Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CO-VALUE (Citizen-Oriented Valorisation for Advancement, Learning and Uptake in Europe)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
Across Europe, research and innovation generate vast amounts of knowledge, yet too often this knowledge does not reach its full potential in society or the economy. Traditional approaches have focused on transferring results from research to industry, but today a broader and more inclusive form of knowledge valorisation is needed, where results create tangible value by involving not only researchers and companies but also policymakers and citizens.
This is the motivation behind CO-VALUE, which responds to the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda, and in particular Action 7 on knowledge valorisation. The project introduces and tests co-valorisation, where citizens are active co-creators rather than passive end-users. By embedding citizen participation in the uptake of research results, CO-VALUE aims to make outcomes more relevant, trusted and impactful.
Work began in two regional ecosystems - Alicante in Spain and Emilia-Romagna in Italy - where partners engaged universities, companies, public authorities and civil society to identify needs and challenges. On this basis, the consortium developed practical tools and training programmes to equip stakeholders with the skills and incentives to engage in co-valorisation. These capacities are now being tested in real-life experimentations, where citizens co-design and co-create solutions with researchers and innovators.
Beyond the pilots, CO-VALUE fosters peer learning and exchange, enabling actors across Europe to adapt its methods. Policy briefs, a playbook and other resources will ensure that lessons learned contribute to reforms and new initiatives at regional, national and EU levels.
The expected impact is threefold: economically and socially, the project will help generate solutions by ensuring that research results are applied; structurally, it promotes cultural change by embedding citizen co-creation in innovation ecosystems; and politically, it offers evidence-based recommendations to support reforms. Throughout, social sciences and humanities expertise underpins the project, ensuring inclusiveness, fairness and transparency.
This is the motivation behind CO-VALUE, which responds to the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda, and in particular Action 7 on knowledge valorisation. The project introduces and tests co-valorisation, where citizens are active co-creators rather than passive end-users. By embedding citizen participation in the uptake of research results, CO-VALUE aims to make outcomes more relevant, trusted and impactful.
Work began in two regional ecosystems - Alicante in Spain and Emilia-Romagna in Italy - where partners engaged universities, companies, public authorities and civil society to identify needs and challenges. On this basis, the consortium developed practical tools and training programmes to equip stakeholders with the skills and incentives to engage in co-valorisation. These capacities are now being tested in real-life experimentations, where citizens co-design and co-create solutions with researchers and innovators.
Beyond the pilots, CO-VALUE fosters peer learning and exchange, enabling actors across Europe to adapt its methods. Policy briefs, a playbook and other resources will ensure that lessons learned contribute to reforms and new initiatives at regional, national and EU levels.
The expected impact is threefold: economically and socially, the project will help generate solutions by ensuring that research results are applied; structurally, it promotes cultural change by embedding citizen co-creation in innovation ecosystems; and politically, it offers evidence-based recommendations to support reforms. Throughout, social sciences and humanities expertise underpins the project, ensuring inclusiveness, fairness and transparency.
In its first 18 months, CO-VALUE has moved from concept to implementation, laying a solid foundation for testing co-valorisation in real-life settings. The project developed its methodological basis through the Self-Assessment Tool, the Co-valorisation Canvas, and Field Guides, which help stakeholders evaluate their readiness to involve citizens and adapt best practices to their local context.
Needs assessments and mobilisation activities engaged around 60 actors from academia, industry, public administration, and civil society in both pilot regions. This process identified local priorities, built trust, and prepared the ground for experimentation. A modular training programme was then delivered to around 60 participants, equipping them with practical skills in stakeholder mapping, co-design, co-creation, and participatory methods.
The experimentation phase has now begun. In Alicante, seven pilots were selected, covering circular economy and emerging technologies, while in Emilia-Romagna, two ERDF-funded research projects were chosen. Co-design sessions have defined challenges, citizen groups, and implementation steps, with focus groups already completed in Alicante and workshops planned for autumn 2025. Monitoring and support mechanisms have been introduced to ensure flexibility and responsiveness.
At the same time, the project has begun producing policy-relevant outputs. The first policy brief, published in June 2025, offers recommendations for fostering citizen engagement in R&I ecosystems and marks the first step toward a Policy Playbook and further briefs in RP2.
