The first half of the project had two main objectives: 1. to development the smartphone app for engaging citizens, and 2. to start the creation of the goal-setting network of citizens. The work towards these main objectives involved several important activities. As the first of these activities, work package 1 mapped the conditions and characteristics of citizen populations targeted in each of CAMPAIGNers' Lighthouse City, such as social, cultural, and gender aspects and energy behaviors and identified the barriers to carbon-neutral lifestyles and the scope of policy action to prepare the ground for lifestyle-related interventions on the local scale. The results of this work build the ground for the subsequent work packages, in particular 2,3,4, as well as work package 7. In work package 2, the smartphone for engaging citizens was developed and is continually improved to better match the users expectations. The app was released in worldwide during the reporting period, and users across many European and non-European countries started using it. Work package 3 provided multidisciplinary insights in ways of motivating citizens. and utilized the knowledge to create the first round of #LifestyleChallenges, which were implemented in the app shortly after. WP 4 developed a marketing campaign for recruiting and engaging citizens of the goal-setting network. This involved a intensive coordination work together with the project's Lighthouse Cities, to utilize their existing marketing channels as good as possible in the campaign. The campaign started in September in most partner countries, yet it will be boosted at the beginning of 2023 when the time is most promising for an uptake of the app according to marketing specialists. Work packages 5 is responsible to utilize the data about the engagement of citizens with the app. In the reporting period, the database for collecting the user data was specified and set up, followed by the definition of a research plan for the utilization of the data, and the methods for providing the public with at-a-glance statistics about the activities in the app were specified. Work package 6 and work package 7 are both at an early stage by the end of reporting period 1, and have been used for preparatory work to enable a comprehensive achievement of their objectives in the second half of the project. WP 8 has the objective to disseminate the project among stakeholders and policy makers. To have the highest possible impact, most related activities were planned to take place in the second half of the project, when the app is fully functional and available to citizens around the planet. WP 9 manages the project execution.
The project largely achieved its objectives for the first half of the project, with delays in some of the activities due to a high complexity of certain tasks than expected. However, by the end of reporting period 1, the project is about aligned to the original project plan, and the team is prepared to achieve all of the project's objectives as originally planned.
