Task 4s Training on CoCreation, Senior Engagement & Business Engagement in June 2020

Demographic changes, a society that is getting older and older and the digitalization cause a consequent need to engage both seniors and businesses within the process of value co creation to develop services that fit best with the requirements of the elderly.  Therefore the Interreg I-CARE SMART project develops a platform that enables co creation between seniors and businesses and integrates the academic field and government as well. Within the project three thematic working groups have been founded, that did in a first step some research and analysis to gain results, how co creation and open innovation can be engaged.  

To train service provider and business and project partner on the tools developed within the research and analyses process, a training on cocreation, senior engagement and business engagement took place in June 2020. Due to Covid 19 it was changed from a live to an online training. 

In advance all training participants received preliminary material, to read, listen and learn in order to be best prepared for the sessions during the Online Trainings. 

Task 4 Training on Co Creation

The first training was about co creation.  With the help of the Value Proposition Canvas and the Business Model Canvas, the participants learned two tools, that give a structure to find out the needs, the pains, the problems of seniors on the one hand. On the other hand they learned that they can use the VPC an BMC, to find out, what services are necessary to solve the problems and which aspects create an value. 

To show how Seniors can be engaged two living labs, LiCalab and Happy Aging, gave some insights in their work. Living Labs are Open Innovation EcoSystems, that engage cocreation within the quadrupe helix. 

To engage the very diverse group of seniors, it is important that the target group feels comfortable and that they understand the reason why of the planned activity with a clear understanding of the goals or result that is focused. Methods and tools that can be used to engage are observations within the daily life of seniors in combination with a precise research plan:

  • What happened within the situation?
  • How did it feel for the participant?
  • What can be done, to turn negative feelings into positive ones?
  • Other methods that are useful are Brainstorming, Sorting Cards or Prototyping with Lego Seroius Play (https://www.lego.com/en-us/seriousplay)

Afterwards a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) can be created. The aim of the MVP is, that seniors test it within their daily life with the focus of usability and satisfaction.

The third training on Business Engagement trained the participants how to set partnerships, strategies and activities to cocreate with the quadruple helix actors. Quite challenging at this point is that there is often a lack of knowledge regarding the tools of cocreations and a lack of time to cocreate. To show how businesses engage their cocreation best practices gave insights on how engage cocreation. One example was Digital Tree. An ecosystem that provides the infrastructure for startups and engages open innovation in order to support the development of artificial intelligence. The ecosystem of digital tree consists of an incubator, an academy and open innovation.

Within the ecosystem of Digital Tree events, smartbuilding for startups, trainings and networking (online and offline) are constantly provided to support the development of artificial intelligence.  

The example shows how an ecosystem can be set up and how a region can benefit from such an ecosystem.

Regarding Smart Elderly Care one learning is, that all actors of the quadruple helix must be involved and that open innovation and cocreation plays a key role for the success of the ecosystem.

Links:

Happy Aging (2020). Keynote. IN URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0iVynLRdnM 

I-CARE-SMART (2020a). TASK 4 Training on CoCreation, 16th June 2020. In URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6hEKQu9LX4 

I-CARE-SMART (2020b). TASK 4 Training on Senior  Engagement, 23th June 2020. In URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0iVynLRdnM 

I-CARE-SMART (2020c). TASK 4 Training on Business Engagement, 30th June 2020. In URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G0fdFHi460