In publications addressing literary reflections on Europe, little attention has been paid to emerging cultural networks, the role of EU subsidies, or literary organisations engaging writers in initiatives aimed at contemplating the challenges that the European Union faces. This dissertation aims to explain the role of new initiatives by presenting four recent, transnational literary projects as case studies: the “Literatur Express Europa 2000”; “The European Constitution in Verse”; “Narratives for Europe”; and “The Return of Europe”. The projects were analysed through an examination of three fundamental aspects: the expectations held by the cultural organisations regarding their initiatives; the cultural artefacts resulting from the projects; and the effects of the projects in the public sphere. By selecting literary projects about Europe as case studies, rather than individual authors or texts, this research allows for an interdisciplinary approach that reveals the interaction between EU politics, civil society, cultural networks, and individual authors.
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In many cities, pilot projects are set up to test new technologies that help to address urban sustainability issues, improve the effectiveness of urban services, and enhance the quality of life of citizens. These projects, often labelled as “smart city” projects, are typically supported by municipalities, funded by subsidies, and run in partnerships. Many of the projects fade out after the pilot stage, and fail to generate scalable solutions that contribute to sustainable urban development. The lack of scaling is widely perceived as a major problem. In this paper, we analyze processes of upscaling, focusing on smart city pilot projects in which several partners—with different missions, agendas, and incentives—join up. We start with a literature review, in which we identify three types of upscaling: roll-out, expansion, and replication, each with its own dynamics and degree of context sensitivity. The typology is further specified in relation to several conditions and requirements that can impact upscaling processes, and illustrated by a descriptive analysis of three smart city pilot projects developed in Amsterdam. The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations on pilot projects and partnership governance, and adds new perspectives on the debate regarding upscaling.
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An on-going investigation in the learning effects of IPD projects. In three subsequent semesters the students were asked how they rated their competencies at the start of the project as well as at the end of it. Also questionnaires were filled out and students were interviewed. A lot of students tended to give themselves lower ratings in the end than in the begin. It appeared that if they met any difficulties in for instance communication or co-operation during the project, that they interpreted this as a decrease in competencies. Finally the students were explicitly asked to mention an eventual increase in competencies and also a possible contribution for this effect. Only a few factors that actually contribute to the learning effects have been defined.
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An interview with HU researcher Beverly Pasian on smart cities, projects and urban life.
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An investigation in the learning effects of integrated development projects. In two subsequent semesters the students were asked how they rated their competencies at the start of the project as well as at the end of it. The students voluntarily filled out a questionnaire. After the last questionnaire a number of students were also interviewed in order to learn more about their perceptions. It was a remarkable outcome of these interviews that a lot of students tended to give themselves lower ratings in the end if they met any difficulties in for instance communication or co-operation during the project. Then the questionnaire showed a decrease in the student's ratings, while anyone else would say the student did learn something after recognizing these difficulties. It required a different interpretation of the outcomes of the questionnaires. The investigation showed that co-operating in general and in multidisciplinary teams in particular, co-operating with companies and also working according to plans are the four objectives that are recognized mostly by the students. The factors that actually contribute to, or block, the learning effects remained unknown yet.
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In the last two decades, co-creation and social innovation have become important concepts in academic research and public policy. The two concepts are conceptually linked, but this relationship has hardly been problematized in academic literature. In addition, social innovation and especially co-creation are not defined in EU policies, but merely included because they support policy aims. The lack of problematization and definition not only hampers progress in the academic field, but is also constringing co-creation into an exercise of merely including stakeholders therefore neglecting the full potential of co-creation. The key question addressed in this article is therefore: how can we evaluate the application of co-creation in EU-funded social innovation projects? A literature review revealed that co-creation and social innovation have become connected only very recently in academic literature. In this publication, we analyse the meta narratives of this emerging body of literature and conclude that we can distinguish three distinct segments with their own characteristics. We used these insights to develop an adaptive evaluation framework. This framework can be used to assess the application of co-creation within social innovation in, for example, EU-funded projects. This could push the emerging academic field forward and open up new research themes and designs. We also suggest that the framework could specifically support policymakers in their efforts to evaluate processes of co-creation instead of focusing on the dominant impact evaluations.
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Nowadays companies need higher educated engineers to develop their competences to enable them to innovate. This innovation competence is seen as a remedy for the minor profitable business they do during the financial crises. Innovation is an element to be developed on the one hand for big companies as well as for small-and-medium sized companies through Europe to overcome this crisis. The higher education can be seen as an institution where youngsters, coming from secondary schools, who choose to learn at higher education to realize their dream, what they like to become in the professional world. The tasks of the Universities of applied Sciences are to prepare these youngsters to become starting engineers doing their job well in the companies. Companies work for a market, trying to manufacture products which customers are willing to pay for. They ask competent employees helping achieving this goal. It is important these companies inform the Universities of applied Sciences in order to modify their educational program in such a way that the graduated engineers are learning the latest knowledge and techniques, which they need to know doing their job well. The Universities of applied Sciences of Oulu (Finland) and Fontys Eindhoven (The Netherlands) are working together to experience possibilities to qualify their students on innovation development in an international setting. In the so-called: ‘Invention Project’, students are motivated to find their own invention, to design it, to prepare this idea for prototyping and to really manufacture it. Organizing the project, special attention is given to communication protocol between students and also between teachers. Students have meetings on Thursday every week through Internet connection with the communication program OPTIMA, which is provided by the Oulu University. Not only the time difference between Finland and the Netherlands is an issue to be organized also effective protocols how to provide each other relevant information and also how to make in an effective way decisions are issues. In the paper the writers will present opinions of students, teachers and also companies in both regions of Oulu and Eindhoven on the effectiveness of this project reaching the goal students get more experienced to set up innovative projects in an international setting. The writers think this is an important and needed competence for nowadays young engineers to be able to create lucrative inventions for companies where they are going to work for. In the paper the writers also present the experiences of the supervising conditions during the project. The information found will lead to success-factors and do’s and don’ts for future projects with international collaboration.
