Participation and stakeholder management

Innovation management with design thinking, hackathon or sprints

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!

Reference projects

 

EKODA

Circular Economy in the automotive industry

In the "EKODA" project, researchers are exploring alternative utilization routes, levers and barriers to the circular economy, working on acceptance in practice, and developing business models to reuse, rather than recycle, used automotive components.

 

Syschemiq

EU transformation to more plastics recycling

In the international research and demonstration project Syschemiq, 21 consortium partners from five EU countries plan to facilitate the systemic transition to a plastics circular economy in cities, regions and their associations.

 

LeNa-Move

Research in societal responsibility

In the LeNa project (Leitfaden Nachhaltigkeit), researchers published eight criteria in the form of a framework for reflection and further guidelines for action under the guiding principle of "research in societal responsibility". Now the follow-up project LeNa-Move is investigating how it can apply these criteria in concrete terms.

 

 

e:Lab

Citizen lab for energy innovations

In an open workshop, scientists work together with citizens to research what energy generation and energy saving could look like in the future. The aim of the project is to actively involve citizens in the energy technology process in order to develop solutions at the local level.

 

 

LUZI

Laboratory for urban future questions

In the Laboratory for Urban Future Issues and Innovations, LUZI for short, a transdisciplinary empirical investigation is conducted in a creative environment into how and through which target groups a maker space can sustainably function.

 

SAIN

Urban agriculture

In the procect SAIN (Urban Agriculture - Innoation) knowldege about urban food production is bundled, technologies and production facilities are made more accessible and new ideas are developed

 

 

Farming the Uncanny Valley

Discourse about
bioeconomy and
biotechnology

In the project »Farming the Uncanny Valley – MACHT NATUR« Fraunhofer UMSICHT develops new participation concepts together with partners in order to bring citizens and scientists together concerning bioeconomy.

 

 

c.lab

Creative lab for Oberhausen

The creative lab c.lab aims at creating a sustainable and participative city development in Oberhausen.