Engaging all of Europe in Shaping our Future

More than 1000 citizens as well as numerous experts and stakeholders have been engaged to provide concrete input into the EU’s Research and Innovation (R&I) agenda.

Research and Innovation greatly impact our societies and affect our lives in various ways. Despite this, the direction of the European Research and Innovation (R&I) agenda is largely set by policy makers and experts, but why not involve the citizens?

The CIMULACT project has engaged more than 1000 citizens from 30 European countries to uncover the needs of European citizens. The societal needs will, in a highly participatory process, be transformed into recommendations for future R&I agendas.

The project has until now involved 30 national vision workshops where participants have formulated a total of 179 visions for sustainable and desirable futures. From the feedback, unique and concrete societal needs have been identified and hereafter debated and further elaborated through co-creation between citizens, stakeholders and experts.

Shared societal needs

The core of the CIMULACT project is the citizens’ visions. The visions are detailed descriptions of desirable futures lying 30-40 years ahead of us. They are based upon hopes and dreams, but also upon fears and concerns that citizens may not want to become a reality in the future.

The underlying societal needs addressed in the visions are diverse and touch a wide range of themes. Some reoccurring themes are related to equality, unity, and cohesion, citizenship awareness and participation, holistic health, sustainable food, education, harmony with nature, personal development, green habitats and sustainable economy. Although national societal needs appear from the visions, it is clear that the citizens across Europe are sharing many of the same visions for the future.

Higher standards for citizens engagement
The hope is that the CIMULACT project will set new standards for public participation by engaging citizens in the formulation of Horizon 2020 policies and topics.

The project consortium is currently planning a second series of citizen and multi-actor consultations to be held this autumn. The consultations will provide feedback to the co-created research scenarios.

The outcome of the CIMULACT project will in this way add to the relevance and accountability of the next generation of Horizon 2020 topics so they reflect the needs and demands of European citizens.

CIMULACT stands for ‘Citizen and Multi-actor Consultations of Horizon2020’. Its main objective is to involve citizens, experts and stakeholders in a large-scale effort to uncover the needs of the European citizens and transform them into recommendations for EU Horizon 2020 priorities.

CIMULACT
- Coordinated by The Danish Board of Technology Foundation (Denmark)
- Funded by Horizon2020
- Project webpage: http://cimulact.eu

Source: http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/133435_en.html?isPermaLink=true?WT.mc_i...