InteractionSeeds

Project Information

InteractionSeeds

Grant agreement ID: 101135181

DOI

10.3030/101135181

Project closed

EC signature date 7 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 983 118,86

Coordinated by

DOWEL INNOVATION
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - InteractionSeeds (InteractionSeeds)

Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Across Europe, policymakers and research organisations are searching for credible ways to actively involve citizens in decisions in the fields of artificial intelligence, climate adaptation, health, and democratic change. InteractionSeeds, a European project working at the intersection of science and the arts, argues that the bottleneck is rarely a lack of information. It is the lack of meaningful participation and dialogue between diverse stakeholders, citizens and policy makers.
Through the project, a diverse team of stakeholders came together to reinvent our approach to societal challenges, connecting research and the arts to bring science closer to citizens.
Over 24 months, InteractionSeeds supported 20 art science interventions across four ecosystems, fostering locally grounded collaborations between researchers, artists, cultural organisations, schools, municipalities, and reaching close to 1,200 citizens.
A broad palette of arts disciplines was mobilised and helped unlock new forms of dialogue, surface hidden needs, and build trust between citizens, researchers, local authorities, and industry. The project demonstrated that, when implemented with intention, the collaboration between Art and Science becomes a powerful level to strengthen the societal impact of research projets and engage citizens meaningfully.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. A resource hub made of a repository and success stories, providing a collection of 70 artistic and cultural interactions, replicable across different contexts and with small budget
2. A supportive environment for collaborations between researchers (from industries, technical centers and academia) and arts and cultural organisations
3. Capacity-building workshop and training kit accompanying research centers on how to integrate art and cultural approaches in their innovation processes to bring research closer to society
4. Guidelines to add cultural features in design thinking approaches
5. A Step by Step Guide that distils lessons into six principles, including bringing artists in early enough to shape questions, co-creating methodologies considering artists as partners rather than service providers, designing engagement with purpose, and valuing process and participants’ learning journeys alongside measurable outputs.
5. A Citizen Engagement Self-Assessment Tool for R&I stakeholders and intermediaries to evaluate how artistic participation can boost knowledge valorisation, usable at the start, mid-point, or end of a project. The tool questions the way Art is integrated in those processes.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Outcome 1: Enhancing Art-Science-Society Interactions
- Results: The InteractionSeeds repository compiled 50+ methods for enhancing interactions, with a focus on replicability and low-budget schemes. 20 R&I organisations have been actively engaged in project activities, representing 6 priority sectors in 5 regions. 1200 citizens were engaged through 20 interactions. While industry engagement remains low, strong connections were made with research institutions and cultural organizations. Local authorities were also involved, applying Living Labs and Open Innovation Ecosystems principles.
- Impact: The project fosters knowledge transfer to society, promoting collaboration and creating tangible societal value. Local partnerships support addressing specific challenges and expanding citizen engagement.

Outcome 2: Innovative Solutions with Societal Acceptance
- Results: InteractionSeeds methodology has been tested in 20 fully implemented cases. 160 R&I stakeholders were trained across 5 countries, exceeding the target of 50. Final recommendations have been disseminated towards 700 stakeholders.
- Impact: By connecting R&I organizations with cultural and creative industries (CCI), the project enhances the potential for innovative solutions with strong societal uptake, enabling new conceptualizations of societal challenges.

Outcome 3: Developing Skills and Promoting Preparedness
- Results: The project targeted the twin transition, health, and democratic change, aligning with regional priorities and the Knowledge Valorisation platform. The repository and success stories support replicating impactful engagement methods. Trainings, bilateral exchanges, participation to conferences and the seeds implementations allowed real interactions with 1 900 people. The citizen engagement self-assessment tool is intended for different types of R&I stakeholders and intermediaries running a project or a set of interventions involving citizens. It evaluates the project maturity in Citizen Engagement, the maturity in turning research results into new solutions, knowledge and skills, and the maturity in the integration of arts. The self-assessment tool can be filled in at different times over the project duration (start, midway, and end), making it both a diagnostic and a learning tool. By visualising strengths and gaps across criteria and dimensions, project teams are helped to identify priority areas for improvement and to select the most relevant pathways for progression.
- Impact: The project supports community engagement, skill development, and resilience building through real interactions across the quintuple helix, contributing to preparedness and adaptation to societal challenges.