The humanitarian sector is at a crossroads. Dramatic cuts in foreign aid funding pose an existential threat to a system already struggling to keep up with ever-expanding emergencies, increasingly driven by the global climate crisis. Today, humanitarian practitioners face a stark choice between constriction and reinvention—one, already familiar, road leads toward doing less with less; the other, to a destination not yet fully known.

Response Innovation Lab has been taking the road less traveled for the past ten years and invites you to join us in Istanbul—a true city of crossroads—for RILx25, as we continue our learning journey to uncover more hidden powers of local innovation ecosystems and share the evidence from these explorations.. Together, we can chart a course toward a future where resilience is not just a response, but a strategy—where innovation is not the exception, but the norm.