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FORKOMMUNE-Forskning og innovasjon i kommunesektoren

Co-creating for a Sustainable Future

Awarded: NOK 0.30 mill.

Norwegian society faces major challenges concerning environmental, social, and economic sustainability, mainly due to climate change and an ageing population. Simultaneously, the human resources needed to provide public services dwindle, meaning public institutions need to cooperate with the rest of society to design practical and sustainable solutions for the future. This calls for co-creation, a process attempting to develop innovations involving actors across organizational boundaries, including end-users. In this project, we apply a co-creation process to one of the ongoing Smart City processes in Gjesdal Municipality, namely the Citizen Bus Project (CPB). Its goal is to develop an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable public transportation system by replacing private car use with shuttle buses. The pre-project explores the CBP as a true co-creation pilot, mapping the process in order to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder co-creation in the municipal context. The main output of the pre-project is thus a process-model for co-creation. The model in turn becomes the main project?s starting point, as we apply it to several processes initiated by stakeholders, employees, or end-users themselves. The purpose of the main project is, then, to test the model in order to get deeper insight in the challenges and possibilities co-creation entails. This will possibly lead to modifications to both the process model and our understanding of co-creation. The output of the main project will be; developed channels for initiating and realizing co-creation, a shared way of working with co-creation, and hopefully; an emerging culture fostering, supporting and enabling co-creation.

Funding scheme:

FORKOMMUNE-Forskning og innovasjon i kommunesektoren