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"Adaptation requires collaboration"

Maastricht Institute of Adaptation

As the Institute of Adaptation, we translate academic research into practical and relevant applications. Academics identify and develop themes they are interested in under the umbrella of the Institute of Adaptation Maastricht.

Initiated by finance department UM SBE, Dirk Brounen and Rachel Pownall

This has happened before - Humanity, the Great Adapter

When a new wave of technology crashes onto our shores, or a major global crisis loom, we instinctively assume we are at the brink.

That this time, the systems we’ve built won’t hold. That the scale is too large, the pace too fast, the threat too new.

But history tells a quieter, more durable truth: this has happened before. Time and again, we have faced seismic shifts.

And time and again, we have found ways not just to survive, but to reorient, to rebuild, to reimagine. Take the rise of the combustion engine. It transformed everything, how people moved, how cities grew, how industries were organised. Its environmental toll is only now being reckoned with, but what’s also clear is that humanity did what it always does: it adapted. Adaptation requires collaboration

Rachel Pownall

IAM

Importance of Adaptation

Society has to adapt to the changing forces around us: demographic, AI, market volatility and geopolitical changes.

Society has faced technological changes that threaten the way of living, but we have figured out solutions.

Adaptation requires collaboration, our partners

Climate change is here

Adaptation is no longer an option; it has become a defining feature of our existence.

We are living through a season that doesn’t end. Long, dry summers stretch far beyond their usual bounds, giving way to floods that come too fast and stay too long. These extremes are no longer exceptions, they are the new rhythm of our world. Climate change is no longer a distant forecast; it is here, inscribed in every scorched field and swollen river.

And yet, we adapt, though often in subtle, suboptimal ways. We forgo a morning coffee because the beans have become too expensive. We ration chocolate, not for health, but because prices have soared. We eat asparagus only twice in spring, not out of tradition, but because its cultivation has become unpredictable.

These adjustments are not acts of resilience, but symptoms of a society reacting rather than responding.

Global population in 2025

of global population lives in areas already affected by climate chang

will be forced to migrate due to climate change by 2050 and beyond

+ mil

Where do we need to adapt in the future? We think we need to adapt in multiple fields within our field of expertise such as Real Estate, Pension, Climate risk and household finance.

Real Estate

Pension

Climate Risk

Household finance

Adaptation needs an global approach

Dotted Map by Rflor

You?

Theme Real Estate

As the housing crisis deepens, the governance structures meant to facilitate solutions instead hinder them. The decentralisation of political power, while democratically principled, has resulted in a diffusion of authority that undercuts decision-making at scale.

You?

Theme Pension

We like to imagine we have social safety nets in place. But the truth is, when it comes to the most financially vulnerable, there is no real solution yet. Not in pensions.

You?

Theme Climate Risk

Climate risk could be handled if capital were led accordingly

Prof. Dr. Dirk Brounen

Theme Household finance

Household finance isn’t merely about budgeting or debt management. It’s about how society organises the capacity to absorb shocks. If we want adaptation to be widespread and meaningful, we need to start looking at financial resilience from the ground up.