Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The main beneficiaries are the students of the university. The university has three campuses in Hungary, which are located in Budapest, Orosháza, and Székesfehérvár. It has full-time, part-time, and distance education programs, primarily at BSC level, however, some MSC programs and further education short programs are also offered mainly on the field of humanities and management, both in Hungarian and English. Inner stakeholders are the university leadership and staff. As an outside stakeholder, the Hungarian Accreditation Committee can also be mentioned, responsible for the accreditation process of all Hungarian universities, mostly because of its expressed interest in the SD development concept.

Co-creation process

The university engaged with the SD development project inspired by an SD workshop of the consulting company. The company brought its expertise on SD-based assessment and service-improvement and through the project they refined their tool for the university. The lead consultant educated the university leadership about the SD concept and reported the results in written reports and presentations. The project measured students’ LX with an SD methodology-based questionnaire (created and validated in previous research and updated after the first data collection) and provided an overview through customer satisfaction index (CSI) and net promoter score (NPS). Students were asked about the importance of certain touchpoints as well as how good their experience is with those touchpoints. Additionally, open questions were also offered to gain further insights. After the 2017 data collection, an SD workshop was organized with four groups using inspirational board, montage, and value proposition canvasing. Results of the assessment were brought further and got implemented by the Welfare Cabinet that involved students mainly from the student board.

Digital Transformation Process

Not applicable.

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

Survey results provide feedback for teachers and staff at the university. Educational material about SD, the questionnaires, and the survey reports are accessible via the Moodle system for all the teachers and university staff. The reports had been discussed in meetings of several departments as well. Changes have been implemented based on the 2017 survey, including:
  • Thematic weeks: The new thematic week system (previous educational innovation) was not at all well taken by students: it was perceived as meaningless and forceful, not taking into consideration students’ working life outside of the university. The concept of the weeks was completely redesigned.
  • Distance learning programme: Many students choose the university because of its distance learning programme, however, they got more and more dissatisfied with several features of the programme. While earlier online materials available for full-time and part-time students had been separated from those available for participants of distant learning programs, this limitation was lifted and online consultations had been recorded. The university plans to produce more pre-recorded and edited online materials in the future and has already organized Skype training for teachers.
  • Administrative services: Based on the results both the Study Office and the Welfare Cabinet revised some of their administrative processes.
The 2019 report contains a comparison to 2017 results. The overall, institutional-level NPS changed from -9 to +18, while NPS for the second degree also changed from -12 to +10.

Challenges & Bottlenecks

The primary problematic aspect was the scarcity of free time for workshops and further investigation that could give explanations for the survey results received. Difficulties in the inclusion of educators in the problem-solving process are quite problematic, as the essence of the method can get lost if not every party is represented and engaged in the process. However, some colleagues of the university feel the project unnecessary and expect the consulting company to solve the existing issues. The survey fill-out rates are to be improved for better overview and engagement.  A challenge during the implementation process is that students’ expectations are controversial: while they demand practical approaches in education, they often resent creative tasks and group works, making it unclear how to step forward in this question. The deeper involvement of students might start a tendency of complaining, thus, it is very important to “direct” these co-creation events so that they contribute to development, keeping a positive and proactive stance. If the opinion of smaller groups gains more attention, it might lead to a bias – this should be avoided, too.

Transferability & Replicability

The initial assessment has been repeated in 2019 at the university and the continuation of the development process is expected. As the consulting company’s LxLab (Learning Experience Lab) service is dedicated to educational Lx projects, further cooperation of the higher education sector and the business sector is possible.

Success Factors

One of the main success factors is the engagement of the university’s leadership, especially the vice-rector for education, who acted as an initiator and owner of the project. Another important factor was the trustful relationship between the vice-rector and the lead consultant. The external professional expertise and the internal organizational support for change, carried out mostly by the Welfare Cabinet leader, were a great combination to make focused improvements in students’ Lx happen.

Lessons learned

Through the project and the SD methodology, the university learned about hidden aspects of students’ learning experiences, enabling university staff to come up with improvement ideas they had not been able to do themselves. The project itself points to the importance of a dedicated and united leadership front that can engage and include the staff and studentship of the university and an external partner that is familiar with impactful service development methodologies but are familiar with the sector’s unique characteristics and context. Quick wins regarding first implementations also seemed to support the continued commitment to the project.

Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The beneficiary of this project part was the University of Szeged, with four local schools recruited as pilot sites. Schoolteachers and school nurses are considered as the key stakeholders in promoting health in primary education. Participation in the pilot was considered as extra-hour work for them, with additional remuneration. The target group of the program was 8- or 9-year-old children, however, we can consider their parents as a secondary target group as their involvement was one of the cornerstones and distinctive attributes of the health club. Service users were not involved in the preliminary design processes, their feedback at the end of the club meetings was the way they contributed and got involved in the shaping of the current and later health club activities.

