More than 30 international
researchers and practitioners from across Europe visited Northumbria University
recently to test and develop new methods of collaboration and co-creation in
the field of social innovation of public services during a special three-day
workshop.
The Co-Creation of Service
Innovation in Europe (CoSIE) workshop was led by Newcastle Living Lab Professors
Rob Wilson and Mike Martin from Newcastle Business School. It was hosted in the
Lab, which provided the platform of the collaborative learning environment via
the deployment of the lab’s technology and digital tools for the event.
The Newcastle Living Lab at Newcastle
Business School enables organisations to innovate their relationships with
employees, partners and customers. By analysing fundamental interactions, it
can help to identify inventive approaches to ‘wicked’ problems and better ways
of getting things done.
It is part of a wider European
network (ENOLL) and represents a creative and innovative approach to complex
problem solving for businesses and communities through collaboration and
partnership building. One example highlighted how multi-agency collaboration
facilitated by The Living Lab has helped transform the probation service in
Hull, leading to better outcomes for offenders and less re-offending.
The CoSIE project is a three-year
European co-funded research and development initiative through the Horizon
20/20 programme worth over 3m Euro. It aims to transform our understanding of
social innovation and interaction between organisations and service users on a range
of ‘wicked’ problem areas including probation services (UK), housing of older
people (Poland), services for people with complex disabilities (Sweden) and
long-term worklessness (Spain).
CoSIE project partners are currently
working in collaboration on a series of nine individual, but interlinked pilots.
Each pilot has different target groups, service needs and local settings. Together,
they are actively seeking new ways to use digital tools and open data in order
to enable the co-creation of public services for the benefit of society.
The workshop’s knowledge transfer
sessions in the Newcastle Living Lab enabled researchers to demonstrate their
emerging methods for improving communication between stakeholders to ensure
greater inclusion, enhanced understanding and increased collaboration.
Professor Rob Wilson explains: “Many of the challenges
facing our businesses and communities can seem difficult and intractable.
Taking a Living Lab approach can evolve thinking, innovation and adaptation in
response to new pressures and expectations to deliver workable solutions for
complex, multi-faceted.
“It has been fantastic to welcome our CoSIE project partners
to Northumbria and is testament to our international reputation for
collaboration and attracting academics from research intensive institutions around
the world to come here. Being part of the international Living Lab movement is
another example of our global reach and reputation.
“The CoSIE project is pioneering public service innovation by
creating collaborative partnerships between service providers and service
beneficiaries. Through innovative practices we can improve citizen inclusion and
highlight opportunities to be active members of society.
Professor Mike Martin said “Our Newcastle Living Lab
technology’s visualisation and animation tools enable stakeholders with diverse
perspectives to make sense of large scale, complex social and technical
systems. In developing our Living Lab approach as part of the CoSIE project, we
aim to support the wider adoption of these new tools and techniques to provide
a concrete focus for their co-creation activities.”
In the latest Times Higher Education World University
Rankings, Northumbria has climbed 273 places from 522nd to 249th place for
research. The Newcastle Living Lab is another example of our investment in
research infrastructure and our global reach and reputation.
For more information on the CoSIE project
please contact Rob Wilson
