Through the Global Policy Outreach & Synthesis Center, the Wyss Academy works to build bridges between diverse sectors, actors, and types of knowledge in academia and beyond. Our approach allows us to question conventional wisdom and address topics with a fresh perspective while respecting other concepts and discussions.
Joining forces to find solutions
The Wyss Academy understands that forging a new narrative which includes equity and justice as a fundamental part of knowledge creation, policymaking, and decision-making requires involving communities around the globe. Through the Global Policy Outreach & Synthesis Center, the Wyss Academy engages with a wide variety of actors in the co-creation of solutions.
Policy Outreach
Strong bridges around the globe
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Through Policy Outreach the Wyss Academy builds alliances that can be used to diffuse the solutions we successfully tested. This network will allow us to spread the word and is instrumental for scaling up. From the very start, the Wyss Academy has reached out to many different actors and attracted people by offering different formats of engagement, building a network of allies crucial to a successful sustainability transformation. The worldwide network has already grown enormously, and the first tangible outputs and impacts of our engagement efforts are becoming visible. For instance, the Wyss Academy has been asked to serve as a member of the executive committee of an international initiative working on a global roadmap for building an inclusive circular economy.
First Wyss Academy Symposium - August 24, 2022
Parallel sessions at the first Wyss Academy Symposium - August 24, 2022
Synthesis Center
Accessing knowledge for system transformation
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The Synthesis Center allows the Wyss Academy to gain access to relevant knowledge from outside the organizational boundaries by synthesizing different perspectives from various stakeholders.
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The Synthesis Center actively supports the mission and vision of the Wyss Academy. It scales up local knowledge to a global level and translates global knowledge to local contexts. It provides an interface for accessing and synthesizing the latest globally available knowledge on biodiversity, sustainable land use, climate, food systems and human wellbeing. With this approach the Synthesis Center ensures systematic knowledge integration across the Wyss Academy’s different operational units – be it the Regional Hubs, transformational research teams, or those responsible for science and policy outreach.
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The Synthesis Center offers the freedom to experiment with different methods of knowledge synthesis and to develop new ways of bringing people together, building on their experiences and promoting mutual learning. The assumption is that the necessary knowledge for system change already exists. By bringing the right people together, relevant questions can be asked and discussed.
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The Synthesis Center includes actors from science, the public and private sector as well as other external stakeholders in its projects and activities to break the silos between different disciplines, actors and knowledge systems. In doing so, it draws on insights from research and practice, as well as Indigenous and local knowledge. The aim is to close knowledge gaps and empower agents of change for system transformation. It promotes innovation by providing a safe space for unconventional questions and critical discussions.
"Ideathon" at first Wyss Academy Symposium - August 24, 2022
"Ideathon" at first Wyss Academy Symposium - August 24, 2022
Activities
New platforms for a wide range of stakeholders
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The Wyss Academy's dialogues on topics like food systems or circular societies engaged stakeholders and contributed to the diffusion of ideas and knowledge. The Food Systems Dialogue in 2021 and the first Wyss Academy Symposium held in 2022 each provided a platform to bring together a diverse group of more than 200 experts from science, policy, and practice to engage, discuss, and learn how to develop pathways to just and sustainable futures for both nature and people in an increasingly connected and complex world.
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Additionally, the Wyss Academy was actively engaged at "The Spirit of Bern 2022" to stimulate a broader dialogue among representatives from the private sector, politics, government, and science. At the event over 60 speakers addressed the most diverse facets of the increasingly acute sustainability challenges and called for action.
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Take a look at our projects:
