Methodology: Phase 2

PHASE 2: FORMING TEAMS AND DEFINING COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS


Objectives of the phase


- To bring together and onboard city’s QH stakeholders

- To select co-creation teams that will address the challenge

- To support them in working together toward the objective

- To facilitate networking and getting-to-know each other opportunities

- To support them in working together toward the objective


PROCESS

1. The Gathering: The first objective of this phase is to bring together and onboard the city’s stakeholders. The participants, who have been selected in Phase 1, gather for a key event known as "The Gathering". This gathering serves as an opportunity for participants to get to know each other, understand each other’s expertise and form co-creation teams. Through participatory sessions, mini-ideation sessions and social moments, participants establish connections and build relationships that will foster effective collaboration throughout the co-creation process.

2. Launch of group work – idea identification: Following the Gathering, the co-creation teams kick-off their work by identifying and selecting their idea. This process is facilitated, ensuring that teams have the necessary support and guidance. The teams work independently, reaching milestones and delivering draft ideas that will serve as the basis for further evaluation and selection.

Methodology: Phase 1

PHASE 1: CHALLENGE DEFINITION AND STAKEHOLDER MAPPING

Objectives of the phase


- To select the challenge for co-creation together with city representatives – based on the

priorities listed in their “Climate City Contracts”.

- To get a deep understanding of the context around the chosen challenge (stakeholders to be involved, previous consultations/participatory activities if any, local context).

- To launch and promote a call for applications for Quadruple Helix (QH) stakeholders who are interested in getting involved in the co-creation process on the chosen challenge.

Process


1. Defining the challenge: through a series of online and in-person workshops with city representatives. The challenge should be related to the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities mission objectives and the City’s Climate City Contract. It should be a challenge that concerns local QH stakeholders and it should be framed around a desired outcome, not a potential solution.

2. Call for applications for participants: preparation, publication and promotion of the call for participation for QH stakeholders (description of the challenge, who can apply, selection criteria, how to apply, timeline, fair reward requirements, etc.) The organisers should support the open call by actively reaching out to specific stakeholders and inviting them to get involved.

3. On-the-ground support activities for inclusion: additionally, on-the-ground support activities are carried out to facilitate the inclusion of stakeholders who may face barriers to participation. This includes identifying stakeholders who are unlikely to apply and conducting meetings to understand their views on the chosen challenge and the reasons behind their reluctance. Through these interactions, solutions and options are explored to encourage their participation and ensure their valuable inputs are included in the co-creation process.

4. Selection process: The goal is to ensure a balanced representation of stakeholder groups and areas of expertise among the selected participants. This diversity enhances the richness of perspectives and promotes cross-sector collaboration.

MOSAIC Methodology

MOSAIC Methodology

In an era where cities face increasing challenges related to climate change, sustainability and innovation, it is crucial to find effective ways to engage various stakeholders in the decision-making processes.

The MOSAIC Methodology provides a comprehensive framework for co-creating sustainable solutions in urban contexts, emphasising the importance of collaboration among the quadruple helix of actors – public sector, industry, academia, civil society. By combining their expertise and perspectives, the MOSAIC Methodology aims to foster inclusive and impactful solutions for cities.

CO-CREATION FOR MOSAIC

This is a form of collaborative innovation, initiated by one or more members of the quadruple helix innovation ecosystem - a company, citizens or citizens group, research organisation or public agency. It involves contributors or co-creators from the other actors but above all from civil society to co-produce tangible outcomes, such as technologies, services or new organisational structures.

This methodology consists of three key phases. It is particularly fit for the identification of solutions by quadruple helix stakeholders and it is to be used in Open Innovation contexts where there is need for shared ideas that can help tackle big challenges in local contexts. The methodology is currently being used by two pilot cities – Gothenburg (SE) and Milan (IT), who are part of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

Learn more about the three phases:

Co-creation in EU Missions

MOSAIC is organising the event ‘Co-creation in EU Missions’ in Brussels on 21 and 22 November. The event will bring together European Commission representatives, policy-makers, co-creation experts, as well as cities representatives to discuss the critical role of co-creation and explore its potential in tackling complex challenges, such as the EU Missions.

Impact Assessment

Impact Assessment


Impact assessment is to help cities to implement a qualitative co-creation process, i.e. making sure that the co-creation activities are always aligned with the fundamental principles of co-creation in order to generate impactful and meaningful activities for all participants.

Impact assessment helps cities to:

·         navigate the co-creation process: in many co-creation activities, just like any project in life, not everything goes as planned. The impact assessment toolkit helps the co-creators to track their progress against their desired impact and evaluate the quality of the co-creation process.

·         facilitate the interactions among all stakeholders: collective feedback from the participants provide valuable insights to adapt the process and the activities taking into account their needs and ways of operating. The toolkit allows the stakeholders to adjust their activities and expected impacts as the co-creation process unfolds

·         facilitate the production of tangible results that can be shared, particularly with decision-makers in cities who are interested in assessing the outcomes of co-creation activities. These results also provide valuable insights for future improvements and impacts.

MOSAIC has developed two tools for the cities to check their progress towards contributing to their Missions by guiding them through the drawing of a future-oriented impact pathway during their co-creation activities.