Co-creation process

The project consisted of the following steps. University researchers began the development of curriculum by reviewing literature and available evidence. It was decided that a workbook would be the central “organizing force” of the activities. It was clear that the workbook had to be designed to fit pupils’ and parents’ needs (both content and outlook) so that a designer was contracted. Schoolteachers and school nurses as well as students from the medical and district nurse programs were involved in further development activities during six workshops (the last one focused only on the administrative tasks required for project documentation). Those experts who participated in the development process, teachers and school nurses, medical students, school nurse students made a “test-run”: all the assignments had been tried by the experts and educators themselves (for example, children had “fruit names” during the health club, so “fruit names” were used during the trial as well). The health club was piloted at four schools. All of the sessions were visited by an observer (the above mentioned students from the medical and the health sciences faculties), who took notes. Assignments and sessions were evaluated by teachers and school nurses as well as the children. Health-related knowledge of participants were measured before and after the intervention so that the pilot project could have been evaluated.

Digital Transformation Process

Not applicable.

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

A pre-post evaluation of health-related knowledge of parents was measured by using a questionnaire. The average score grew from 6.78 to 7.16, however, this change cannot be considered as a significant change. Due to voluntary participation, the preselection of children and parents with better health-related knowledge might have played a role here. While the health club itself was discontinued after the pilot, several assignments are still used by teachers, and some skills acquired or strengthened during the pilot are evaluated positively (e.g. the school nurse communicates with parents more frequently and more easily).

Challenges & Bottlenecks

Due to the voluntary nature of participation, a selection bias occurred in the class: those pupils and parents who had already been more health-centric were more willing to participate. Although the design builds on parents a lot and it is part of its key success factors, it also emerges as a bottleneck: it needs a lot of time and attention from them. This way not everyone can participate, only those, who can attend club activities in the afternoon on a weekly basis (e.g. working parents with less flexible schedules have difficulties). The sustainability of the programme is mostly endangered by the required high resource use: the programme is quite time-intensive from the perspective of both parents and the school staff. It requires preliminary trainings and week-by-week preparation from school nurses and teachers. This amount of after-school activity for 8 consecutive weeks is quite difficult to manage for parents as well. Even though kids enjoyed the activities and did not regard the club as an obligation, it was a serious commitment from all the other parties.

Transferability & Replicability

The main outputs of the project are a workbook and an accompanying teachers’ manual (as well as additional materials, like evaluation sheet, leaflets, “key messages to parents” sheets, or a further education short program for school nurses). As intended, any school would be able to reproduce the program based on these materials. However, there was no school continuing or reproducing the program after the pilot. The main reason for this seems to be connected to the high resource use the program requires.

Success Factors

The development process was very user-centric and relied on expertise about how to communicate with children (strengthened by the participation of a service designer). This way, the program was tailored to the needs of children (and parents). On the other hand, the pilot was not followed by a wider-scale implementation (see Challenges).

Lessons learned

The main innovation of the programme was the inclusion of parents in health education activities in schools. It is rare that the children and their parents spend time together in school; this feature of the health club had an immense positive impact on the success of the programme by creating a safe atmosphere for the kids at school and engaging them at home, too. It also strengthened child-parent relationships by spending focused quality time together and creating common experiences. The situation was also new for school nurses and teachers because of this model, however, the novelty of the applied interactive methodologies provided a source of innovation for their practices. However, there was a selection bias: those children (and parents) who wanted to participate in the pilot had already been interested in living a healthy lifestyle, and had already deeper knowledge about health. High-risk groups (e.g. children struggling with obesity) were not participating. Moreover, the sustainability of the programme is endangered by the required high resource use: the programme is quite time-intensive from the perspective of both parents and the school staff.

Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The main beneficiaries of BAGázs live in the segregated Roma settlements of Bag (400 people) and Dány (600 people) in Central Hungary. A survey conducted by the Association in 2017 showed that the local community is far from homogeneous and the households vary greatly from one another, but the fundamental characteristics of segregated areas still fundamentally define the lives of the communities. Less than half of the adults living in the slum have not finished primary school. Of these, one quarter are most likely illiterate, having failed to complete even the first two grades. It is presumably linked to the low level of education that despite nearly half of slum residents having regular work, the average net income is 227.54 EUR (72,000 HUF) per months, and in some families, due to the high number of children, per capita income is far below average. The most pressing problem in the Roma slums in Bag and Dány today is the spreading and pervasive use of designer drugs. The work of BAGázs extends beyond the segregated settlements to the local village communities and to the level of society. The Association build relationships and cooperation with local institutions: local governments in Bag and Dány, kindergarten and primary school in Bag, family and child welfare services, police. ‘Parent Group for Our Hometown’ (SzöSz: Szülői Összefogás Szülőfalunkért) is a citizens’ initiative in Bag. They work with BAGázs from Summer 2018, and they play an important role to getting to know and accept the Work of BAGázs in the village. One of the most important aspects of BAGázs method is the high number of committed volunteers supported the professional work. In the beginning (2011) yearly 20-30 volunteers supported the professional work, in 2018 they have more than 100 volunteers per year.

Co-creation process

BAGázs is working to eliminate socio-cultural disadvantages of Roma people living in these segregated settlements. This can only be achieved if they jointly set up changes in the community of the settlements and in the majority society. The Association seeks to make the Roma people more capable, while at the same time sensitising and making more accepting the people belonging to the majority society. The program structure consists of 8 programs: mentoring for children, free-time activities, summer camp, women’s club, legal clinic and debt management, job hunt, adult education program, mentoring for adults, family consultation. The programs are based on local needs, so they are constantly evolving and adapting to the community. Most of the programs are organised by volunteers, so they are directly involved in professional work. The development of the BAGázs method is the result of a multi-year learning process that resulted in a complex program structure based on holistic, multi-level approach. The learning process is very reflective and conscious based on continuous assessment of experiences and results. Some program elements were largely modified during the last years (e.g. mentoring), and some elements have been omitted (e.g. small garden program or sport program). During the planning and implementation of the different programs the BAGázs Association interact with many stakeholders (e.g. donors, local public institutions, local civil organisations). Many of them play a crucial role in the co-planning and co-production of the programs.

Digital Transformation Process

Not applicable.

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

BAGázs started a social enterprise in 2016, which can be a useful additional element to the core activity of the association. BAGázs Bazaar consits of a mobile and a regular charity shop and a community centre in Budapest.  In Bagázs Bazaar they do not only recycle used clothes but are also able to provide job opportunities to people from the settlements. This way they can gain experience and prepare for entering the labour market. BAGázs Bazaar is also a Community Centre. By opening a community space in Budapest, the Association is broadening the horizon of the volunteer work, while providing further programs for underprivileged children. Main results in numbers:
  • permanent presence in 2 Roma settlements (Bag, Dány);
  • a complex program structure consisting of 8 programs for children and adults, 75% of families in the slums participated in these programs;
  • 15 paid employees (9 full-time, 6 part-time employees);
  • in 2018 more than 100 volunteers are trained and involved in their programs to bring new patterns to the closed communities;
  • more than 200 Roma participants.

Challenges & Bottlenecks

The public social service system in Hungary is very fragmented, the colleagues of public institutions in this sector (e.g. case managers of the Guardianship Offices) are often overburdened, the prestige of social work is low, and therefore the lack of appropriate professionals is typical. The long-term finance is also a crucial question for the Association, they try to find more regular supporters. The relationship with local governments in Bag and Dány is not always supportive. Manifestations of antigypsyism, including hostility, prejudice and discrimination specifically directed at Roma combined with stereotypical portrayals of Roma constitute the predominant narrative in all majority society.

Transferability & Replicability

Together with the local social care system and municipalities, the BAGázs is working to solve problems together. As an independent NGO, the BAGázs feels responsible for addressing systemic issues and making changes in related professional areas. Presenting in the press and social media in order to gain more publicity and at the same time strengthen the potential for change within the Roma community.

Success Factors

The BAGázs supports entire families through individual and group programs. In the last years 75% of the families in the slums participated in these programs. There are also employees of BAGázs living in the segregated settlements. Their training and development demonstrates the potential and credibility of change not only for individuals but for the community as a whole. Communication between the non-Roma residents in the villages and the segregated Roma communities is being strengthened, with the aim of presenting everyone’s point of view and providing a basis for co-planning and co-operation. Volunteers participate in the on-site professional work on a weekly basis. The personal and ongoing contact with Roma people gives the volunteers a deeper understanding of the complex problem, and also the personal experience of obstacles makes volunteers more sensitive, receptive.

Lessons learned

The innovative approach of BAGázs method is based on voluntary and bottom-up processes. During the planning and implementation of the different programs the BAGázs Association interact with many stakeholders (e.g. donors, local public institutions, local civil organisations). Many of them play a crucial role in the co-planning and co-production of the programs. The development of the BAGázs method is the result of a multi-year learning process. This process is very reflective and conscious based on continuous assessment of experiences and results. The BAGázs method can be interpreted as an interactive process of innovation.

Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The transfer of the Living Lab from the countryside toward a metropole led to a new organization and the definition of 3 beneficiary targets. Erasme’s service offering is divided into three levels:
  • The first level concerns all digital projects carried by Lyon Metropole, with the Directorate of digital innovation and computer systems. Beneficiaries are the inhabitants that may be interested by a multiservice card or a better life in a smart city, for example.
  • The second level concerns diverse internal departments of Lyon Metropole for improving public services about child health, culture, transports, Public Service Houses, and so on.
  • The third level concerns the offer for external partners. It may be a municipality that seeks methodological support in the framework of a European programme. Or it may be private companies working for urban services, for example.
  • Co-creation process

    Since 1999, policy makers have imagined the Living Lab as a public service with a dedicated place and a team of experts in digital technologies at the service of local development. In this first stage (1999-2015), Erasme was used to work with museums (Muséolab programme) or teachers (ICT in education). When Erasme delocalized towards Lyon, in 2015, the Living Lab was at a mature stage with a strong experience. Since then, exhibitions are organized “outside the Lab” to mobilize inhabitants around some themes of public interest such as: culture, education, elder or poor people, smart city (urban regeneration, collective transport…). More than a Living Lab that mobilizes users to imagine new concepts or prototypes, Erasme claims to be a “Do Tank” to innovate and change urban life with digital technologies. The co-creation process is divided into two stages: the “Mix” and the “Lab”. This methodology has emerged from the long-term experience of the Living Lab since 1999.
  • The “Mix” is an event in which a specific place (museum, station, church, etc.) is “invested massively” by users for 2 or 3 days. It is a time to produce ideas and first prototypes but also a way for transforming organizations thanks to agile methods, collective intelligence and by creating contributive communities.
  • The “Lab” is a time for creating an innovative product or a digital service. Innovation requires a few weeks and sometimes several months for transforming prototypes into operational tools and services. Professional skills from diverse ecosystems are associated in neutral contexts and tests are realized in real life with end-users.
  • Digital Transformation Process

