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Regular version of the site

HSE-OECD-STEPI Workshop ‘What new STI policy approaches to support co-creation? Peer discussion of best practices’

Event ended

We regret to inform you that the workshop has been postponed indefinitely. All registered participants will be notified about a new date of the event as soon as it is set.

Presentation of the workshop

Innovation is increasingly the result of collaborative activities of different parties, which might be members of one organization or belong to different organizations. The emergence and widespread use of the open innovation paradigm stresses the importance of cooperative innovation activities from a business perspective. In parallel, opening the public research base to collaborative innovation-driven activities has been an issue for discussion and policy intervention for many years, known as technology transfer, knowledge transfer and the like. The OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP) has long highlighted the importance of those collaborations in innovation systems, including recently as part of its Knowledge Triangle and Knowledge Transfer projects (see OECD, 2003, 2013, 2019).

The value of collaboration across research institutions, industries and other stakeholders (incl. civil society) is not only essential for economic growth but also for achieving inclusive and sustainable development. The increased awareness that economic growth alone will not address inclusiveness and sustainability consequently further raises the importance of collaboration. Getting collaboration across research, industry and beyond to operate effectively and produce research results is, however, not straightforward to result in innovation that leverages different forces.

Co-creation – the process of joint development of research and innovation by industry, science and possibly other stakeholders, such as civil society and government – may be particularly effective in getting all stakeholders to contribute.  Differently from traditional science-industry knowledge transfer – such as industry licensing of university patents –, co-creation involves the process in which multiple stakeholders work together intensively throughout the whole process with the goals of creating new knowledge and technologies. Examples include the MIT-IBM Watson AI LabMicrosoft Research Centres and the UNLEASH platform. Knowing more about the actual shape, scope and governance of co-creation efforts, experiences and outcomes of them can help inform STI policy to find new ways for enhancing and leveraging co-creation activities.

The purpose of the workshop, which is organized in the context of the 2019-20 OECD-TIP Working Party project on co-creation, is to bring together academics, experts and policy practitioners to discuss the conceptual foundations of co-creation, learn about specific co-creation initiatives that are active in different countries, and reflect about implications for innovation policy. Particular focus will be placed on case studies produced by TIP delegates and associated experts of co-creation initiatives that involve civil society and aim to address societal challenges, as well as initiatives contribute to digital and AI-driven innovation.

The workshop will be organised around panel discussions on co-creation, its forms and features, governance and needs for policy interventions. Highly interactive sessions will also explore inspiring examples of co-creation projects and share lessons learned during their implementations, including challenges that emerged during those experiences and how these were addressed.

Key questions to address are:

  • What are distinctive features of co-creation? How does current co-creation look like and how does it differ from past practices of knowledge transfer between science and industry?
  • What are the framework conditions supporting and leveraging co-creation?
  • Should innovation policy adapt to new forms of co-creation? What are best practice examples?

The workshop will be organised jointly by the Higher School of Economics – Moscow, the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP) and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Korea. The outcomes of the workshop provide direct inputs to the ongoing TIP project on co-creation.

To register

Agenda of the workshop

DAY 1: Thursday, 5 March 2020

  • 9h30 - 10h00 Welcome & introduction to the workshop

    • Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice Rector, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow
    • Caroline Paunov, Head of Secretariat for the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation
    • Sybe Noordermeer, Counsellor for Innovation, Science & Technology, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moscow
    • Gill W. SUH, Director, Korea Russia Science and Technology Cooperation Center (KORUSTEC)
  • 10h00 - 10h45 Keynote address

    • The contributions of co-creation to knowledge transfer and innovation – experiences from the German Technology Transfer Survey

    Georg Licht, Head of the Department on Economics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics, Center for Economic Research Mannheim (ZEW Mannheim)

  • 10h45-11h15 Coffee break

  • 11h15 –12h45 Panel 1. What is distinctive about co-creation?

    This session will explore how co-creation initiatives relate to and differ from other forms of knowledge. A panel of experts and policy makers will discuss the main features that characterise co-creation, as well as the multiple forms those arrangements can take (e.g. joint research labs, living labs, incubators, virtual platforms) building on specific examples. The panel will also reflect on the main challenges and risks that need to be taken into account for co-creation projects to succeed.

    Chair: Tiago Santos Pereira, Senior Researcher, University of Coimbra, Portugal, & Vice-Chair of the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy

    Speakers:

    • José Guimón, Associate Professor, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain: “Conceptualising co-creation”
    • Dirk Meissner, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow: “Co-creation – what’s new, what’s different?”
    • Byeongwon Park, Research Fellow, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Korea: “New momentum from co-creation?”
    • Rianne Valkenburg, Fellow, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Nertherlands: “Living Labs- Involving society”
    • Jari Hyvarinen, Senior Advisor / Economist, Business Finland: “The example of OneSea – Autonomous Maritime Ecosystem”
  • 12h45 – 14h00 Lunch break

  • 14h00 – 14h10 Case study discussions: introduction

    The three afternoon sessions will aim at sharing experiences from specific co-creation projects currently in place in different countries. These are organised around three main themes, and will be an excellent opportunity to exchange lessons and peer review the case studies developed in the context of the TIP project on co-creation.

