Partners.

Four roles around a Lab. Member Labs hold civil society. The other three are open to counterparts.

A Syntropic Living Lab is configured as a quadruple helix: research, civil society, economy, and public authority working together around a shared site. The civil society role is held by Member Labs themselves, the cooperatives that sign the Charter and run under the Practice. The other three roles, research, policy (public authority), and industry (economy), are open to counterparts who join the federation in exploring what their formal relationship can be. This page shows who currently holds which role, and where the federation is open to new counterparts. Naming a counterpart here means a working relationship the federation can describe publicly and the counterpart has consented to.

What federation work brings to counterparts and the broader ecosystem is set out at Contribution.

§ overview

The four roles, at a glance.

§ 01ResearchOpen § 02Civil society1 partner § 03EconomyOpen § 04Public authorityOpen by design

§ 01 · research

Universities and research institutes.

The research role is held by partners who study what the federation builds: living labs, syntropic systems, cooperative governance, regenerative territorial development. Research partners cite the federation's practice and contribute their methodological rigour in return.

§ open

No formal research counterpart at this time. The invitation is open.

The federation is open to a counterpart relationship withUniversities working on living labs, agroecology, syntropic agroforestry, cooperative governance, or regenerative territorial development. ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs. Research institutes evaluating quadruple helix configurations under Horizon Europe.

Open a conversation

§ 02 · civil society

Practitioners and community of practice.

The civil society role is held by Member Labs themselves: cooperatives on land that sign the Charter, run under the Practice, and register their work through SYFERS. Sulitânia is the first; more Labs join as the federation grows.

Operational partnerSince 2025

Biggest Mini Forest

Workshops at the Sulitânia site. Joint project on small-scale forest regeneration.

Biggest Mini Forest works on small-scale forest regeneration using Miyawaki and related dense-planting methods. They deliver workshops on the Sulitânia site, where their planting work integrates with the Lab's syntropic agroforestry practice. The collaboration is one of the federation's first civil society partnerships and a working example of how the syntropic principle meets adjacent regenerative methods.

biggestminiforest.com

§ 03 · economy

Cooperative federations and regenerative enterprises.

The economy role is held by partners who give the federation legibility in the cooperative and regenerative business field: other federations, finance partners, supply-chain partners, and certified regenerative producers.

§ open

No formal industry counterpart at this time. The invitation is open.

The federation is open to a counterpart relationship withCECOP and CICOPA, the European cooperative federations. Regenerative finance organisations such as Triodos or RSF Social Finance. Götsch-method practitioner businesses. Cooperatives in the agroforestry value chain.

Open a conversation

§ 04 · public authority

Municipalities, regions, and EU bodies.

The public authority role is the position the quadruple helix reserves for democratic territorial bodies: municipalities, regional development agencies, ministries, and the European Commission. This role is the one the federation holds open by design, inviting public partnership without forcing it.

§ open by design

The policy counterpart role waits for the right partner at the right moment. The federation does not occupy this role itself.

The federation is in dialogue withCâmara Municipal de Castro Marim, on whose territory Sulitânia operates. CCDR Algarve, the regional development authority for the south of Portugal. ENoLL, as the EU-level network the federation belongs to in spirit. Future relationships at ministerial level, when the federation’s track record warrants them.

Open a conversation

A federation grows by real counterpart relationships, not by collecting names. Each role is held when the work warrants it.