    Erasme Living Lab claims to be a “Use Laboratory” for the people and not a Lab dedicated to test digital technologies for new markets. Digital tools (software, device) are designed, prototyped, tested then developed in new technological device but to improve life of inhabitants in different public fields: culture, education, health, elderly, mobility and Smart City. The Living Lab mobilizes experts in culture and education but also in digital technologies, a mix of skills that creates a special alchemy to invent the museum of the future (Muséolab, Museomix, digital arts), digital workspaces for pupils, digital tools for aged people to keep in touch with their family, for example. The aim is to solve problems of inhabitants thanks to digital solutions but with a focus on public services, even if some innovations are developed with Start-ups or even with big firms of the region. More recently, Erasme Living Lab is working on the “SelfData project”, which makes it possible to invent services from citizens’ data while ensuring the security of the personal data beyond the requirements of the GDPR. Moreover, the “Grand Lyon Smart Data platform” (www.smartdata.grandlyon.com) makes it possible to co-create new urban services with users and private stakeholders. Lyon Metropole is also associated with the cities of Nantes and La Rochelle, in the west of France, to experiment the “Territorial SelfData”, a project launched with a national think tank called FING (New Generation Internet Federation) which is a leader in exploring the future of Internet and digital transition for people.

    Results, Outcomes & Impacts

    Co-creation workshops deal with four themes of public interest, which produced some services or products.
  • Culture (since 20 years): recent digital technologies were tested such as RFID, e-paper, Ubicomputing, Tangible interfaces, with the help of digital artists, in particular for a science and society museum (Musée des Confluences at Lyon).
  • Education (since 20 years): ICT education then e-learning environment for primary and secondary schools. The ENT (digital work environment) is open to teachers, pupils and their parents. Enriched year after year, it became a digital platform (laclasse.com).
  • Seniors e-care (since 2005): A tool (Webnapperon) was prototyped and tested with the elderly in retirement homes for dependent people. Improved in 2011 in the framework of a European project to co-design with 15 users, a service called “Host-communication” was implemented with open source software to create a social network between the elderly, often alone and far from their family.
  • Services for people in social difficulty have been a new field of experimentation for Erasme since 2015: The aim was to rethink the “Public Service Houses” of the Metropole in particular to welcome foreigners who do not speak French and do not know their social rights.
  • Smart city is also a recent field of experimentation: All citizens are end-users that can test new products or services, such as mobility with public transports.
  • Challenges & Bottlenecks

    Challenges originated in the creation of Erasme Living Lab by political decision: in 1999, a Senator interested in ICT and Internet decided to create a place to foster digital tools in cultural and educational fields, in particular in the countryside (his electoral constituency), where innovations are scarce. The transfer of Erasme towards Lyon in 2015 was also a political decision, to invent a smarter urban life but also to create a new administration with common goals after the merge of Lyon Metropole and the Rhône Department whose missions were different. Bottlenecks are diverse. First of all, the Living Lab is a “service of missions” which has to find budget for/thanks to new projects each year. The budget instability is a problem to follow more and more projects with a small team of managers. Young researchers or experts are sometimes recruited with a fixed-term contract thanks to the ERDF funds or other national or regional project funds but skills and competencies disappeared at the end of the contract. The lack of budget and its instability are also a problem to create a dedicated place for the Living Lab. Even if mobile workshops in the city are a good solution to attract citizens to the experimentations, a dedicated place is necessary for the development and innovation stage when professionals from diverse ecosystems have to meet and share their competencies.

    Transferability & Replicability

    Diffusion of innovations is important for Erasme. For example, prototypes of the Muséolab were diffused in museums, even at an international scale. The table Museo Touch is commercialized by a private firm. In education, the digital platform laclasse.com is used by more and more educative institutions in France. As Erasme is the oldest Living Lab in France, the question of replicability is very important for the management team. As Erasme belongs to different networks, at a local, national or even European scale, the co-creation model called “the Mix” was experimented elsewhere. Moreover, the reputation of the Erasme team generates solicitations from other geographical areas, even from around the world for the ”Museum of the Future”. Internationally, Erasme is registered in networks such as the Arts Sciences Network, Enoll (in 2010) or EUROCITIES (from 2017). Nevertheless, as Erasme claims a value creation in the service of general interest, transferability of the co-creative approach (Mix, Lab) is not easy with economic ecosystems in the region. But the theme of Smart City opens the partnership to businesses even if big firms are not used to open innovation, open source or Creative Commons License. Once they agreed with these principles, big firms use Erasme as a training centre to co-creation methods for their own employees. Barriers to co-creation are step by step transformed in a way to diffuse co-creation methods in the economic ecosystem of Lyon urban region. The future creation of an “Augmented Third-Place for Urban Worlds” (Smart City, Smart Territory) by a collaboration with another Living Lab in Lyon (TUBÀ), the university and other institutions, is the result of the Erasme reputation acquired step by step since 20 years.

