The fourth workshop of the CoRRI Forum’s second cycle of workshops addressed the practice of open innovation and science communication in co-creation.

To round up the second cycle of the CoRRI Forum, the fourth workshop gathered three SISCODE labs – Biosense (Serbia), Maker (Denmark) and Traces (France) as presenters and two SISCODE partners as moderators – THESS-AHALL (Greece) and Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (Portugal) on 10 November. The workshop lasted two hours and was attended by seven participants from Argentina, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Belgium, among others.

After a quick introduction to the SISCODE project and its outputs, the floor was given to the three co-creation labs, to give a brief presentation of their co-creation journey and experiences in relation to open innovation and science communication. Each presentation was followed by an exercise on Miro facilitated by the  presenters to address one pressing issue in the application of open innovation and public engagement in science communication. Each question was discussed with the participants and a diverse number of responses were provided by all the audiences. Below are the doubts investigated by the labs and participants:

Biosense addressed ‘How to involve stakeholders of different ages in a digital environment?’ The participants were quick to respond with the following:

• organising competitions among young adults to raise awareness and stimulate them to concentrate on the digital environment
• finding inspiration from open source agriculture projects and how these interact with stakeholders (participants)
• using various contents and forms of online engagement depending on the age, e.g. for kids, use interactive contents and exercises like learning to code online in a fun way,
• gamifying their participation as a motivation-driver to remain engaged but need to be careful as research indicates that gamification is not inclusive (only highly perceptive or educated pupil understands that playing is learning)
• ensuring that the relevance of participation is defined by the stakeholders
• launching digital hackathon (if possible) to ensure a more “hands-on” approach to engagement
• linking the content with existing school or youth-based projects

Maker followed a similar path as Biosense to address ‘How to do physical prototyping and collaboration in a digital environment?’ and some of the answers received were:

• sending kits via snail mail and preparing the set for everyone at home
• looking at tools to share solutions or prototype together with various makers from all over the world
• ping-ponging between physical and digital
• sending home some mini samples
• making open lab accessible in a safe way
• building it outdoor if possible (in rotation schedule if needed)

Traces has developed a canvas to identify examples and characteristics at the intersection (i.e. ‘gray zone’) of co-creation for social innovation and cultural activities for public engagement and science communication. Some of the participants’ contributions include examples and characteristics of the ‘gray zone’:

Examples:

• The science of choice: an exhibition to collect visitors perception of a topic
• Citizen science gets its place nearly in all institutions and is often transformed into co-creation research
• Discussion games such as PlayDecide
• Traveling exhibition with a space for the local people to come up with a local example, making it part of the stories shown
• Libraries in Belgium are transformed into the cultural centres that promote dialogue
• Many companies, associations and organisations try to engage a broader audience in RRI and OI, for raising awareness etc.
• Museums become places of social care and prescriptions

Characteristics:

• Cultural centres are asked to solve cultural, social, environmental issues, e.g. libraries
• If you don’t solve a problem you don’t get funding! Culture for culture will get lost
• If not connecting to societal challenges and issues, the impact is limited

To conclude the workshop, the participants and SISCODE labs and partners developed a set of recommendations for other co-creation practitioners:

• Give space and encourage IMAGINATION – provide examples of successful processes, inclusive outcomes, etc.
• Find what is the common ground that brings together all participants, what is that is driving each one, so they can give the best of themselves
• Stakeholders can have various agendas during the co-creation process and that is fine
• Be sure to create a safe space, where all ‘Job Titles’ are put aside
• Remember that empathy is a key element in co-creation and when conducting activities with the public, albeit science oriented or not, make sure you put yourself in their shoes throughout the co-creation process
• Always define what open innovation entails in your area of specialisation and make sure your understanding is in line with that of the other practitioners
• Keep public & politicians informed, consulted and responsible in areas relevant to them
• Give concrete examples (i.e. adapt according to the audience) and talk about real-life experiences so that people feel involved
• Be expert, but stay neutral – don’t impose your expertise on others – let stakeholders co-create and get involved when appropriate
• Be honest and transparent about the limits (not selling unreachable dreams) to avoid people disconnecting from the initiative
• Set an example: practice open innovation openly so as to encourage stakeholders that hold themselves back and move forward with the aim of creating a new culture in your circles – a culture of open communication, freedom of choice, free and honest sharing and realising the value of ideation in groups/teams and the value of teamwork
• Offer as many possibilities as possible for co-creation
• Teach and sensibilise people on VALUE of co-creation for the purpose of empowering them

In conclusion, the participants were provided with an anonymous survey to share their opinions and expectations. In response, we have received in response to what the participants wish to take as the next step after the workshop were, 1) implementation of some of the recommended practices in real-life contexts with the active participation of end-users and 2) Development of visual stories, where every step of the creation of a co-creation experience is explained. The participants expressed the workshop helped them get insights on prototyping in virtual environments and learning about practical experiences.

Next steps for the CoRRI Forum

The CoRRI Forum will focus on developing a sustainable approach as an informal platform that serves to bring together like-minded co-creation practitioners, labs and initiatives to exchange and share inputs, ideas, tools and methods of co-creation, and form networks with common objectives that face towards the co-creation and RRI. More news on its development will be shared via the official website and other communication channels of the SISCODE project.

For more information and feedback, please contact us at: olgaglumac@spi.pt; tedoraaibu@spi.pt