"Europe’s Living Labs are delivering truly bottom-up innovation for soil health. The work already achieved across Europe’s Soil Mission Living Labs is impressive — and now we need to scale it." Markku Markkula, Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions and Member of Espoo City Council made these remarks at the Shaping the Future of Soil Health Living Labs and Lighthouses in Europe conference, held at the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) ahead of World Soil Day.
Delivering a key-note speech on the role of EU missions in shaping EU policies, Markkula made 5 key observations:
• Living Labs are proving their value as real-life RDI infrastructures — connecting people, cities, industry and universities to generate actionable, high-quality knowledge for soil health and ecosystem restoration.
• The Mission Soil community has created powerful solutions from the ground up. With >500 test sites, new methodologies, tools and data, the evidence base is strong — now it must feed directly into EU-level transformation strategies.
• It is time for a joint action plan between the CoR, the Mission Soil team, ENoLL and all networks, ensuring that Living Lab insights are scaled across all regions — from urban soils to agriculture, water resilience and land restoration.
• Cities and regions must become full partners with industry. Only through deep city–industry collaboration can we accelerate climate neutrality and make technologies market-ready, as shown in our CoR Green Deal Going Local work.
• The EU Missions should now be upgraded to the level of real Moonshots. The foundation is there — strong science, engaged communities, and proven Living Labs. What we need next is bold political commitment and coordinated investment.
About the Event: Shaping the Future of Soil Health Living Labs and Lighthouses in Europe
The SOILL conference convened policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and Soil Mission Living Lab representatives. Taking place ahead of World Soil Day, the event explored how to connect EU-level expectations with evidence from the Mission Soil Living Labs' first and second waves.
Discussions focused on:
• data needs and enabling policy frameworks,
• practical challenges and early impacts,
• long-term sustainability and funding,
• evidence-based recommendations for EU and national strategies.
With contributions from the European Commission, the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO), ENoLL and local/regional authorities, the event aimed to accelerate the mainstreaming of Soil Health Living Labs into the Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” — a core EU initiative to restore soils by 2050 through place-based innovation, community engagement, and science-driven action.