    Success Factors

    The success of Erasme Living Lab depends on diverse factors.
    • The management team is composed of engineers, designers, developers, makers who are familiar with open innovation methods, animation and project management. They share competencies with diverse creative and professional communities, all experts in a specific field (culture, education, technology, health…) at a local, regional or even national and international scales.
    • Established step by step during 20 years, the methodology of co-creation with users and stakeholders is proven: a first phase of “Mix” with users (from ideation to prototypes); a second phase of “Lab” with professionals and users (from prototypes to tests then development of an innovative product or service).
    • Education to the “right to fail” through a communication about “lessons from experience”. Because failures can be a source of value rather than a barrier to co-creation.
    • A Living Lab approach “out of the walls”, in public spaces with citizens rather than in a dedicated place, is a way to promote co-creation to the general public, digital artists or social innovators. But a dedicated place “as neutral as possible” is better for associating professional ecosystems such as big firms, creative start-ups or higher education institutions (design, digital coding, urban planning…).
    • Thanks to its 20 years of seniority, Erasme Living Lab is well identified by the metropolitan ecosystem, and even beyond the region.

    Lessons learned

    For the managers of Erasme, many Living Labs look more like Think Tanks. Erasme claims to be a “Do Tank” because the management team has the will to “make” without being so far a Fab Lab. Erasme is actually relying on existing Fab Labs to make some prototypes. End-users are invited to the co-creation process but at specific moments: 1) upstream in the ideation phase (one or two days) and the rapid prototyping phase (10 days); 2) downstream to test the prototypes. Between these two stages, time (several weeks even months) is given to private and public stakeholders for the development phase (further prototyping, tests, returns and iterations) of innovations that can be put on the market (diffusion phase). To be efficient during theses different stages, the Living Lab need a management team for maintaining a clear purpose (production of solutions and not only concepts and prototypes) and for offering a methodological accompaniment to users and stakeholders. But the respect of freedom in a “neutral” space or place is necessary in order to foster creativity, the emergence of disruptive ideas, and agility necessary for prototyping out of usual operating constraints. Paid professionals are a necessity to mobilize experts in the development phase, to be able to cross technical competences with artistic skills in dedicated domains (education, culture, health, smart city…). But the number of professionals have to be limited to maintain proximity among the stakeholders when it is necessary to obtain a consensus about the final product.

    Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

    Stakeholders and Beneficiaries include:
    • the Primary School of San José Obrero (SJO)
    • the Antropoloops group
    • the Carasso Foundation
    • the Instituto de la Cultura y las Artes (ICAS) of the Seville Municipality

    Co-creation process

    This AW project is an example of process innovation to promote cultural inclusion in a primary public school in the South of Spain (Seville). Its main aim is to transform the teaching and learning processes to prevent stigma, dropouts and exclusion right at the youngest possible age. This idea was put into a project by Antropoloops, a NGO focused on combining music, education and technology. It consists firstly of an exchange of musical life stories between students (ages 10-12) of the CEIP San José Obrero School (Seville, Spain). Secondly, the students leave the School and record sounds and later mix those sounds and musics with other students, even from foreign schools. This mode of collaboration between the CEIP San José Obrero and Antropoloops seems to fit well in the rapid application model as the planning, delivery and innovation processes are one. It is an unplanned innovation, that was originally designed to find funding, but then changed into this other loose, less formal structured and spontaneous process, given the nature and aims of the project.

    Digital Transformation Process

    No digital transformation process involved.

    Results, Outcomes & Impacts

    The specific objectives of the project are:
    • To promote the interest and knowledge of other cultures through music and personal stories;
    • To improve musical listening skills and an emotional and cultural interpretation of music;
    • To promote creativity and imagination through narratives and stories generated from music and images;
    • To improve English language skills through the translation into English of student-produced texts;
    • To improve the knowledge of students with examples of traditional music in different locations in the world.
    A summary of the seven impacts and goals identified and achieved through the first year, fully described in the case, is:
    • To expand the musical knowledge of students and to awaken their curiosity for the diversity of traditional World music as a source of inspiration for new creations. Students understand this heritage is not something parked far away and fossilized, but it is something alive and reusable;
    • To develop new ways of composing music. Use of tradition from creativity and remixing, with an approach that combines electronic music with traditional music to foster student interest in the proposed repertoire.

    Challenges & Bottlenecks

    The main barrier outspoken by our interviewees is the level of flexibility required to get the most of the project. “Only in a school like ours, devoted to work by projects, that is not opposed to changes of class schedules, class contents, and with faculty that is willing to take the extra step to work and be available beyond expectations, is AW possible.” The project is extremely rewarding for teachers and motivating for students. “But it is a lot of hard work and dedication.” A second potential barrier comes from the perspective the project produces in kids. While at their early education stages they experience teaching and learning through integration, practice and playful experiences, later stages do not seem to follow and build over the same perspective. This breach and the abilities they receive to cope with it seems a matter of concern for the design team.

