In Lombardy, there were 3 different participatory actions for different local R&I policymaking purposes, all of them connected to the local S3 2021-2027:
- Survey (From Fall 2020 to Spring 2021)
- Online deliberative workshop (Spring 2021)
- Citizens’ Jury (From Fall 2021 to June 2022)
Thanks to TRANSFORM, Lombardy set participatory governance as one of the main challenges for the regional S3 (2021-2027), explicitly mentioning the TRANSFORM experience and dedicating an entire chapter to RRI principles. Outcomes from the survey and the deliberative workshop supported Lombardy Region in identifying territorial and citizens’ needs that are at the basis of the regional Three Years Strategic Program on Research and Innovation (2021-2023). Collective recommendations stemming from the Citizens’ Jury informed a call for funding to develop smart data-driven mobility services and will inform strategic documents on smart mobility in the near future.
In WP4, the Catalan cluster defined the criteria to test innovative citizen science interventions in two pilots thanks to creation sessions with an extended group of local stakeholders (the local Think Tank). The pilots were 1. Citizen science for the co-design and implementation of an “interactive waste game” to improve the selective collection system in the municipality of Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona). To this end, a digital game called Dilemma-R was co-designed and used as a citizen science tool involving secondary school students; and 2. A pilot to contribute to improving clinical approaches and health services to the disease endometriosis. To this end, a group of patients co-created recommendations for health professionals and policymakers.
Both pilots generated results that were taken into account by the competent local authorities when designing policies. Furthermore, the pilots have encouraged RRI and citizen science to be integrated into RIS3CAT 2030, and some of the funding programmes developed within this framework.
In WP5, following the definition of RRI regional needs and TRANSFORM potential actions which could allow to address them, defined through a multi-stakeholder engagement process, 3 pilots were selected and run: AcquaSens, to enable innovators to interact with citizens, experts from other fields, and local authorities around several aspects and potential uses of such innovation; Algorella, to better link innovations to societal needs and potential impacts of such innovation, and Unsold food to bring together stakeholders active on a shared resource and often in conflict with each other.
In the Brussels-Capiital region, TRANSFORM pilots showed how multi-stakeholder engagement can be key to identifying common ground and shared ideas and provide public funders with a better understanding of the potential impacts of R&I initiatives they support.
Capacity building and mutual learning actions across the 3 regions and dialogues with the co-creation CC-PES initiative in the US, led by the Museum of Science in Boston, as well as extensive monitoring and evaluation activities, were also performed.
A broad range of dissemination activities, from social to multi-media, was put in place. TRANSFORM was selected for major EU events (i.e. EU Week of Regions and Cities 2021, JRC’s Public Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival in 2021 and 2022, and ESOF 2022).
A successful final hybrid event was organized to present all the project outcomes, to interact with key EU policymakers and actors involved in the EU Missions, Cohesion Policy, Regional Innovation Partnerships and Conference of the Future of EU, and to launch the final project tools such as the project e-book and the 3 executive summaries of the 3 regional roadmaps.
