The methodology of CIMULACT was inspired by a co-creation approach. In the first phase of the project 1088 citizens met at 30 national citizen consultations held across Europe. In addition, the first phase of the project involved a co-creation workshop where citizens and experts met to co-create research programme scenarios, based on the aggregated citizen visions and identified overarching social needs.
A second consultation phase followed where the co-created research programme scenarios were tested, validated, enriched and prioritised in two tracks: face-to-face consultations involving 977 citizens, stakeholders and experts and an online consultation engaging more than 3400 Europeans. A workshop for experts and policy makers finally transformed the results of the second consultation phase into prioritised actions for Horizon2020, including policy options, possible research topics and recommendations.
During the CIMULACT process, the thoughts and ideas of thousands of European citizens, experts and stakeholders were collected and analysed; resulting in 48 citizen-based research topics. Of these topics, 23 were refined by European Commission Project Officers, experts and CIMULACT partners. Throughout the process the CIMULACT partners ensured a close link to the original citizen visions.
The methods and concepts developed and implemented were carefully documented and assessed throughout the project and the methodological learnings were made available through an open access inspiration catalogue for engaging citizens in R&I.
The CIMULACT results are significant since they show that citizens – alongside experts and stakeholders – are capable of producing unique, concrete and innovative input to the European R&I agenda. Furthermore, the project outcome demonstrates that it is feasible to open up science and enhance mutual understanding and collaboration between policy makers, researchers and citizens.