    Transferability & Replicability

    The AW project uses a pedagogical approach based on working by projects. As with any of this type of projects, it requires that the School adapts its teaching curriculum to the needs of students – in this case, more than 32 nationalities. The AWs are run in a public institution with a managerial team that has understood its potential as an integrating element of many of the programs and teaching currently being carried out. Also, and from this institutional perspective, the project might help deepen the position of the school in its district as a cultural and relational reference.

    Success Factors

    One of the major drivers for this AW project has been the support of the Carasso Foundation. Through their regular calls for projects to innovate in nutrition and feeding, and in education, they shaped the individual contributions of a group of seven friends and colleagues into a prototype to innovate the integration of school’s boys and girls. They put together an original design combining education, integration, music, experiences and remixes. But it was through the call from the Carasso Foundation that they formalized the prototype and were able to get the funding. A second driver is the commitment of the school management and faculty. “A project like this involves a lot of flexibility, changing schedules, topics, and it could not be successful in another environment where management and teachers are not fully committed to it.” It is through it, developed over time, with results, and evident in the sheer number of active projects being run in the school at any given time, that AW has received full support from all the agents. This commitment is seen beyond the participation of the teachers in the activities of AW. They are adapting their own classes according to the experiences they and the students are being exposed to in AW. Even non-participating teachers, being aware of these experiences, are expected to modify their own approaches and behaviors thanks to AW. Thirdly, the AW network is constantly evolving the original design. Not that this design is no longer valid. It holds as the centerpiece of the project: Music and remixes for integration. But the project now involves exposure to neighboring institutions (a chorus of elder people, the local mosque, the local stores), language and verbal expression in Spanish and English, body coordination, or teamwork. This evolution is the result of the constant interaction of the two operating and design teams.

    Lessons learned

    This is a case reflecting a top-down network with a social aim. The distinctiveness of this case is its initiation: The call for projects of the Carasso Foundation aiming for social innovation. The call is won by an informal group of musicians and IT technicians that put up a project that, through music, teaches inclusiveness and cultural emotions. The project found an immediate welcome in one of the most committed schools of Seville, and its management saw in it a transversal project to help kids aging 10-12 years. It has served not only as teaching tool. Teachers involved in the project use some of the techniques in less soft classes. And it has enacted the school as a means of generating community in the neighborhood. Out of the interviews, we perceived that the principal of the school, is the champion of the project. Her commitment to innovate socially is paramount; she is driven by inclusiveness and making an impact in the neighborhood through the kids and their engagement with their families. The rest of her team, and the willingness of the Antropoloops team has leveraged the school principal’s drive to motivate themselves and produce significant benefits for the kids and their families – that large that they are planning to expand the experience to other locations.

    Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

    To be able to operate, Mind Your Own Business relies on a well-developed network of volunteers, mentor companies, non-profit housing associations, and public sector collaborators. The program is based on external funding. The main beneficiaries are the youngsters who participate in the program.

    Co-creation process

    Internally the program relies on a form of organising where there is no specific owner of the process and hence decision-making is made jointly among the actors involved – MYOB employees are solely acting as facilitators. A such, the program is itself based on a logic of co-creation.

    Digital Transformation Process

    No digital transformation process is going on.

    Results, Outcomes & Impacts

    To MYOB, the overall aim of the program is personal development of the boys, based on the understanding that the competences they gain from participating can be transferred to other contexts and hence increase their social and professional abilities, also prospectively.

    Challenges & Bottlenecks

    Historically, the main barriers are related both to the internal and the external environment of the program. Internally the boys are struggling with both low support and understanding from their families and with the acceptability from the other boys in their neighbourhood. Externally the adult lack of confidence in the competences and abilities of the boys is leading to mistrust.  Hence, a barrier is to change the ‘outside’ story of the boys. Nevertheless, these barriers seem to decrease both during the course of a program and since the success stories of the program are now spreading.

    Transferability & Replicability

    At the moment the program is starting out in Greenland, and despite the need to develop and tailor the process to a new context the main idea does not seem difficult to transfer.

    Success Factors

    The process and the learning of the boys in the program are the main success criteria, but also there is an awareness that, from the perspective of the boys, an important success criterion is related to the micro-enterprises – the aspect of entrepreneurship is crucial for the boys to become engaged.

    Lessons learned

    MYOB is based on a planned network to function. As such the relationship building, and hence trust among actors, has been key in developing a functional network that over time can be seen as innovative cross-sectorial collaboration. The innovation network is bottom-up, since it is founded on an entrepreneurial initiative and still relies heavily on releasing local resources. Nevertheless, the network was from the outset conditioned by having an existing and recognised platform to develop from and still it is dependent on MYOB as ‘system integrator’ in realisation of the MYOB programme.

    Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

    The main target of the programme is Roma community. An experiment has been carried out in Paris and Toulouse.

