We have a great story to tell, that of #CollaborativeSustainability for Coastal Cities
#Collaborative Sustainability - We are on a mission to make coastal cities future proof and provide the best possible platform for ecosystemic shared value creation* among the stakeholders of the environmental transition.
January 14 2026: EDHEC Climate Institute and Waves of Change are pleased to announce the launch of a new partnership aimed at strengthening the ties between climate science and action for coastal territories.
This initiative will incorporate EDHEC Climate Institute’s research, methodology, and tools directly into projects initiated by Waves of Change’s Coastal Cities Impact Facility, which aims toinspire and support €500mn worth of coastal projects by 2035. In addition, Waves of Change’s Live Knowledge Hub will be leveraged to disseminate EDHEC Climate Institute case studies. It will also support the Coastal Capital Resilience Chair – co-created by the two organisations with key corporate partners in a true spirit of collaborative sustainability.
The partnership was officially announced during the Tideline Ecosystem Kick Off, an annual event organised by Waves of Change, on 14 January 2026 in Paris.
Through this partnership, EDHEC Climate Institute will contribute its academic and scientific expertise on climate risk assessment, with a particular focus on physical climate risks affecting coastal territories and infrastructure, and on translating climate science into actionable insights for decision-makers.
As part of this collaboration, EDHEC Climate Institute will be involved in Waves of Change’s flagship forum, to be held from 1-3 June 2026 in Biarritz. This event brings together a select group of stakeholders from startups, investors, corporations, NGOs, academia and the public sector. Its goal is to foster collaboration and collective intelligence around environmental transition and coastal resilience.
“Waves of Change has quickly become a dynamic, cross-disciplinary network with a strong impact-driven vision, fully aligned with our priorities. Together, we aim to turn applied research and business cases into concrete solutions to protect infrastructures and territories from climate risks - by mobilising all key actors, including financiers and insurers”.
-Camille Angué, Co-Director, EDHEC Climate Institute
“We believe deploying this novel partnership format together will further enable our common ambition to align applied research across the finance value chain and concrete ecosystem projects, while advancing Waves of Change’s mission to make coastal infrastructures and cities future proof. We are excited to be launching this joint venture with the EDHEC Climate Institute whose knowledge and expertise will be of tremendous value in our collaborations going forward.”
-Nicolas Occhiminuti, Waves of Change CEO & EDHEC Alumnus.
Forum’s Seventh Edition - Save the Date:
June 1-3 2026 in Biarritz, FR
In partnership with the French Government’s Ecolab on the topic of “AI, ocean and coastal territories”. A maximum of 200 participants representing startups, investors, corporations, NGOs, universities and public sector involved in the environmental transition gather for 3 days of collective intelligence and co-development workshops, shared takeaways, business dating and productive free time including surf networking, sites and facilities visits, remote working, etc. Read the announcement here.
Hear Waves of Change participants:
Mathilda D’Silva, Founder at Ocean Purpose Project.
Oliver Dauert, CEO and Founder at Wildya.
Lisa Devignol, Project Officer at the Ocean & Climate Platform.
Adrian Bührer, Co-Founder at Übermorgen Ventures.
Louise-Océane Delion, Marine Biologist Student & Co-Founder at Phoenix Expedition.
Philippe Souidi, Vice President SAP.iO at SAP.
In French:
Sophie Panonacle, Elected Representative (Députée) at the French Parliament.
Mathieu Kayser, Deputy Mayor in Charge of the Environment @ Ville de Biarritz.
Caroline Deforeit, CEO @ Steadysun.
Luc Metivier, Executive Chairman @ Agua de Sol.
Céline Crouzat, Sustainable Supply Chain Leader @ Decathlon.
Patrick Groff, COO @ Olenergies.
Marie Dollé, EuroQuity Manager @ Bpifrance.
Moubarack Lo, General Manager at Senegal’s Office of Economic Prospective & Mayor of Niomre, Senegal.
Pascal Goumault, Head of Partnerships & Sustainable Mobility Programs at Movin’ On / Michelin.
Anne-Sophie Roux, Founder at Tenaka.
Erwan Simon, Co-Founder at France Hydrodiversité.
Pierre Rousseau, Co-Founder at Nomad Plastic & Strategic Advisor for Sustainable Business at BNP Paribas.
Camille Couron, Project Manager at Women For Sea.
Martin Laurent, Bluebox Creator and Founder at Neographic Digital.
Marie Le Texier, Founder at Consultant’Seas.
Laurent Hequily, Founder at Okahina Wave.
Arnaud le Maout, Innovation Consultant at Credit Agricole Finistère.
Read what the Port of Bilbao wrote about the 2021 Edition
The coalition: A different approach
Our approach and answer to the changing context is a not-for-profit coalition: we aim to emulate nature and form symbiotic solutions that optimize interactions and collaborations between the most diverse and complemental stakeholders.
International and diverse by design
Each of our international, online work groups starts with an NGO, a startup, an investor, a researcher and a business from different regions of the globe connecting to address a common challenge. More relevant participants can be added along the way, in order to iterate together with three goals:
1- Come up with a new solution none of them would have been able to develop that quickly on their own;
2- Learn from the process of collaboration as well as by sharing best practices;
3- Get to know other stakeholders’ businesses better and clarify positioning and value proposition accordingly.
Topics include ocean and environment preservation, renewable energies, the fashion industry transition, biomimicry applications, coastal adaptation, green IT, circular economy, new sustainability KPIs, and more.
Past News:
Sharing our Ocean Call to Investors in French Paper Les Echos - June 11 2024
2023 CWR Newsletter Interview
Check out our Co-founder Nico Occhiminuti’s interview for CWR to learn more about our vision in perspective of SDG #17
2022 French Television Coverage [FR]
2022 Edition Teaser [EN]
Press Releases & Archives
*Creating Shared Value, Porter & Kramer - Harvard Business Review