SOCIETAL ENGAGEMENT WITH KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES

Project Information

SocKETs

Grant agreement ID: 958277

DOI

10.3030/958277

Project closed

EC signature date 17 July 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 1 545 323,75

EU contribution

€ 1 545 323,75

Coordinated by

FONDEN DEMOCRACY X
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SocKETs (SOCIETAL ENGAGEMENT WITH KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES)

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Key enabling technologies – KETs – have the potential to transform existing modes of production, and thus potentially have an impact on high quality jobs creation, life quality improvement and sustainable development. It is therefore critical for the development of KETs to consider priorities, expectations and concerns of the citizens in innovation processes.
The “Societal Engagement with Key Enabling Technologies (SocKETs)” has worked to develop and use co-creation, as a form of collaborative innovation to develop shared new values, to shape KETs-based innovation towards the needs of all stakeholders and for the benefits of society.

SocKETs has worked with the main objectives to enable industry to engage with citizens in order to develop (KETs) that consider their priorities, expectations and concerns, ultimately, strengthening and enhancing the alignment between KETs, societal needs and values, and solutions to societal challenges.
With the six SocKETs labs and our exploitable results, the most durable outcomes were the increased awareness and knowledge among the innovation ecosystem players and the creation of new and wider networks across different value and supply actors and society.

Well-designed participatory processes could provide significant outcomes in terms of suggestions to develop innovation solutions and address impacts of technological innovations, as emerged during the Labs.

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

The SocKETs consortium has carried out these main activities:
• Developing a study of best practice of co-creation and citizen engagement on six KETs-based innovation eco-systems (WP1), and a reflexive evaluation framework with qualitative indicators, aligned with the six cases, for the evaluation the SocKETs co-creation activities.
• Developing the methodological approach for the SocKETs labs (manual for the case studies) (WP2).
• Implementing 6 SocKETs labs with diverse stakeholders (industry and business, research, procurers, policy makers, CSOs and citizens, social science experts), engaging with them in co-creation processes and experimenting with engagement methods (WP2)
• Mapping co-creation tools, and developing a working concept for the toolbox and conceptualizing the toolbox (WP3)
• Developed the methodology of reflexive evaluation and implemented reflexive evaluation workshops with lab managers and consortium partners
• Develop SocKETs Guide (toolbox) for citizen engagement in industry in an online version and pdf version
• Develop, launch and display exhibitions in Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, Estonia and an online exhibition
• Local and European events (one-to-one meetings, webinars, workshops and conferences) for the launch of the Guide (toolbox)
• Publication of briefs
• Dissemination and communication activities on website and social media accounts, and participation to workshops and conferences.

The SocKETs project has produced a number of exploitable results of relevance beyond the project:
• The Guide towards Responsible Tech Innovation using Societal Engagement (online guide and pdf Handbook). The guide is based on the SocKETs labs results, extensive experience and competences of partners, and inputs from stakeholders.
• Developed a living exhibition about innovation and SocKETs labs showcased in 6 EU countries. Offered material for communication/science communication on KETs with showcase of the potentials of citizen engagement with KETs and the KET based innovation as a solution to societal challenges.
• Analysis of six different innovation eco-systems within circular economy, eHealth and industrial automation: (D1.1)
• Mapping of the cultural conditions for engagement in six different countries: Report Cultural conditions for public engagement in Key Enabling Technologies in industry (D1.2)
• A methodology for reflexive evaluation of engagement activities: Report on reflexive evaluation of engagement in KETs innovation learning and building on quality criteria (D1.4)
• Manual for implementation of the SocKETs lab as an engagement methodology for societal engagement in KET: Report on Concept and guidelines for co-designing case studies and testing tools for industry (D.2.1)
• Overview of good practices in co-creation: Co-creation on the SocKETs webpage and contribution to “The Citizens engagement quarterly”, a collaborative newsletter provided by five H2020 projects dealing with co-creation, citizens engagement and participatory processes (SocKETs, MOSAIC, COESO, FrancisH2020, and IRIS Smart Cities).
• Data on social labs in case reports.
All publications and products can be found on the SocKETs webpage.

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)

Other exploitable results
• Collected rich data on SocKETs labs and co-creation practices. Case reports describing six pilots in terms of collaboration, activities and tools.
• Provided good practices and recommendations for enhancing co-creation in industry and innovation
• Provided rich and diverse online guidance (training and reports) targeted lab managers to reach different stakeholder groups
• Through SocKETs labs and continuous co-creation activities in and around the innovation eco-systems, contributed to align tech innovation to the values, needs and expectations of society and inspired actors to practice more societal engagement.
• Provided Innovation strategies and design suggestions to promote societal engagement around KETs. Answer questions of why societal engagement is needed. Made results available through website, newsletter, social media, articles publication.

SocKETs has met the expected impacts in the following way:
1. A toolbox, freely available to all stakeholders, for citizen engagement in key enabling technologies.
The SocKETs Guide towards Responsible Tech Innovation using Societal Engagement is produced and available at https://guide.sockets-cocreation.eu/.

2. Recommendations and tested activities for citizen engagement in technologies, usable by industry, procures (such as cities) and other stakeholders.
Progress and insights on citizens engagement were structured and documented based on the goal of each of the three co-creation lab sessions (designing, maturation, celebration). This ensured that the activities and purpose of each lab were easy to use and aligned with the needs of participants, consisting of a wide variety of industry, procure, and citizen stakeholders. Both the SocKETs Guide (toolbox) and the exhibitions are based on learnings from the lab
The SocKETs website published a number of items dedicated to increase understanding of KETs and societal engagement (e.g. societal engagement stories, SocKETs briefs), reaching 4557 website views.
The six SocKETs labs involved a total 213 participants

3. Two-way citizen engagement in the strategies behind the support for, and applications of, key enabling technologies
From April 2023 (launch of the toolbox) to late August 2023, 295 unique visitors came to the online version of the Guide, and 87 downloads of the toolbox were performed. The toolbox local launch events were attended by a total of 88 people in person and 196 online, showing genuine interest from the stakeholder communities in the topic. The European launch at Euro Nano Forum had 48 participants in person, while the following webinar had 22 participants.

SocKETs consortium in Bilbao