Participation and stakeholder management

More successful through stakeholder management

When developing sustainable technologies, products and urban spaces, it is worthwhile involving users, citizens or stakeholders along value chains at an early stage. Whether in the circular economy, in the bio-economy or in achieving climate goals: Those who actively involve people gain strong partners in dealing with complex issues and change processes. After all, it is at the interface between people and technology that new perspectives and ideas for sustainable products, spaces, services and corporate strategies are created.

Innovation management with design thinking, hackathons or sprints

We use methods from innovation management, design and user research, e.g. design thinking, sprints, hackathons, stakeholder dialogues, focus groups, SWOT analyses, hot spot analyses, roadmaps as well as market and trend studies, and transfer the results into strategic action concepts and recommendations for your product developments. In this way, we help you to analyze and optimize existing products and services in a user-centered manner. We relate your products to the major challenges of the future (climate change, bio-based management, digitalization, social change) and link them to the expectations of your customers. We create comprehensible graphics to communicate complex interrelationships. We build design models and prototypes to make customer surveys or stakeholder involvement more vivid and thus more negotiable.

Technical competence and user-centered formats

Participation projects with UMSICHT benefit from the close cooperation with the technical experts at the institute, e.g. in materials development, process and energy technology and digital manufacturing. The interdisciplinary team is trained in dealing with technical issues and is therefore able to quickly familiarize itself with your company's challenges and projects. Through our creative and citizen-open formats (such as the Innovative Citizen-Festival) and projects in the field of Citizen Science, we seek to be close to the citizens*. To this end, we create appropriate locations at the institute in Oberhausen (open greenhouse for aquaponics) and in Dortmund (FabLab and BioLab of Fraunhofer UMSICHT "Dezentrale"). As a reliable and neutral partner, we bring the most diverse people along complex value-added chains into an active exchange.

Your way to work with us

Do you have a product that you would like to optimize in terms of sustainability issues? Would you like to find out what technical innovations such as digitalization mean for your company and your products? We would be happy to provide you with a tailor-made offer, develop research projects together with you and look for funding opportunities. Just contact us! If you have any questions, Sabrina Schreiner and Simone Krause are at your disposal.  

We look forward to your E-Mail!