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Academic design research often fails to contribute to design practice. This dissertation explores how design research collaborations can provide knowledge that design professionals will use in practice. The research shows that design professionals are not addressed as an important audience between the many audiences of collaborative research projects. The research provides insight in the learning process by design professionals in design research collaborations and it identifies opportunities for even more learning. It shows that design professionals can learn about more than designing, but also about application domains or project organization.
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Purpose eHealth projects in the Netherlands have various backgrounds. First, the number of persons aged 65 and over will have increased by 400,000 between 2008 and 20131. Over the same period, the potential workforce will have decreased from 4.2 persons at present to 3.6 persons for each 65 plus. Second, there is a shift from institutional care to care provided at home. The Dutch government promotes healthy behaviour and emphasises the importance of disease prevention2. People prefer to continue living in the community, even when their health is declining. Finally, Dutch policies stimulate the use of e-health in order to (i) support ageing-in-place (AiP), (ii) to enhance the quality of life of older adults, and (iii) to reduce the workload of professional carers. Method Vilans’ Centre of Excellence for Long-Term Care3 database of 85 projects was analyzed. The projects included in the database date from 2004 and after. Some of these projects have been completed and terminated; other projects are still ongoing. Although the database includes the majority of the projects, a complete coverage of all projects in The Netherlands is not guaranteed. To analyse the barriers, all projects were sorted according to one type of e-Health project (videoconferencing, activity monitoring, other types). In this study, basic, functional and economic values from the Model of Integrated Building Design4 were considered as relevant stakeholder values deemed necessary for a successful implementation. Results & Discussion Most projects in the database use e-Health for the support of older adults with (48 projects) or without (35 projects) care needs. In addition, dementia (19 projects), COPD and diabetes (both 11 projects) are the three health conditions that e-Health applications are most often used for. A major barrier for implementation is that only 11 out the 85 projects have a social business case. Another barrier is that requirements to building construction, building systems, e-Health applications or (building) services are hardly ever considered in the projects that also aim to support ageing-in-place. There are many stakeholders involved in the e-Health projects, and not all of the needs of these stakeholders are met in the design and implementation of the accompanying technologies. The execution of these projects seems to consist merely of an analysis of the technological applications with emphasis on the needs of the care recipient and other primary users. To date, e-Health projects in The Netherlands have not been fully implemented5. As well as a failure to include stakeholder needs and accounting for potential barriers, another reason may be that use of e-Health in care will imply innovating care protocols. Care provision shifting from a medical disease oriented model towards a care and wellbeing model. A structural exchange of knowledge and experience in functionalities and user needs will be necessary to take away barriers to a large-scale and successful implementation of e-Health in The Netherlands.
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Nowadays companies need higher educated engineers to develop their competences to enable them to innovate. This innovation competence is seen as a remedy for the minor profitable business they do during the financial crises. Innovation is an element to be developed on the one hand for big companies as well as for small-and-medium sized companies through Europe to overcome this crisis. The higher education can be seen as an institution where youngsters, coming from secondary schools, who choose to learn at higher education to realize their dream, what they like to become in the professional world. The tasks of the Universities of applied Sciences are to prepare these youngsters to become starting engineers doing their job well in the companies. Companies work for a market, trying to manufacture products which customers are willing to pay for. They ask competent employees helping achieving this goal. It is important these companies inform the Universities of applied Sciences in order to modify their educational program in such a way that the graduated engineers are learning the latest knowledge and techniques, which they need to know doing their job well. The Universities of applied Sciences of Oulu (Finland) and Fontys Eindhoven (The Netherlands) are working together to experience possibilities to qualify their students on innovation development in an international setting. In the socalled: ‘Invention Project’, students are motivated to find their own invention, to design it, to prepare this idea for prototyping and to really manufacture it. Organizing the project, special attention is given to communication protocol between students and also between teachers. Students have meetings on Thursday every week through Internet connection with the communication program OPTIMA, which is provided by the Oulu University. Not only the time difference between Finland and the Netherlands is an issue to be organized also effective protocols how to provide each other relevant information and also how to make in an effective way decisions are issues. In the paper the writers will present opinions of students, teachers and also companies in both regions of Oulu and Eindhoven on the effectiveness of this project reaching the goal students get more experienced to set up innovative projects in an international setting. The writers think this is an important and needed competence for nowadays young engineers to be able to create lucrative inventions for companies where they are going to work for. In the paper the writers also present the experiences of the supervising conditions during the project. The information found will lead to successfactors and do’s and don’ts for future projects with international collaboration.
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