Horizontal and Vertical Engagement to Foster Creative Thinking on New Social Policies and Proposals

25 January 2025 By

One of the main goals of the INCA project is the active engagement of citizens and stakeholders to formulate policies and to co-design alternatives to the so-called GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft), sustaining civil society’s participation and safeguarding European institutions form the disruptive effects of these Big Tech corporations on current democratic settings. Within INCA WP 7, three European pilot cities, Barcelona, Bologna and Bucharest, are actively pursuing this objective by developing and implementing a comprehensive mapping and engagement process to set up three Open Innovation Labs (OILs) that will design procedural guidelines and policy directions for an ethical, participatory and context-based relationship between citizens, platforms and institutions. 

As an initial step, the three pilot cities mapped potential stakeholders to be activated starting from the quintuple helix, that includes institutional actors, businesses and citizens, along with the existing projects and best practices. This was done through desk analysis and the review of studies, research, and past projects in the fields of logistics, e-commerce (in Barcelona and Bologna), and social media platforms (in Bucharest). More specifically, each pilot carried out 15 interviews and 5 thematic focus groups, gathering relevant insights, needs and challenges in each urban context. 

The initial mapping results were further refined through periodic brainstorming sessions with local project partners. This method allowed to identify potential actors and organizations that could influence the project or be impacted by it, setting the ground for an intertwined two-level engagement: a horizontal involvement of actors across similar levels or sectors, including workers, alternative cooperatives, and third sector organisations; and a vertical involvement bridging all sides of the quintuple helix together, properly preparing each local context of the three pilot cities for the launch of the OILs. 

Each pilot city OIL will have a different topical focus and will discuss diverse issues, tailored to the needs emerged from the previous mapping and preliminary engagement processes. The structure and planned activities of these physical and virtual exchange places were developed in each pilot city through separate workshop sessions organised and guided by the Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi, designing the implementation steps of each OIL in the upcoming months. More precisely, Barcelona will launch the digital component of the OIL in January 2025 to start gathering relevant inputs that will be debated in an open event in April 2025. Bologna launched its OIL in a public event on December 5th 2024, presenting the results of the first phase of the engagement process in a plenary moment and launching topical discussions in three topical working tables that will be incorporated in the OIL. They focus on local and metropolitan logistics, data governance and protection and empowerment of workers. Finally, Bucharest will launch the city OIL in January 2025 through a public event that will introduce the process and the key community engagement tools that will be adopted and implemented. 

At the end of the WP 7 engagement process, the three pilot cities will have gathered relevant data and insights that will serve as a baseline for the future development of alternative digital platforms in each urban context.

Fondazione IU