Who is the Toolbox aimed at?
The Toolbox addresses stakeholders from science as well as from society of science/society collaborations. Science/society collaborations are considered to be the interaction of several stakeholders from science and society who pursue a common goal that leads to the benefit of all participants. This is the starting point of this toolbox.
What is the theoretical background of the Toolbox?
In modern society, the demands for opening science to societal actors and their participation in research and research policy have become increasingly complex from part of the public and the scientific community. To overcome these complex challenges, knowledge and technology transfer must take place as a bi- or multi-directional and result-oriented exchange process.
Who created the toolbox?
Together with 75 other partners, Münster University of Applied Sciences has taken on a major social challenge with the münster.land.leben project as part of the federal-state initiative "Innovative Hochschule": To improve health care, participation and well-being in rural areas.
Münster.land.leben comprises a total of 13 different sub-projects. The project is an integral part of the university's "Third Mission" activities. In this context, the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre (S2BMRC) of Münster UAS, with its research line Science-to-Society, takes on the task of researching on a scientific-analytical level how science and society can successfully cooperate and interact.
How is the toolbox structured?
Following the approach of Lang et al. (2012) of a collaborative process a transdisciplinary cooperation, this toolbox is divided into three project phases: Project Start, Project Implementation, and Project Completion. This process serves as a reference to classify the individual transfer barriers and the corresponding instruments and methods.
Corresponding transfer barriers are assigned to each project phase. It should be noted that the project process does not necessarily have to be linear, instead the phases with the corresponding transfer barriers may occur iteratively. The tools and methods contained in the toolbox were then selected to help overcome a specific transfer barrier.
Project start
The first phase includes the establishment of a research team with actors from different sectors with a common definition of the problem. Research goals are being formulated concerning specific research or socially relevant questions and conceptual, methodological frameworks for knowledge integration are being developed.
Project implementation
In the second phase, "co-creation" takes place. In this phase, solution-oriented knowledge is generated. Here, various integrative, (scientific) methods are applied and further developed. Differentiation and integration of the individual knowledge stocks from the transdisciplinary process are to be facilitated thereby.
Project completion
In the last phase, the generated knowledge is being (re)integrated into the societal context. Due to the different perspectives, views, values as well as forms of knowledge that have been integrated across the transdisciplinary process, no classical transfer from science to society takes place here. Rather, there occurs a (re)integration of the gained knowledge into real social and scientific practice.
How were the tools selected and developed?
To overcome or address the identified transfer barriers, transfer tools and methods were compiled, modified or further developed from the fields of agile management methods such as Scrum, Lean Start-up, Design Thinking, innovation management, creativity management, and empirical social research, among others. The toolbox is supported by practical experience from münster.land.leben.
How are the tools structured?
For these methods and tools, the concrete procedure is presented with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and a suitable template. The transfer tools are then illustrated using an example from münster.land.leben. In addition, we provide tips on how to use them, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the methods, derived from practical experience. Each tool also offers you a short description of the number of people, time required, level of difficulty, the inclusion of civil society and material requirements at the beginning.
You can find out what the individual components mean here:
People
The persons involved in the project can come from science, economy, politics and society and thus comprise a transdisciplinary project team. Here we distinguish the following groups of people:
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Project leaders: Persons from science, economy, politics or society who are in charge of the project and who develop and implement the instruments and the methods.
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Project partner(s): Institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or associations that work in cooperation with the project leaders and represent the interest of the institution in the project.
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Citizens: Citizens who are involved in the project and represent their own individual interests.
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Duration
The stated duration refers to practical experience and provides a guide. Of course, this can vary greatly depending on the execution, a number of people and prior knowledge. Likewise, it often requires additional time for the preparation and follow-up of the method.
Level of difficulty
Some instruments and methods can be applied without major preparation, while others require specific skills and experience in transdisciplinary processes.
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Easy: It is possible to understand and apply the instrument or method without prior methodological or technical knowledge.
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Medium: It is possible to apply the instrument or method with little prior knowledge and the information provided here.
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High: The application of the instrument or method requires certain methodological/technical prior knowledge or training. The literature provided can be consulted for this purpose.
Involvement of civil society
Civil society actors include, for example, volunteer associations (clubs), foundations, initiatives, NGOs or non-profit organizations (NPOs). The degree of civil society involvement can vary depending on the intensity: from cooperation to collaboration to co-creation. Accordingly, we divide the level of involvement into three categories:
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Understanding: Civil society actors support the project by providing qualitative and quantitative information and data, and are thus better understood.
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Engaging: Civil society is collaboratively involved at specific points in the execution of the project.
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Interacting: Civil society interacts together with project leaders and is involved to the highest degree in the design and implementation of the project.
Material requirements
Different materials are needed for each tool. Some are necessary for preparation, others for implementation. The amount of material needed depends strongly on the method and its purpose. Since some methods are more material-intensive than others, we would like to provide a brief overview here. However, it is recommended to always have a selection of pens and sticky notes or sufficiently large sheets of paper at hand.
What is the significance of Third Mission?
In addition to the two traditional tasks of teaching and research, the stronger integration of universities with society through cooperation with external actors represents a further function of universities and is therefore referred to as a "third mission". Modern universities see the "third mission" as a dialogical process in which jointly developed findings by scientists and external actors bring about positive changes in various areas of society such as culture, business and politics.
What is co-creation?
Originally, the term co-creation comes from marketing and describes the inclusion of customers in the innovation process of new products or services. In the context of the Third Mission, co-creation is defined as the active participation of different disciplines, social groups or stakeholders in a collaboration process. The goal of such collaborations is often social innovation. In order to develop socially innovative ideas, a diversity of perspectives, knowledge and experience is particularly necessary, which is given by the inclusion of different actors from different sectors and disciplines in the co-creation process.