    Co-creation process

    The Melting Potes network gathered numerous partners: – the Unis-cité association, and in particular the Toulouse office (as architect of the project) – the Civic Service Agency is a Public Interest Group under the supervision of the Ministry of National Education. – the Di-Air (Inter-ministerial Delegation for the Reception and Integration of Refugees), which is the structures in charge of refugees in temporary accommodation centre), CHU (University Hospital Centre), CADA (Centre for Asylum Seekers). – the National education, in particular the Academic Centre for the education of newly arrived allophone pupils and children from itinerant families and travellers). The teachers of FLE who are involved in the Unis-cité programme. Schools in which allophone families will register their children. Schools for French as a Foreign Language. -The platform “health-precariousness” of the city of Toulouse, which is a platform gathering all the actors of precariousness (health, housing, professional integration). -The regional and departmental directorate for youth, sports and social cohesion), in charge of managing long-term programmes on territorial level. -Other partners are also part of this innovation network, health professionals, for example school medicine, volunteers of the Médecin du Monde association and associations dedicated to refugees. -Funders: Unis-cité private national funders, the Civic Service Agency, the National Education, local funders (local authorities, etc.).

    Digital Transformation Process

    This case study is not about a digital transformation process, but it’s a social innovation. Social innovation refers to the target of the programme, the search for diversity and cultural mix  and the community support.  

    Results, Outcomes & Impacts

    It is difficult to measure some of the integration process, but the integration of refugees or Roma through the community support is effective. A snowball effect is noticed from the moment a child of a community is sent to school thanks to the actions of the community support. Even if the impact is difficult to estimate, an increase in social cohesion due to the reduction of prejudices among young people in civic service, the sensitization of young people by the Melting Potes group and the sensitization of the families of young volunteers has been noted.

    Challenges & Bottlenecks

    The main challenges that the programme faced during its implementation was related first of all to human obstacles. Roma are often confused with Travellers, which gives the image of people who would not want to settle on the territory. In addition, young Roma or some refugees are subjected to discrimination when they want to open a current account to undertake their civic service. Another obstacle relates to differences in equal treatment depending on the territory.  The new law regarding refugees is still very recent, it has emerged that the Civic Service Agency does not give the same answers on the admission of refugees into civic service according to the territorial offices.   Financial barriers are important for the Melting Potes programme, especially in its Roma Melting Potes version. Indeed, large private companies and local authorities are reluctant to put a large amount of money into helping Roma communities, even if they would like to. Companies do not want to associate their image with that of the Roma, and communities are concerned about the return of voters who may blame them for this initiative. There are also logistical challenges. Melting Potes volunteers are forced to undertake missions corresponding to office hours (9am-5pm) and not on Saturday. This temporality limits the missions. Another potential obstacle for the next year group is the recruitment of refugees.

    Transferability & Replicability

    The ambition of the Unis-cité association, hosting this innovation network, is to develop this programme throughout the country. Unis-cité has just obtained a partnership with the DI-Air (Inter-ministerial Delegation for the Reception and Integration of Refugees) to increase the number of refugees welcomed throughout France. This method is now being spread to other associations willing to invest in this type of programme.  

    Success Factors

    Among success factors, a key role has been played by the city of Toulouse and the amendment of the 2010 law. To be more specific, the city of Toulouse has carried out with the Interministerial Delegation for Housing and Access to Housing (DIHAL) an ambitious and intelligent territorial strategy for the reduction of slums. Since 2012, the DIHAL has been monitoring the dismantling of illegal camps in the territories and has provided financial support for partnership initiatives to reduce the number of slums. A total of 329 people (115 of them minors) were rehoused, including 298 in the City’s insertion and accommodation system. The operation was carried out under good conditions and in partnerships with the services of the prefecture, the town hall of Toulouse, the Departmental Directorate of Social Cohesion, the Central Directorate of Public Security, the municipal police and social workers from the Soliha and France Horizon associations, and the French Red Cross. The successful running of these operations and pre-existing partnerships in the territory have helped to facilitate the development of the Melting Potes programme.   Second, the amendment of the Civic Service Act has allowed beneficiaries of international protection, and some other refugees, to access civic service.

    Lessons learned

    The hosting structures were initially difficult to convince, on the one hand because the association did not have any concrete results to present on this programme, and on the other hand because the programme had to be set up over a very short period of time. As a result, the local coordinator began by offering this program to Unis-cités’ historical partners (Emmaüs, Les restos du cœur, la banque alimentaire). When the programme was presented, some associations were reluctant to welcome young people from the Roma community, explaining the difficulties they might have in communicating with this community. Paradoxically, solving these types of communication difficulties is the purpose of the programme. The aim is to resolve the difficulties of understanding which exist between the French community and the Roma community or the families of refugees. From the third year group of Melting Potes, the trend was reversed, i.e. a large number of associations and organisations came forward to ask for Melting Potes civic service volunteers. More generally, this case study revealed the importance in the case of social innovation of disseminating innovation and sharing good practices between associations.

    Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

    This programme, targeted at minors aged 16 to 18 who have dropped out of school, was launched in 2012 by the Unis-Cité association. Unis-Cité, which has extensive experience in mobilising young people and various profiles on civic missions, has decided to create a programme that complies with these specifications, in partnership with the Ministry of National Education and the Civic Service Agency. The Booster programme connects the Unis-cité association, the Civic Service Agency (as funder), the national education system (in particular, the MLDS – The mission that prevent school drop-outs under the French National Education System), partner Comprehensive or Vocational schools, national education volunteers, external lecturers. The networks also involves other funders: the national private funders of Unis-cité (e.g. Coca-Cola Foundation, HSBC or the SUEZ Initiative Foundation), the European Social Fund, local funders (for example the regional youth and sports department), local private foundation.

    Co-creation process

    The programme helps the main beneficiaries of the project, young people, to move from those who are accompanied and helped, to the ones who help others, which contributes to their revalorization. The specificity of the civic service association Unis-cité is to offer a team-based civic service, and to focus on diversity within groups. Through the Booster programme, since 2012, school dropouts are being remobilised by a partnership designed by Unis-Cité, the MLDS, and the Civic Service Agency, thanks to an alternating civic service programme combining missions of general interest (provided by the Unis-cité association) carried out with young adults in civic service, and sessions of school upgrading in partner Comprehensive schools (provided by the public partner). In the Booster programme, civic service is also adapted to the type of audience, with concrete solidarity actions. The supervision is more individualized and reinforced.

    Digital Transformation Process

    This case study is not about a digital transformation process, but rather social innovation. It has led to pedagogical and methodological innovations.

    Results, Outcomes & Impacts

    From an economic perspective, dropping out generates significant costs for society, much higher than those corresponding to the action of public policies in this field. The costs associated with the drop-out of a young person, accumulated over time, have been estimated for France at 230,000 euros for each student who has dropped out. The Booster programme helps to reduce this cost. The year of civic service solves a number of problems of young dropouts such as health check, opening a bank account, renew their ID card) in addition to a possible return to training or employment. On the year 2018-2019, Unis-cité welcomed between 7500 and 8000 young volunteers. For the Unis-cité association, each year, the number of school dropouts fluctuates according to the number of territories that develop the Booster programme (20 territories for the 2018-2019 school year; 18 territories in 2017-2018). For 2018-19, the programme includes 400 young people, including 200 minors.

    Challenges & Bottlenecks

    The programme costs money and cannot be financed by private funds because civic service missions associated with private funds are evaluated by funders who request quantified targets. To develop the booster programme more broadly, new funds will have to be found. At the local level, some interesting projects cannot be carried out because they require too much funding. At the same time, national education has a different culture from the Unis-cité association, if the partners on both sides are not sufficiently involved, and do not discuss among themselves, the support to young minors can quickly become inefficient. Obstacles linked to changes in partners, particularly on the national education side, with differences in the priority of the successors, can deconstruct dynamics on this type of programme. There also barriers related to the lack of tenacity of young dropouts. Getting involved in 8 months of civic service can be very long for a young dropout. In addition, apart from civic service missions, young people must also prepare their professional project, adapt themselves to their working team, and for some of them, fight their school phobias. Adapting to an audience of young dropouts is also a challenge for the Unis-cité teams because coordinators must have the profile to carry out this mission. Other challenges related to the successful implementation of the project are related to the lack of flexibility in public education and the difficulty of finding partners for civic service missions.

    Transferability & Replicability

    This project can be transferred to other communities. The ambition of the Unis-cités association would be to try to deploy at least one Booster programme in each national education academy. As soon as Unis-cité has access to an academy, this partnership gives access to several territories.

    Success Factors

    The method developed by this network of actors seems to be a major innovation in the field of early school dropout. The innovation concerns first of all the reverse method compared to the traditional methods previously proposed by the national education system or by integration organisations (academic upgrading, internships in companies, training). In the context of civic service, it is not the young person who is helped but the young person who will help others, which leads to a boost in the young person’s self-confidence. The impact is twofold: they engage in society and as a result, they help themselves. The coordination of actors is essential for the success of the programme. This requires an understanding of both the educational environment and popular education. While the two actors were initially able to operate as two parallel entities, it quickly became clear that coordination is essential for the Booster programme to be optimal. The territorial differences played an important role for the success of the project. The local offices offer quite different solutions depending on the context. The respondents pointed out that there is a great difference between rural and urban areas. In general, there are few solutions for young minors who drop out in rural areas, while solutions are often more numerous in urban areas.

    Lessons learned

    In the Booster programme, young people have 2 days of courses. One might think that the teaching method adopted was not only based on purely academic learning, but also on experimentation (personalised rhythm and social exchanges). However, practice shows that young people who agree to enter the Booster programme do not want to be differentiated in learning methods. They feel able to learn “like others” even if they have experienced failures with this method in their personal life. Another unexpected result concerns the themes of civic service missions offered to young dropouts. It appears that sustainable development missions are not generally appreciated by young dropouts. The reason could be that young dropouts are looking for direct solidarity missions, face-to-face with the beneficiary, as in the case of the restos du cœur. The missions relating to sustainable development have a concrete dimension, but solidarity is indirect, the beneficiaries are potentially all people, and also concerns future generations. Dropouts may not have the necessary distance to realise this.