On Friday afternoon (March 19) the SCALINGS Roadmap-Team presented a preliminary draft of the roadmap, asking participants for their comments and contributions.
Due to current conditions, the workshop was held as a webinar, welcoming over 70 guests from a wide variety of (disciplinary) backgrounds.
SCALINGS is an EU H2020 project, where 37 experts from different disciplines, such as Science and Technology Studies (STS), Anthropology, Philosophy and Law are investigating different instruments of co-creation. One of the goals is to create a policy roadmap to establish a framework for successful co-creation across Europe.
The roadmapping-team consists of Professor Ruth Müller and Anja Kathrin Rueß from TU Munich, who are responsible for the policy-part, and Professor Iris Eisenberger’s team, responsible for the legal part, consisting of Thomas Buocz (Uni Graz), Professor Dragana Damjanovic (TU Vienna), Annemarie Hofer (Uni Graz) and Arzu Sedef (TU Vienna).
Focusing on the “Map of Multiple Roads”, Ruth Müller presented the policy aspects of co-creation. Noting that “situatedness is key”, she pointed out that recommendations are never general, but must be formulated for specific cases. Presenting their SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, Ruth Müller also emphasized the importance of participation and the necessity of detailed strategies to enable successful co-creation.
Iris Eisenberger then presented the legal part of the Roadmap. Focusing on public procurement law, intellectual property law and experimental law, the roadmap lays out strategies for the future of co-creation, focusing on three key findings:
- Considering public procurement law, it is important to keep in mind that flexible procedures might conflict with equal treatment and transparency. While this is not necessarily bad, it is important to be aware of it.
- Regarding intellectual property, the subjective worth of different contributions may not be represented, leading to frustration among participants. To avoid this, contracts should be established.
- Experimental Law concepts can be very helpful in specific situations. Nevertheless, they should be used very selectively, as they must be monitored and evaluated constantly.
After the presentations, the panellists Professor Maja Horst (DTU), Alan Irwin (CBS), Sebastian Pfotenhauer (TUM) and Jack Stilgoe (UCL) kicked off a lively discussion about the specific challenges and opportunities that come with co-creation. Thanks to the audience’s active participation, the roadmapping team could gain additional insights, ideas, and comments for the roadmap.
The workshop was part of the online series Innovating together: Responsible scaling of co-creation. The next event (Crowd Dynamics and Organizing for Co-creation) will be organised by the Imperial College London. Find more information on the series and the SCALINGS project here:
Written by Annemarie Hofer. See the original post here.