COMPETENCES involving creativity and the ability to plan and manage. Co-Engage seeks pathways to incorporate all of these methods in formal and, especially, non-formal adult education, as we believe co-creation and critical design thinking are key approaches to teach the so-called 21st Century basic skills. In this way Co-Engage has helped to create a more equal access to knowledge by providing new approaches of participative learning, by integrating cross-cutting skills and competences coming from different sectors by offering new learning opportunities for groups in need of the new skills necessary in the digital era. Co-Engage regards teaching and learning as a continuous process, having potential impact on all citizens, regardless of their age, gender, or ethnicity. Our partnership thus contributed to the creation of a more inclusive education environment in Europe, embedded in lifelong learning processes. Social innovation can be considered as a process of co-creation, since it seeks the collaboration of multiple stakeholders (Voorberg, Bekkers, & Tummers, 2014). In the digital era, these processes are enabled by the wide use of web 2.0 technologies, providing tools for cross-sectoral collaboration and co-creation. Co-Engage addresses the growing demand of citizens to be actors in their own lives and to be enabled to find collective solutions to some of the social issues they encounter . We will contribute to an inclusive education, embedded in lifelong learning processes, enabling all learners to be involved. The isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has to be followed by an “unboxing” of participation – using new digital tools and skills gained by citizens, but combining them with concrete methods in the streets and neighborhoods. Co-Engage thus additionally collected projects, practices and tools which will help educators teach those concepts to citizens. Investigating the potential interplay between co-creation processes, circular economy ideas and civic participation, Co-Engage responds to the societal challenges addressed by the EU within the Europe 2020
framework, such as the INNOVATION UNION, by recognizing Europe's strengths in design, creativity and the importance of social innovation; the YOUTH ON THE MOVE, by knowing that learning isn't limited to schools and plenty of learning happens outside the classroom; the INDUSTRIAL POLICY FORTHE GLOBALISATION ERA, by supporting the shift towards a sustainable growth based on efficiency and involving governments, stakeholders and the European public; and the AGENDA FOR NEW SKILLS AND JOBS by supporting learners from all sectors and genders to develop new skills, scientific knowledge by combining learning paths. The overall aim of Co-Engage is to identify the main areas where co-creation can contribute to transforming citizens into active innovators of the society, and to gather and discuss good practices representing each of these areas. In order to achieve this main goal, the implementation phase of the project led to four main results: Result 1: Elaboration of more than 80 smart practice evaluations on co-creation methods in the different sectors (private, public and NGO) based on a commonly approved evaluation grid. Result 2: Organisation of three Co-Engage Labs, in which the techniques and methods of co-creation were discussed (Lab 1 - Co discovery : Citizens as co-implementers based on action plans for sustainable fashion), their transferability was tested (Lab 2 - cospeculation: Citizens as co-designers, creation of crowdfunding campaigns), and finally the methods were implemented outside the project (Lab 3 - Co-Creation: Citizens as initiators, working with housing residents). The Labs allowed us to obtain a more complex vision of co-creation in general Result 3: The smart practices evaluation and the three Co-Engage Labs led to the identification of a large number of co-creation practices, which are presented visually on an interactive map, offering basic information on the practices, with the possibility of a permanent extension in the future.
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