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Policymakers: ready to learn how to co-create with citizens?

Massive Open Online Course

Background

Over the past 2 years, the EU-funded project SISCODE has been exploring the application of co-creation methodologies in policy design to bridge the gap between science, society and innovation. The project has two differentiated lines of research. On the one hand, through a pan-European wide study, co-creation ecosystems have been compared and contrasted to gain a better understanding of the dynamics within them and the outcomes they generate. On the other hand, 10 co-creation labs, are studying co-creation in real-life contexts. Together with their local communities, they have tackled 10 locally specific challenges to collaboratively prototype implementable solutions. This process has been refined and studied to feed in the project’s research. 

The impacts and results of this global analysis have now been transformed into a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which will provide an introductory course in using co-creation methodologies for policy-makers. For those interested in digging more, a repository with resources including case studies, lectures, scientific publications and tools has also been made available on SISCODE’s website. 

About the MOOC

This MOOC presents an introductory course to the use of co-creation and design methodologies especially tailored to those working in the field of policy-making. The course is composed of 5 chapters delivered in 5 weeks that will guide participants through the main building blocks of these methodologies. Within each chapter, different experts in the field will walk participants through the specific aspects of the whole co-creation process cycle. 

The MOOC will start by analysing the limitations of current policy-making practices and the strong need for innovation if we are to make them more efficient. Early on the MOOC we will introduce the capacity and opportunity that lies in using user-centred methods and service design in policy-making to tackle these issues.

From here, participants will be introduced to problem framing and the role of different stakeholders, as well as power dynamics, at this initial and crucial step of the process. A special focus will then be made on prototyping and new forms of action for policymakers to support interactions in the innovation process.

Finally, the audience will be familiarised with the process that takes prototypes and turns them into actual sustainable solutions as well as the evaluation and assessment methodologies that need to back them. 

Participants will go away with an understanding of the potential and benefit in using user-centred methodologies, such as co-creation, in the field of RRI and policymaking.

 

Want to know more about it? 

You can contact us at siscodeproject@gmail.com or sign-up to our newsletter and we will keep you posted about it. 

 

List of Weeks:

  • Week 1: Why is policy making in urgent need of innovation? 

  • Week 2: How can user-centricity and co-creation improve policies?  

  • Week 3: What is the (real) problem?

  • Week 4: How can we co-design solutions to our community’s problems?

  • Week 5: How can we implement solutions and make them sustainable over time?

Project

SISCODE

SISCODE is a three-year project aiming to understand the co-creation phenomenon that is flourishing in Europe (in fab labs, living labs, social innovations, smart cities, communities and regions) and to analyse the context and conditions that support its effective introduction, scalability and replication. Eventually this will help bridge the gap between the process of co-constructing policies and their implementation. Co-creation will be analysed in particular in the light of Responsible Research and Innovation and Science, technology and innovation policies.