Creative Collaboration for Eco-Social Innovation
Dr. Chris Doering
About Dr. Chris Doering
I am a project leader, researcher, and designer focusing on eco-social innovation, sustainable urban transformation, and international collaboration. I grew up in a social housing estate in the east of Hamburg, a neighborhood marked by social challenges—an experience that has shaped my lifelong interest in urban design and eco-social innovation.
After studying product design at Bauhaus University Weimar and completing a Ph.D. on the information architecture of municipal energy transitions, I worked at the Fraunhofer Society for Applied Research, and later in international projects with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Sri Lanka and Egypt. I established and led a doctoral program in eco-social innovation at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) in Switzerland, developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India, advised doctoral candidates, secured public funding at regional, national, and international levels, and built international research and development networks.
My work is driven by a long-standing commitment to eco-social innovation and civic engagement at local and global levels: as co-founder of Open Design City, a grassroots social innovation and maker space; as chair of the neighborhood alliance Kiezbündnis Klausenerplatz; as member and treasurer of the Global Innovation Gathering, a global eco-social innovation community; and as a supporter of diverse innovation ecosystems in the Global South and beyond.
What drives me is the conviction that creative collaboration, strategic foresight, and social responsibility are key to shaping sustainable futures. My profile combines academic expertise, international project experience, and civic engagement – with a clear focus on making things happen by “designing for the real world” (V. Papanek).
Strategic Funding Architecture for Europe’s Next Innovation Cycle
The European funding landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift. With the funding period from 2028 to 2034, the European Union is moving away from convergence-oriented support toward a geostrategic investment logic focused on sovereignty, resilience, and technological competitiveness. Funding decisions are increasingly performance-based, requiring research and innovation projects to demonstrate clear pathways to industrial scaling and alignment with narrowly defined policy priorities.
This shift creates a transformation gap for many organizations. Projects often struggle to align with geopolitical and dual transition objectives embedded in national and regional partnership plans. Administrative complexity remains high, with demanding reporting requirements continuing to disadvantage universities and small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, a structural tension persists between scientific excellence and the expectation of market-ready scale-up within the new competitiveness-oriented funding instruments.
Grantivity addresses this gap through a design-led funding architecture that connects sustainability ambitions with the requirements of the European funding system. Founded by Dr. Chris Doering, combining academic expertise in design with long-term experience in applied sustainability research and international cooperation, Grantivity structures projects from the ground up using design-based and co-creative methods. This approach ensures strategic coherence, measurable impact, and resilience. Through established networks with leading research and implementation organizations, Grantivity enables the formation of strong consortia and focuses on integrating economic, ecological, and social objectives in line with rising social investment requirements.
Core services include the identification of strategically viable funding opportunities within future policy priorities, the full architectural design of proposals including logic, budgets, and timelines, and the reduction of administrative burden through result-oriented and simplified financing ecosystems.
Key Concepts Glossary
Strategic Foresight
Systems Thinking
Design Research
Eco-Social Innovation
Contact
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