Together, these results show that CO-VALUE has moved decisively from design to delivery. It has created practical tools, empowered stakeholders, launched pilots, and begun extracting policy lessons, positioning the project well to demonstrate how co-valorisation can create value for society and the economy.
Needs assessments and mobilisation activities engaged around 60 actors from academia, industry, public administration, and civil society in both pilot regions. This process identified local priorities, built trust, and prepared the ground for experimentation. A modular training programme was then delivered to around 60 participants, equipping them with practical skills in stakeholder mapping, co-design, co-creation, and participatory methods.
The experimentation phase has now begun. In Alicante, seven pilots were selected, covering circular economy and emerging technologies, while in Emilia-Romagna, two ERDF-funded research projects were chosen. Co-design sessions have defined challenges, citizen groups, and implementation steps, with focus groups already completed in Alicante and workshops planned for autumn 2025. Monitoring and support mechanisms have been introduced to ensure flexibility and responsiveness.
At the same time, the project has begun producing policy-relevant outputs. The first policy brief, published in June 2025, offers recommendations for fostering citizen engagement in R&I ecosystems and marks the first step toward a Policy Playbook and further briefs in RP2.
Together, these results show that CO-VALUE has moved decisively from design to delivery. It has created practical tools, empowered stakeholders, launched pilots, and begun extracting policy lessons, positioning the project well to demonstrate how co-valorisation can create value for society and the economy.
CO-VALUE has already shown results that go beyond traditional knowledge valorisation, which has mainly relied on linear models of technology transfer from research to industry. Instead, the project introduces and tests co-valorisation, where citizens and societal actors are active contributors to innovation. This cultural and methodological shift brings the field closer to the objectives of the ERA Policy Agenda and the Code of Practice for Citizen Engagement.
Key tools such as the Self-Assessment Tool, Co-valorisation Canvas, and Field Guides are among the first European resources explicitly designed to integrate citizen engagement into valorisation processes. In Alicante and Emilia-Romagna, these tools are being applied through real-life experimentations, with seven pilots in Spain and two industrial research projects in Italy. These pilots provide evidence of how citizen engagement can be operationalised within regional research and innovation systems, something not systematically attempted before.
CO-VALUE has also advanced capacity-building, with modular training programmes in both regions that go beyond awareness-raising to provide practical competences in stakeholder mapping, co-design, and co-creation. At the policy level, the first policy brief delivered in June 2025 offered recommendations on incentives, reforms, and enabling conditions, and forthcoming resources such as the Policy Playbook will consolidate these insights into guidance for systemic change.
Looking ahead, the impact of CO-VALUE will depend on further validation across sectors, stronger networks and markets for pilots, sustained training and peer learning for intermediaries, and supportive policy and funding frameworks. By placing citizens at the centre, CO-VALUE is helping to redefine knowledge valorisation in Europe and paving the way for more inclusive and impactful innovation ecosystems.
Key tools such as the Self-Assessment Tool, Co-valorisation Canvas, and Field Guides are among the first European resources explicitly designed to integrate citizen engagement into valorisation processes. In Alicante and Emilia-Romagna, these tools are being applied through real-life experimentations, with seven pilots in Spain and two industrial research projects in Italy. These pilots provide evidence of how citizen engagement can be operationalised within regional research and innovation systems, something not systematically attempted before.
CO-VALUE has also advanced capacity-building, with modular training programmes in both regions that go beyond awareness-raising to provide practical competences in stakeholder mapping, co-design, and co-creation. At the policy level, the first policy brief delivered in June 2025 offered recommendations on incentives, reforms, and enabling conditions, and forthcoming resources such as the Policy Playbook will consolidate these insights into guidance for systemic change.
Looking ahead, the impact of CO-VALUE will depend on further validation across sectors, stronger networks and markets for pilots, sustained training and peer learning for intermediaries, and supportive policy and funding frameworks. By placing citizens at the centre, CO-VALUE is helping to redefine knowledge valorisation in Europe and paving the way for more inclusive and impactful innovation ecosystems.