The economic, environmental and social costs of failure to adapt to climate change in the EU between 2020 and 2050 are estimated to increase by 2.5 times, to EUR 250 billion per year. By 2100, annual infrastructure damage could increase tenfold. Adapting to upcoming change will be necessary to maintain the development of local economies and communities.

S3ADAPT aims to integrate the Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) with climate change adaptation policy to foster sustainable regional development and efficient adaptation. This will create a strategic framework to adjust business models to new challenges (e.g. resource availability changes) and support innovations to mitigate negative climate impacts. In result the awareness and preparation of regions for extreme changes will raise.