Private session: exclusive, invitation-only session.

How can leading companies, innovation organisations and institutions move beyond individual sustainability strategies and start addressing some of our most pressing challenges collectively?

From Challenges to Collective Action is a high-level, action-oriented workshop promoted by the Sustainability Commission of 22@Network Barcelona, designed to bring together senior sustainability, innovation and impact leaders from different sectors to identify shared challenges and transform them into potential collaborative initiatives.

Rather than approaching sustainability from the perspective of a single organisation or industry, the workshop will use the 22@ innovation district as a living ecosystem and potential experimentation environment, exploring where collective action between companies, academia, innovation organisations and other stakeholders could generate greater impact.

The ambition is to move from conversation to co-creation: identifying common priorities, connecting complementary capabilities and outlining potential projects that could be further developed and piloted within the 22@ district.

Conceived within the framework of Barcelona4Impact 2026, the session reflects its broader ambition to connect organisations committed to positive impact and turn shared challenges into action.

The workshop is driven by the Sustainability Commission of 22@Network Barcelona and brings together senior leaders and experts from organisations with strong experience in sustainability, circular economy, urban transformation, innovation, corporate impact, culture and engagement.

• Luis Jaime de Antonio, Managing Director at Hines Spain and President of the Sustainability Commission of 22@Network Barcelona

• Mariona González, Director at TeamLabs & BAC - Barcelona Circular and President of the Circular Economy Roundtable of the Sustainability Commission of 22@Network Barcelona

• Jessica Galland, Global Culture Events & Experience Leader | Culture & Engagement at HPE

• Marta Fernández, CEO of RMIT Europe

Together, these profiles bring perspectives from real estate and the built environment, water and urban services, circular economy, academia and research, corporate transformation, innovation and global business.

This diversity is central to the workshop: sustainability challenges are increasingly systemic and cannot be addressed by individual organisations acting in isolation.

The session therefore aims to create a trusted environment where senior decision-makers can challenge existing approaches, identify common ground and explore new models of cross-sector and international collaboration.

OBJECTIVES

• Identify the most relevant sustainability and impact challenges currently affecting organisations across different sectors.

• Understand which challenges are shared and where collective action could create greater impact than isolated initiatives.

• Connect the capabilities, knowledge and resources of participating organisations.

• Co-create an initial portfolio of potential collaborative projects, pilots and 90-day actions.

• Identify opportunities that could evolve into future initiatives within the 22@ innovation district, creating a practical testing ground for new sustainability solutions.

Beyond the workshop itself, the ambition is to use the outcomes to help shape the future roadmap of the Sustainability Commission and identify projects capable of connecting business, innovation, research and urban impact.

The workshop will intentionally be designed as a working session rather than a traditional conference. Participation will be curated to facilitate meaningful discussion, cross-sector exchange and the identification of concrete opportunities for collaboration.

AGENDA

16:15 - 16:30 | Welcome & Strategic Framing

• Opening by the Sustainability Commission of 22@Network Barcelona.

• A brief overview of the sustainability challenges currently affecting organisations and cities, followed by the strategic ambition of the Commission: creating a platform where companies and institutions can move from individual sustainability agendas towards shared challenges and collective action.

• The session will also introduce the 22@ district as a potential environment for experimentation and collaborative sustainability projects.

16:30 - 16:45 | Individual Challenge Mapping

• Each participant identifies the most significant sustainability challenges currently affecting their organisation; one priority challenge that could benefit from collaboration with other organisations or sectors; and the capabilities or expertise their organisation could potentially bring to a collective initiative.

• The objective is to start from real organisational challenges, rather than predetermined topics.

16:45 - 17:20 | Cross-Sector Challenge Mapping

• Participants work in mixed groups representing different sectors and areas of expertise. They share their priorities and identify recurring challenges across organisations, connections between sectors, areas where existing approaches are insufficient, and opportunities where collaboration could unlock new solutions.

• The groups will select the challenges with the greatest potential for collective and systemic impact.

17:20 - 17:50 | From Challenge to Action: Co-Creation Lab

• Each group selects one priority challenge and transforms it into an initial collaborative opportunity.

• Using a simple action framework, participants will define: Challenge -> Opportunity -> Partners -> Pilot -> Impact.

• Each group will explore what could be tested or developed collectively, which organisations and capabilities would need to be involved, whether the 22@ district could become a testing environment, what could realistically be activated within the next 90 days, what success would look like, and whether the initiative could eventually be replicated or scaled beyond the district.

• The objective is not to design complete projects during the session, but to generate credible starting points for future collaboration.

17:50 - 18:25 | Plenary: Building a Shared Sustainability Agenda

• Each group presents its proposed challenge and collaborative opportunity.

• The facilitators will connect the different proposals and identify shared strategic priorities, potential synergies between projects, organisations interested in continuing specific conversations, opportunities for pilot initiatives within 22@, and ideas with potential for international collaboration or replication.

• The results will provide an initial foundation for the Sustainability Commission's collaborative roadmap for the coming months.

18:25 - 18:30 | Closing & Commitment to Action

• Closing reflections from the Sustainability Commission.

Private session: exclusive, invitation-only session.