    Introduction to afternoon sessions:

    Sandra Planes Satorra, Policy Analyst, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation

  • 14h10 – 15h30 (1) Joining research efforts for co-creation in the age of AI

    This session will explore two types of organisations aimed at fostering co-creation: joint laboratories and intermediary organisations. Questions to be addressed by the panel include:

    • What is different about research collaboration in the age of AI? Are joint physical spaces still critical?
    • How do joint labs / collaborative laboratories succeed in ensuring commitment and mutually beneficial relations among collaborators?
    • What types of support (e.g. research funding, management support, innovation brokerage services, access to testing facilities) has proved more efficient in fostering successful co-creation among diverse stakeholders?

    Chair: Byeongwon Park, Research Fellow, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Korea

    Speakers:

    • Valeria Vlasova, Research Fellow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow: “Joint Laboratories at the Higher School of Economics”
    • Brian McAulay & Catarina Fernandes, Lead Economist / Senior Policy and Research Manager, Digital Catapult, UK: “Academic engagement at the Digital Catapult”
    • Tiago Santos Pereira, Senior Researcher, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal: “Collaborative Laboratories (CoLabs) in Portugal”
    • Thorsten Lambertus, Head of AHEAD Programme, Fraunhofer Venture, Germany: “Fraunhofer AHEAD as a co-creation platform”
  • 15h40-16h00 Coffee break

  • 16h00 – 17h00 (2) Building industry-led co-creation ecosystems

    This session will explore a range of international co-creation initiatives led by business players. Questions to be addressed by the panel include:

    • How to attract a wide range of players (e.g. large firms, SMEs, startups)? What are the necessary framework conditions for such collaborations to be successful?
    • What are good practices (e.g. setting a steering group, specific data sharing and IP protection arrangements, regular evaluation, etc.) used to ensure trust among partners and foster mutually beneficial collaborations?
    • What should be the role of policy (if any)?

    Chair: Margherita Russo, Professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy & Vice-Chair of the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy

    Speakers:

    • Jongbok Park, Professor, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Korea: “The synergistic relationship between social and economic value : Co-creation in local farming and renewable energy industries”
    • Muthu De Silva, Deputy Assistant Dean and Deputy Head of Management Department, Birkbeck, University of London: “Using technology to fight the illegal wildlife trade” [by videoconference] (tbc)
    • Christophe Bonté, Scientific Advisor, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France: “B<>com – Institute of Research and Technology” (tbc)
  • 17h00 – 18h00 (3) Engaging civil society in co-creation projects

    This session will explore the mechanisms used in different contexts to foster the engagement of civil society in co-creation projects. Questions to be addressed by the panel include:

    • What are the role(s) of civil society in co-creation projects? How to ensure active and long-term civil society engagement in co-creation projects? What are opportunities offered by new digital tools to foster such engagement?
    • What are the main challenges faced when engaging civil society in co-creation projects (e.g. reaching out to target groups, representativeness, co-ordination efforts, long-term engagement) and how to best address them?
    • What should be the role of policy in fostering civil society engagement in co-creation (if any)?

    Chair: Agni Spilioti, Director, S&T Policy Planning Directorate, General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Development and Investments, Greece

    Speakers:

    • Dimitri Crespin, Scientific Collaborator, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium: Brusseau (Brussels sensitive to water) project
    • Maria Ilaria Bassani & Paola Peduzzi, Communication Specialist at Regione Lombardia / Responsible Services for Enterprises Unit at Finlombarda, Italy: “Open Innovation Challenges: pilot action towards co-creation processes”
    • Norway: Triangulum (tbc)
  • 19h00: Reception at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow

DAY 2: Friday, 6 March 2020

  • 9h30 – 10h30 Hands-on exercise: Co-creation policy toolkit

    This session will allow participants to navigate the features of the ‘beta’ version of the online OECD Co-creation Policy Toolkit – a tool created in the context of the TIP project on co-creation to facilitate the sharing of policy practices across countries. 

    This exploration session will offer an overview of the toolkit’s navigation features and will be followed by an exchange among participants of their impressions and suggest any adjustments and complementary features that could be considered for the toolkit to be a practical and user-friendly tool for policy makers.

    Presenter:

    • Laura Kreiling, Junior Policy Analyst, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation
  • 10h30 -11h00 Coffee break

  • 11h00 – 12h30 Panel 2: What makes a successful co-creation project? How can policy best promote co-creation?

    This session will explore what are the factors favouring and hindering the success of co-creation projects, building in particular on insights from case studies developed in the context of the TIP co-creation project as well as other specific examples. Possible areas of discussion include governance and incentive structures, objective setting processes, the scope of the project (both in terms of objectives and number of actors engaged), conditions for participation and modes of engagement, IP and data ownership arrangements and the management of uncertainty. 

    In this session, policy makers, experts and participants in co-creation projects will also address the following questions:

    • Should policy adapt to new forms of co-creation? What are the main challenges for innovation policy?
    • What are successful innovative policy approaches implemented in different countries to support co-creation? What are the lessons learned?

    Chair: Caroline Paunov, Head of Secretariat for the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation

    Speakers:

    • Federica Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Managerial Economics, Birkbeck, University of London [by videoconference]
    • Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice Rector, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow
    • Nicholas Vonortas, Professor, The George Washington University
  • 12h30- 13h00 Conclusion and next steps

    Concluding remarks by the organisers