BrainSpace in public strategic planning

Research shows that the most effective learning takes place in social contexts, in teams where ideas can be discussed and experiences shared with others in a community of people with similar interests and goals. The BrainSpace method (http://www.brainspac e.ch) has been created to assist virtual teams and organizations to create effective and coherent learning networks. The Norwegian part of the project will try out BrainSpace together with public authorties responsible for development processes in the mun icipalty or region. The method will be tried out connected to e-Plans structure, methods and tools for public strategic planning, .BrainSpace can be seen as a distributed cognitive system, where new knowledge is the outcome of an active and collaborative problem solving process. The well-specified communication protocol keeps the process on track, although the overall procedure is flexible and can be adapted to specific conditions and requirements. This means that one of the main prerequisites for a creative problem solving proce ss can be ensured: perturbations are introduced without loosing control of the overall process. Pilot experience with two distributed groups of 50 and 35 students in Switzerland respectively has proven the potential of the method. The practical applicatio n has also revealed some weakness of the supporting processes and tools. This is an applicaton for funding establishing such a project.