Tools, methods & typology

A new place of innovation is to be created in the region, but for what exactly?

There is already an idea and funding is available, but how exactly should the Innovation Lab be designed?

Didn't get up at the right moment in the meeting and now you're supposed to be planning an innovation lab?

Our checklist for designing innovation labs provides orientation and helps to structure the planning work. However, this is not a linear process: Previous results have to be accessed again and again, checked and adjusted if necessary.

In addition, a participatory process should be aimed for, in which the questions are worked out together with the project partners, stakeholders and, above all, the target groups. This is the only way to create a place that is geared to the actual needs of the region and that can deliver real added value for the innovation ecosystem.

The checklist is divided into five parts: 

1. Part: Strategic positioning and target image
2. Part: usage concept
3. Part: operating model and financing concept
4. Part: Spatial concept and equipment
5. Part: implementation and testing

A usage concept should be developed based on the strategic positioning described in part 1 and the target image, which defines the concrete target groups and overriding goals as well as the content-related, thematic fields of action.

Part 2: Utilization concept & programmatic framework

• What specific offers are already available on the market?
  It is about taking a look at possible competing offers and analyzing them more closely. What is the content and themes? Which formats are used? What is the duration or scope of work?
• Where do we get inspiration and impulses from?
  A targeted search for innovative, particularly successful offers should be carried out. These do not necessarily have to come from the actual subject area, which should be the focus of the new Innovation Lab. Exciting formats, for example, can often be transferred to your own field of application. If possible, participating in such offers helps to understand how they "feel" and what really sets them apart.
• How do we want to work in future offers?
  Before the "what" is in the foreground and the concrete content is designed, there should be clarity about the "how". How do we meet the target groups and partners in our offers? Questions of work culture are also to be determined here. How open do we deal with work results? How important is it for us to share knowledge and learn from each other? Here it is worthwhile to record the basic working principles of the new Innovation Lab in concrete terms.
• What could a programmatic framework look like?
  The offer and program structure should be planned and at least described as an example. This includes concrete offer formats for the different target groups. For the different offers, it should also be clear by whom these can be carried out at which locations. One method here can be the development and description of a fictitious program flyer in the future. This creates an image in the minds of those involved as to how the Innovation Lab could be filled with life in the future.
• Which offers can and should we try for ourselves?
  When developing the offer and program structure, it should be identified which offers should be tested. These test workshops represent a testing environment and offer an opportunity to implement the first ideas for the offer before the final concept and its implementation, to try them out and learn from them. More on this in Part 5. Even if there are no separate premises, for example because they are still under construction, offers should still be made at other locations. Here it makes sense to work directly with strategic partners who should also play an important role in the concept of the planned innovation lab.
• Do you already have initial project ideas?
  At this point, the first project ideas often arise, for example for the development of new offer formats or concrete development projects. These should definitely be recorded for a later project roadmap, which will be discussed again in part 5.

Part 3: Operating model and financing concept in the next newsletter 4|22 …

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Co-creation & co-working – terms from the world of labs part 2

The change in everyday working life: co-creation & co-working

In order to successfully initiate innovative projects and processes and to implement them in a timely manner, openness and new ways of working are required. New and different premises, such as innovation hubs & labs, student laboratories and real laboratories have developed from this need. This is where new opportunities for cooperation and networking between a wide variety of stakeholders are initiated, and collaborative processes are developed and tested together. These movements reinforce each other: New ways of working give rise to the need for new types of premises. These novel spaces, in turn, trigger the change of outdated ways of working.

Full-time in the office, rigid structures and processes with little freedom and strict hierarchies - a change in this classic working world has been observed for some time. These changes are also summarized under the term "New Work" and include, among other things, the change in the understanding of work under current influences such as digitization and questions of meaning.

At the latest due to the corona pandemic, many people were able to experience how the requirements of their own workplace and internal processes can - and must - change. This trend and its necessity has, among other things, Zukunftsinstitut, a think tank for trend and future research, and emphasizes: "Innovation projects in particular (...) must move structurally and spatially away from the company's well-trodden paths" (cf. Schiller Clausen, Lena (2017): Coworking spaces: fill up on startup spirit, future institute).

With this in mind, concepts and terms have emerged that describe this new way of working together and the places where it is made possible. Two terms that have shaped and accelerated this change are co-creation and Co-Working. These are important for the innovation locations that we design. In our daily work, however, we find time and again that people use these terms synonymously or understand and interpret them in very different ways. We therefore want to derive and delimit them.

