On the 12th and 13th of February, Ecsite travelled to Polifactory, the Politecnico di Milano’s Fab Lab in Milan, to attend the first SISCODE co-creation lab exchange meeting. During these two full days of work, experiences were shared and discussed outlining each of the partner’s journeys, challenges, and discoveries. For SISCODE to progress, co-creation had to take place between the partners before it could take place beyond the partners.

Fab Labs, Living Labs and Science Museums had a full programme to present their activities, identify and map overlaps, whilst experimenting with co-creation methodologies. In a nutshell, the event´s philosophy relied mostly on peer-learning. Participants had time to reflect on their activities and interact with each other, helping to create new bridges of communication between the labs in areas such as healthcare, the environment, and ICT services.

The stakeholders were involved in dealing with local societal challenges using role-play and co-design games. Some of the challenges presented by the labs focused on the circular economy in Copenhagen, air pollution in Krakow, healthcare in Thessaloniki, mental health issues in Dublin, precision agriculture in Novisad and water access in Lisbon. Six co-creation tools were also tested, which will help stakeholders analyse their contexts, reframe their problems and envision alternatives during their co-creation journeys.

The new insights and lessons learnt over these two days will support and guide all of SISCODE’s labs throughout the next phase of the project - to curate and develop co-creation workshops that will bridge the gap between the public and policymakers, connecting ideation with implementation.