Introduction and project summary

COMPETENCES involving creativity and the ability to plan and manage. Co-Engage seeks pathways to incorporate all of these methods in formal and, especially, non-formal adult education, as we believe co-creation and critical design thinking are key approaches to teach the so-called 21st Century basic skills.

In this way Co-Engage has helped to create a more equal access to knowledge by providing new approaches of participative learning, by integrating cross-cutting skills and competences coming from different sectors by offering new learning opportunities for groups in need of the new skills necessary in the digital era. Co-Engage regards teaching and learning as a continuous process, having potential impact on all citizens, regardless of their age, gender, or ethnicity. Our partnership thus contributed to the creation of a more inclusive education environment in Europe, embedded in lifelong learning processes.

Social innovation can be considered as a process of co-creation, since it seeks the collaboration of multiple stakeholders (Voorberg, Bekkers, & Tummers, 2014). In the digital era, these processes are enabled by the wide use of web 2.0 technologies, providing tools for cross-sectoral collaboration and co-creation. Co-Engage addresses the growing demand of citizens to be actors in their own lives and to be enabled to find collective solutions to some of the social issues they encounter . We will contribute to an inclusive education, embedded in lifelong learning processes, enabling all learners to be involved. The isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has to be followed by an “unboxing” of participation – using new digital tools and skills gained by citizens, but combining them with concrete methods in the streets and neighborhoods. Co-Engage thus additionally collected projects, practices and tools which will help educators teach those concepts to citizens.

Investigating the potential interplay between co-creation processes, circular economy ideas and civic participation, Co-Engage responds to the societal challenges addressed by the EU within the Europe 2020 framework, such as the INNOVATION UNION, by recognizing Europe's strengths in design, creativity and the importance of social innovation; the YOUTH ON THE MOVE, by knowing that learning isn't limited to schools and plenty of learning happens outside the classroom; the INDUSTRIAL POLICY FORTHE GLOBALISATION ERA, by supporting the shift towards a sustainable growth based on efficiency and involving governments, stakeholders and the European public; and the AGENDA FOR NEW SKILLS AND JOBS by supporting learners from all sectors and genders to develop new skills, scientific knowledge by combining learning paths. The overall aim of Co-Engage is to identify the main areas where co-creation can contribute to transforming citizens into active innovators of the society, and to gather and discuss good practices representing each of these areas. In order to achieve this main goal, the implementation phase of the project led to four main results:

Result 1: Elaboration of more than 80 smart practice evaluations on co-creation methods in the different sectors (private, public and NGO) based on a commonly approved evaluation grid.

Result 2: Organisation of three Co-Engage Labs, in which the techniques and methods of co-creation were discussed (Lab 1 - Co discovery : Citizens as co-implementers based on action plans for sustainable fashion), their transferability was tested (Lab 2 - cospeculation: Citizens as co-designers, creation of crowdfunding campaigns), and finally the methods were implemented outside the project (Lab 3 - Co-Creation: Citizens as initiators, working with housing residents). The Labs allowed us to obtain a more complex vision of co-creation in general

Result 3: The smart practices evaluation and the three Co-Engage Labs led to the identification of a large number of co-creation practices, which are presented visually on an interactive map, offering basic information on the practices, with the possibility of a permanent extension in the future.

Result 4: The project eBook which summarize the most relevant smart methods, recommendations and inputs.

Co-discovery is an important aspect of cocreation. It invites participants to explore a topic, problem or theme in a collaborative setting. The learners (trainer, educators) will trigger each other for further learning. One of the most appealing aspects of co-creation embedded in Design Thinking is exploring unknown possibilities and uncovering unknown insights. This is the reason why emphasis is put on learning and on activities increasing the learning potential of the learner as a community. Action-oriented learning may be boosted by experimenting and exploring proposed solutions in order to understand the problems revealed by the assumptions leading to those solutions. As such, your community can iterate rapidly, modifying your methods and moving you closer and closer to the goal: positive social change.

How did we work?

Federico Fumagalli

Co-Engage project is seeking to identify Smart Practices of co-creation. A concert of 8 partners worked together for more than 3 years, through a global socialeconomical crisis caused by the pandemic, not only on our formal goals but also investigating side-goals like to create a european network which could strengthened up collaboration between different countries and organizations who have common values and visions. On a political point of view, the collective process we took part in is the most important output we generated.

What are Smart Practices?

Smart Practices are adaptable and applicable practices, suited to various needs, target groups and circumstances (they are transferable). Smart Practices engage and are accessible for groups with different backgrounds and skills and raise from the needs and the capacity of the learners. Smart Practices improve the current status of communities in a smart way and empower learners to take a more active role in society. Smart Practices include the learners in the construction of the assessment.

What is the context of cocreation?

The Co-Engage project is facilitating cocreation processes in order to turn citizens to be innovators and advocates of positive change in their community. By supporting people to discover and develop their capacities of critical thinking and constructive participation in any issue related to their personal and professional lives, citizens will gain the tools to be empowered and to be equipped for active participation.

We distinguish three types of co-creation/coproduction where citizens might be involved: 1.Citizens as co-implementers; 2.Citizens as co-designers;

3.Citizens as initiators.

In this context the smart practices will explore the following effect of co-creation on society: A. The value of co-creation in general, as citizens are involved in helping the community. B. Finding measures which groups of citizens’ directly benefit, paying particular attention to those who have lower education, wealth and/or come from ethnic minorities. C. Exploring the potential of co-creation in community building, where social capital can be a driver for co-creation, but also an effect. Co-Engage aims to investigate the relevance of co-creation for citizenship building and connect it to concepts and approaches of civic education, which have rarely been performed. At least, we developed an Evaluation Grid where you can find out if you have a Smart Practice in co-creation.

We sorted the Smart Practices we collected by Practices (or Tools), Projects and Case Studies.

Using the term Practices (or Tools) we mean an example of Smart Practices with a methodology behind it, allowing you to reproduce it as wished. Projects are activities you can do everywhere and basically everyone can do it without a specific methodology. Further, Case Studies are smart practices applied on a specific site and conditions.

Based on the Evaluation Grid, we modified and redefined other variables in order to keep this book inclusive and accessible, according to our possibilities, like:

> Goals (#community building, #raising awareness, #teaching tools, #sharing practices or experiences #empowerment #inspiring action #dialogue between groups