Impact Pathway Tool

Impact pathway tool

MOSAIC has developed a way for the cities to check their progress towards contributing to their Missions by guiding them through the drawing of a future-oriented impact pathway during their co-creation activities. This impact pathway can then be used by the cities after the MOSAIC project has ended in order to see if they are still on the path towards an impact.

The impact pathway tool enables stakeholders to think about the potential impact of the outcomes of their co-creation processes.

The aim, in fact, is to anticipate the pathway toward the impact of a co-creation activity that has resulted in a prototype/innovation. This should help guide participants in the co-creation activity to think about the impact that the implementation of their prototype would have on the ability of the city to deliver a solution to its identified challenge.

The impact pathway tool is used during the co-creation process to help the diverse stakeholders of the Quadruple helix to build a common vision. It guides their discussions about the changes that would need to be made in the city so that their vision would become the future reality.


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Three phases

The tool guides participants through three phases of assessing their potential impact during the co-creation process:

Phase 1 Expected transformations ​​​​​​​

In order to make the prototype work and meet the identified challenge, certain things need to change in the way different stakeholders live and collaborate in the city. In this first phase, participants are asked to do a visioning exercise on the transformations that should take place in their cities.

Phase 2 Co-creation activity  

As stakeholders co-create their prototypes, they can assess whether their prototypes are fit for purpose. In this second phase, the purpose is understood as the production of something that can be used in the future to solve the city's challenge. For this reason, participants are asked to test their prototypes against the vision of change developed in phase 1.

Phase 3 Enrolling Intermediaries 

Once the prototype has been co-created, it must be used if the city wants to solve the problem it has identified. The transition from prototype to working solution usually requires additional investors, promoters and users. In the third phase, participants are asked to identify "who" and/or "what" could block or facilitate the implementation and scaling-up of their prototypes. 

The final result of these phases is what we call the 'impact pathway'. It summarises the prototypes, intermediaries and expected transformations. The visualised pathway provides a guide for the cities as they implement the solutions that were co-created.



Using the impact pathway after the project


The MOSAIC self-evaluation questionnaire accompanies the impact pathway and enables the cities' steering teams to track how they are progressing toward the impact that was envisioned during the co-creation process. City steering teams can systematically check their progress at 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 months after the project and communicate what they have learned about their intended and unintended impacts to the MOSAIC partners.


Impact Assessment Toolkit

Impact assessment toolkit

To support European cities in implementing a qualitative co-creation process, ultimately leading to impactful and meaningful co-creation activities, MOSAIC has developed an impact assessment toolkit.

From a research perspective, the MOSAIC Pilots in Milan and Gothenburg have served as experimental grounds to optimise the tools. By analysing our own experiences, MOSAIC will be able to offer guidelines and recommendations that assist cities in understanding and determining the most suitable settings and conditions for impactful and meaningful co-creation activities within various contexts.

The purpose is never to evaluate whether cities are doing things right or wrong, but rather to empower them to understand and identify the optimal conditions for the success of their co-creation activities.


Four indicators

The impact assessment toolkit allows cities to evaluate their co-creation activities based on four indicators, which represent fundamental principles found in any qualitative co-creation activities:


The capacity to influence the process

It allows all participants not only to contribute to the challenge faced by expressing and sharing their own vision and experiences, but also to have the opportunity to question and modify the co-creation process itself.

Three essential tools

The tools within the impact assessment toolkit were developed to be simple, user-friendly, and time-efficient for cities. The data required for these tools is readily accessible or easy to collect. The toolkit consists of three essential tools:

Self-assessment questionnaire for the cities


A set of self-reflecting questions for cities to help them design and plan their co-creation activities.

A data visualisation (pie chart)


A visual representation in the form of a pie chart to grasp the diversity of the gathered participants, fed by easy-to-collect data (number of participants in each category of the Quadruple-Helix)

A satisfaction questionnaire


A satisfaction questionnaire to be distributed among participants, allowing cities to gather valuable feedback on their experience.

Continuous assessment

These tools serve as steering mechanisms to guide the implementation of a qualitative co-creation process. Consequently, it is essential to use these tools consistently throughout the entire process, starting from the very beginning.


MOSAIC Clinic - Barriers and drivers to engage the private sector in co-creation activities

The recent MOSAIC Clinic delved into the crucial topic of engaging companies in co-creation activities. Recognising the significance of involving all stakeholders in the climate transition journey, MOSAIC provided a space for its Community of Practice cities to share their experiences and exchange insights on breaking barriers and fostering dialogue with the private sector.

MOSAIC Clinic - Running citizen engagement activities on topics with scientific and technical aspects

Citizen engagement plays a vital role in democratic governance, but running effective engagement activities on complex and technical topics can pose unique challenges. Recognising this, the recent MOSAIC Clinic event brought together the MOSAIC Community of Practice to discuss strategies for engaging citizens on such subjects. The event provided a safe space for cities to share their challenges and collectively explore solutions.

MOSAIC Clinic - Getting your politicians on board regarding citizen engagement activities in the Mission

Engaging politicians in citizen engagement activities was the topic of the first MOSAIC Clinic, the new MOSAIC peer learning format targeting city representatives part of the MOSAIC Community of Practice. Securing political buy-in is crucial for creating an inclusive and effective governance framework. Politicians hold decision-making power and can shape policies and initiatives that directly impact citizens' lives. However, securing political buy-in often presents significant challenges.
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