 The co-creation

A new type of cooperation describes the co-creation and refers to an "open work process of participation, exchange and cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, including end users" (cf. Voorberg, WH, Bekkers, VJJM, Tummer, LG (2015): A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey, Public Management Review). For example, organizations work collaboratively with the target group on new ideas, products, services or business models. The strong economic and competitive pressure, for example, is increasingly challenging companies to manufacture their products more efficiently and place them on the market without losing the trust of customers and their loyalty. 

In the process of co-creation, both challenges are taken into account, so that both sides, organization and target group, benefit from it:

The direct exchange with one's own customers enables a more precise identification of their needs, sets new impulses, at the same time uncovers weak points and provides a certain security for the decision-making process in companies. The chance that the jointly developed products will be purchased is significantly higher if the target group is directly involved. Companies have an enormous competitive advantage.

But the joint creation of products and ideas by several companies or organizations, linked by a value chain, can also be described as co-creation. 

The different stakeholders are seen as development partners in a joint process and are actively involved there.

Customers and other stakeholders gain insights into product design through the co-creative approach. This creates transparency that strengthens trust, appreciation and satisfaction. At the same time, co-creation promotes identification. "End users can become co-creators whose experiences with products and services can represent added value for a company" (cf. Voorberg, WH, Bekkers, VJJM, Tummer, LG (2015): A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey, Public Management Review).

This co-creative process can be implemented with varying degrees of intensity, so that you can actively and passively participate in the implementation. Participation is possible through surveys, proactive decisions or even by taking on pending tasks (cf. Pierre von Importance Online (2021): What is "Co-Creation"? Meaning, definition, explanationG. online meaning). End users thus become the authentic source for innovations in the product and service area.

In order to provide a suitable place that promotes co-creation for the process of co-creation, new spatial concepts have emerged over the course of time. These places of innovation, such as school laboratories, real laboratories or innovation hubs & labs, but also other spaces for agile work create networking and collaboration opportunities in which co-creation can be experienced. In this context, the term appears Co-Working and is usually mentioned in combination with a place of collaborative work, the co-working space: a place where people (in this case coworker) from different professional backgrounds can work together, cheaply and flexibly in a relaxed environment and exchange ideas. These spaces offer projects and teams a "temporary project home" and are equipped with a certain infrastructure, depending on requirements.

The co-working spaces 

The term co-working spaces appeared in the USA as early as 2005, in close connection with the spread of the Internet, and was coined by the programmer Brad Neuberg. Brad Neuberg opened the first space with the motivation to combine "the structure and community of a company (...) with the freedom and autonomy of a freelancer" (cf. coworking guide (2018): The history of coworking). In the same year, the first co-working spaces “The Hat Factory” and “Citizen Space” were created in San Francisco. The concept spread in America and is now a worldwide phenomenon, which is mainly found in large cities, but now even in rural areas (cf. Erb, Sebastian (2010): Work form of the future: Coworking creates nest warmth. taz).

These “multifunctional meeting spaces” (cf. Kollewe, Tobias; Minten, Axel: What is coworking – definition, Bundesverband Coworking Spaces eV) have developed further in recent years and adapted to the respective regional needs of the users on site. They can consist of open-plan offices, but also more private rooms, workshops or conference areas and contain workshop or meeting facilities as well as café or relaxation rooms. Always with the aim of uniting the community spirit and professional development in one meeting place. That Zukunftsinstitut describes co-working spaces as an interface between the two worlds of business and start-up culture. 

In addition to the workplace in the office and in the home office, these places of a new, alternative form of work offer a third, much more flexible place to work, where the community offers a clear advantage in contrast to isolation in the home office. Freelancers, start-ups, but also permanent employees can work together in a relaxed environment, exchange ideas and benefit from networking. A wide variety of equipment and infrastructure is made available, which, in addition to duration and frequency, is reflected in different tariffs. What counts, however, is not the equipment or the premises, but the community. Of the Federal Coworking Association names five core values ​​that make up co-working spaces and thus offer significant added value for their users: collaboration, community, sustainability, openness and accessibility. These joint interactions result in considerable synergy effects and thus also input for new, often joint projects (cf. Kollewe, Tobias; Minten, Axel: What is coworking – definition, Federal Association of Coworking Spaces eV).

So while co-working refers to a space, co-creation means the way of working together. Both developments work together and, through their emergence and durability, illustrate their raison d'être and the change that symbolizes a new work-life style.

Research and advisory teams like that Zukunftsinstitut see this change in working methods and structures as necessary and sustainable. Companies that are looking for employees who think innovatively must bring along a correspondingly free and flexible working environment, but above all "a mindset that does justice to the highly networked, agile working methods of the digitally shaped future generation" (cf. Schiller Clausen, Lena (2017): Coworking spaces: fill up on startup spirit, future institute).