environmental sciences approach, providing innovation to the environmental challenges we all face.
Innovative Solutions for Social and Environmental Impact
We design and implement participatory strategies that empower communities, foster collaboration, and drive sustainable change—ensuring lasting impact at social, economic, and environmental levels.
WE&B provides social innovation through 3 concrete services:
Socio-Environmental Contextual Analysis (Quantitative and Qualitative Research)
Understanding the rational basis of environmental problems forms the grounding of WE&B’s social innovation services. By means of applied sociological research techniques, we gain first-hand knowledge of the social realities and the specific context of each environmental problem. The results of this analyses provide the baseline from which the other WE&B social services can be derived. Depending on the requirement and each specific situation, we apply multi-strategic social research approaches, which combine techniques such as:
- Qualitative approaches using in-depth interviews, discussion groups or participatory interventions, and analysing their insights through content analysis, ethnographic studies, etc..
- Quantitative approaches using existing secondary social databases, or the implementation of social samples.
- Other mixed methods: fuzzy cognitive mapping, thematic analysis, content analysis etc.
Through these approaches WE&B has been able to implement and adapt different sociological theoretical perspectives through various projects. We have implemented the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand knowledge fragmentation in water and climate change in Africa – AfriAlliance project. We have performed Ethnographic Techniques to understand the reasoning for water and nutrient reuse acceptance in circular economy solutions – in the RUN4LIFE project. We have gained an understanding of the risk/benefit perceptions of implementing circular solutions in buildings – the HOUSEFUL project. Understanding a social application of water smart society in the REWAISE project and
Service Output
We provide socio-environmental analytical models for the analysis of attitudes, opinions or behaviour in relation to specific environmental challenges.
Open Innovation and Participatory Approaches
At WE&B, we believe that inclusive, participatory processes are essential for effective environmental decision-making, innovation, and policy development. By combining Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping with Open Innovation methodologies, we design engagement strategies that bring diverse actors—across policy, academia, business, and civil society—into structured collaboration.
Our participatory work spans continents and sectors: in AfriAlliance, we mobilised 10 Action Groups across Africa’s water and climate sectors; in NATALIE, we facilitate 8 Transformation Labs to co-design climate resilience strategies; and in Nutri-Know, we mapped the nutrient management network to improve sustainable practices and policy coherence. For the UfM we have designed, developed and lauched a Community of Practice for the nexus between gender and climate change in the Mediterranean. In the World Bank funded project in Jordan we have co-designed the Climate Change Citizen Engagement Action Plan for the MoE.
Central to our approach is Social Network Analysis (SNA), which helps us visualise and assess stakeholder influence, collaboration patterns, and information flows. This enables evidence-based engagement planning and the transformation of fragmented systems into efficient, cooperative networks.
We design, develop, launch, and manage open innovation spaces such as Living Labs, Communities of Practice, Action Groups, and Transformation Labs. These spaces foster deep insight and co-creation of solutions that evolve with societal needs.
Service Product
Our outputs include stakeholder maps, influence matrices, dynamic engagement roadmaps, and actionable recommendations—designed to build resilient partnerships and deliver lasting social impact.
Knowledge Exchange & Communication
In a rapidly evolving landscape of research and innovation, effective knowledge exchange is essential to bridge the gap between scientific advancements and real-world applications. Despite growing audiences with diverse needs, a disconnect remains between knowledge generation and societal practice. WE&B addresses this challenge by applying the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach, ensuring inclusive and participatory engagement across all stages of research and innovation. In parallel, we apply a Mission-Oriented Innovation lens—aligning stakeholders around shared societal goals and fostering cross-sector collaboration, experimentation, and learning—to ensure that innovation is not only responsible, but also ambitious, targeted, and impactful.
Our expertise spans multiple global projects, including developing a Communication and Awareness Action Plan for coastal zone management in West Africa (WACA), identifying climate change awareness gaps among policymakers in Jamaica, and implementing RRI strategies in European projects like REWAISE, Nutri-Know, Houseful etc. WE&B has provided numerous policy briefs for various clients including for the government of Peru in providing a Monitoring System of Adaptation Measures in the water sector.
Additionally, WE&B has designed communication and dissemination strategies and materials for various clients, including a SwitchMed Best Practice Catalogue of factsheets and laymen’s reports for awareness in the tourism sector on legislation on water saving and reuse for the project WAT’SAVEREUSE.
Service Output
Our services include the development of communication strategies, policy briefs, white papers, factsheets, layman reports, and case study profiles—all designed to effectively translate complex research into actionable knowledge for policymakers, industry leaders, and society.
