From September 29 to October 1 2025, the Climateurope2 festival took place in Belgrade, Serbia. With the theme “Empowering society through climate services”, the event served as a dynamic platform for dialogue, innovation, and collaboration across the climate services community—particularly in Eastern Europe. The festival brought together a diverse mix of researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and innovators to explore how climate services can be designed, used, standardised, and scaled to meet societal needs.
The programme featured a wide range of sessions, focusing on key topics such as agriculture, health, and regional climate adaptation strategies, including the EU’s Mission Adaptation. More than 35 projects and initiatives were showcased, creating an interactive and inclusive space for knowledge exchange. Attendees represented a wide spectrum of backgrounds, from academia and research institutions to local stakeholders and private enterprises.
On the second day of the festival, ASPECT scientists hosted a World Café session titled “Exploring the potential to scale up co-produced climate information in the wine sector.” The session, facilitated by Suraje Dessai (University of Leeds), began with an introduction to the ASPECT project and a presentation of the climate information prototype ASPECT has co-developed with a wine company. This set the stage for an insightful discussion.
Participants shared opinions on the prototype, discussing the practical needs of viticulturists and wine producers, sharing knowledge on business development and private business practices, and offering new perspectives on climate-related decision-making for local producers. The valuable feedback from the session will be taken into account in the next iterations of our climate information prototypes.
ASPECT partner Aleksandra reflects on the value of the World Café session for providing new user perspectives:
“This event was an excellent opportunity to build partnerships and strengthen the climate services community, especially in Eastern Europe. There were many interactive activities and discussions that provided us with different perspectives and insights into users’ needs and the development of climate services.” — Aleksandra Kržič