Presented at the: .IST-Africa 2014. P. Cunningham, ed. Mauritius: IIMC.
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Olov FORSGREN 1
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, Torbjörn JOHANSSON 2
Thomas HARTMAN
, Lars ALBINSSON 3
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1 Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 16 20 00, Email: Olov.Forsgren@dsv.su.se
2 Innovation Impact AB,
Rosendalsvägen 7, Box 27820, Stockholm, 11593, Sweden
Tel: +46 70 545 11 11, Email: torbjorn.johansson@innovation-impact.se
3 Maestro
Management AB,Rådhusgatan 16, 185Vaxholm, Tel: +46 (0) 70 592 70 45,
Email:LARS.ALBINSSON@MAESTRO.SE 4 Region Västerbotten, Umeå, 901 09 Umeå,
Tel:+469016 57 00, Email: thomas.hartman@regionvasterbotten.se
,
Abstract: This report describes the background, and related theories, results and reflections based on a research - innovation (R&I) model comprising multistakeholder co-creative workshops. The resulting new concepts, solutions and prototypes produced in a short limited time-scale are extraordinary compared to the outcome of standard research and innovation approaches. The developed prototypes and work-processes and the performed R&I model have in a positive way changed attitudes among many key stakeholders, leading to the start of new R&D programs pushing development of citizen centric services towards building a foundation for
“positive living areas”.
Keywords: Living-labs, Co-constructive science, Co-creative, Co-design, PIDoT
During the last few years we have in Sweden seen a number of successful initiatives in integrated research, innovation and development processes, driven by collaboration and involvement of people with different backgrounds and interests. The fuel has been citizens´s perspectives and needs of useful services in a broad sense, based on Should-Be
Images (SBI) -future ideal scenarios for different target-groups. Labeled approaches like the three COs: CO-design CO-creative development, CO-constructive development have been setting the process-framework together with concepts as Living Labs, Participatory design,
Open Innovation and lately the PIDoT-process (Public Innovation Do Tank). The COthinking movement has evolved into projects in many nations and continents. The most important factor for success has been the change of attitudes and also the existence or development of strong facilitation organisations able to gather key stakeholders and organize a co-creative process resulting in new concepts and solutions directed at agreed
Should-Be-Images. “Region Västerbotten” is one such potent facilitating organisation hosting the activities described in this paper.
The objective is to describe the main ideas in the approach and some results from the first year´s activities at Region Västerbotten in Northern Sweden. In 5 and 6 we presen t plans for the coming years and recommendations to others.
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We are using a method and approach well established in philosophy of science. The approach belongs to a tradition often called soft-systems-, systemic-, co-design-, cocreative- or co-constructive- approaches. The very basic idea in these approaches is that different actors can have different but legitimate views on the same situation. During a coconstructive conversation these different views will emerge. When many actors agree on a stabilized core view, this is regarded as a scientific result possible to use for different purposes.
A basic applied example of this scientific approach is the concept of time. As humans we can co-construct an infinite number of ways measuring time – but it is not possible in this approach to say that this is “a true way” to understand time. During many years of coconstructive conversations most people have agreed on a global system of measuring time related to the relative position between the earth and the sun. This view is now implemented as a view in action with enormous impact on human life. This co-constructive scientific approach is to high degree inspired by work of scientists like Kant, Bohr, Einstein, Cowan and Churchman and is possible to apply on every part of reality.[1]
According to this approach the suggested view for implementation has to be described in a way that other actors can review, comment on and further develop or simply disagree with the presented view. In that way the view evolves and sometimes converges and stabilizes in wider circles. If it survives and many people agree to the presented view it becomes a “view in action” with different degrees of impact.[2] Views in action can be both implemented in physical artefacts; like the time view as a watch, and/or as administrative implementations as services with rules and regulations prescribing when different actions should be performed. Often the implementation is an integration of physical artefacts and digital services. We call that an extended service – X-service, which we believe will change attitudes among users, if the concept is properly co-developed with users from different target groups and perspectives.
The CO-thinking movement have roots far back in time. One of the earliest and most reported sources of this movement is the CO-creative branch of the movement. An important breakthrough inspiring many initiatives around the world, showing the close relation between the CO-thinking and information technology is the classical article
”Misinformation systems” by Russel Ackoff.[3] Later he wrote many books and papers focusing ”creating our cooperate future” all developing different important aspects and results of this new approach to knowledge creation and innovation. A way of thinking radically different from the classical “operational research” or applied classical scientific thinking, but deeply based in the philosophical debates about knowledge and knowledge development. This line of thinking is often described in a line back in time from Russel
Ackoff via West Churchman, Tom Cowan, Edgar Singer, William James, and Immanuel
Kant, also with influence from Hegel’s dialectical thinking Some other partly connecting, parallel and crossing threads are “Second order cybernetics”, “Double loop learning” and
”The fifth discipline”, Design thinking and Soft systems thinking. Also modern natural science with common known names as Einstein, Pasteur, Capra, Rosen and Prigogine, are important sources to the CO-thinking movement. A movement possible to describe in three important aspects or levels of ambition:

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• CO-1: Co-design – integrating the physical and the virtual aspects into augmented co-evolving realities and products. Early example: Stewe Jobs with Apple. We have also been involved in a number of such projects. One of the most impacting cases was the MIT-project with the new synthesis between the Stores, the catalogue and the web into a co-designed Market oriented system at IKEA. Co-designed products and services are also often border crossing traditional areas and disciplines – we can call them e-power applications.[4]
• CO-2: Co-creative – Involving key stakeholders in an ”Open innovation” approach - synthesizing different perspectives into new co-created perspectives with possible implementations and impact. Comprising actors from all societal levels and backgrounds in group-based public-private innovation production. Early wellknown example: Russel Ackoff with Anheuser-Busch , Edward Deming with
Toyota.[5]
• CO-3: Co-constructive – On this level the knowledge development process is integrated with the innovation and artefact development process. The result can be described as a new worldview where the artificial walls between public, private, political, business, culture, art and knowledge development have been removed and replaced with the co-construction of Integrated service complexes governed by new forms of Public-Private-Partnerships.[6]
In Northern Sweden this CO-thinking movement has influenced a number of new R/Dprojects. One such project is “Innovationsslussen” (Gate of Innovation) focusing new services for health care in the county Västerbotten. Other projects are the VINNOVA projects eSpinn and ISSI focusing new services making life easier in rural areas in the municipality of Örnsköldsvik. Projects aiming at implementing the Swedish Digital Agenda by raising and equalizing the level of service in the whole municipality, to make it a
“positive living area”. Results from these projects have stimulated the establishment of a border-crossing yearly Innovation Loop applying co-thinking and CO-innovation into a method of several design-oriented workshops visualized in the following picture.
Figure 1
The Innovation Loop has each year a selected main focus. The focus 2013 was “Talent for

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Growth”. Stakeholders and key expertise were invited to three design-oriented workshops encompassing problem-design, ideal scenario design, solution design and follow-up design.
As indicated in the figure the main yearly Innovation Loop also comprises faster solution oriented loops creating services and resources aimed to be part of a more complete solution package. Three faster solution oriented loops were performed in the following areas. New health care solutions, New learning and education solutions and Young Entrepreneurship.
In each loop a number of solution-ideas were created and the ideas getting most votes from the participants were transferred into a final border crossing workshop applying the PIDoT method described below.
Public Innovation in “Public Innovation Do Tank”(PIDoT) refers both to “public sector” and “the public” as the citizens. Do Tank refers to the action in producing concrete output in contrast to think tanks. A PIDoT event is addressing this by bringing together stakeholders and producing a specific innovative proposal, in a concrete form, for instance a prototype. Key participants are: citizens, public service organizations as well as businesses. As key stakeholders are taking part, the solutions are likely to be realistic and possible agendas for turning them in to practice can be explored during the event. A PIDoT event follows a strong format during a two days workshop to allow for effective and meaningful communication between participants.
The mix of each team was set to be:
⎯⎯ 2 Theme specialists
⎯⎯ 1 Field lookout
⎯⎯ 2 Citizens
⎯⎯ 1 Design Student
⎯⎯ 1 Business Student
⎯⎯ 1 GUI student
To support the teams the following roles was identified:
⎯⎯ Process facilitators
⎯⎯ Theme coaches
⎯⎯ Technical team
⎯⎯ Documentation team
The point is to have a diverse group collaborating to create specific novel co-cepts with a realistic chance of being turned into reality.
From this perspective the
PIDoT concept can be regarded as a compressed co-design process into one or two days

5 also adding a result-driving competition between proposed solutions to given thematic tasks.
With this background the idea was born that the PIDoT –loop could serve as an important gathering of solution ideas in a yearly regional loop of co-creative project events involving citizens, politicians, private and public business, voluntary sector and academy as a pentahelix setting. As a result a PIDoT workshop was organized as part of a yearly regional conference in the city of Lycksele, June 2013.
On the surface the results of the PIDoT-activity can be described as 2 pre-events with around 100 participants and a main event with 64 team members, 16 coaches X 17 h = 1360 man hours resulting in 7 real prototypes co-produced by important stakeholders. Which is a key capability of the PIDoT concept; to involve different stakeholders in co-creation of solutions in a short timeframe. The produced prototypes were:
• FARPP (Physical Activities on Prescription) An application that will engage health care staff to prescribe "Physical Activities on Prescription" more often, and help motivate patients to change their lifestyle. View in action: Physical activities are in most cases good for health
• Hälsoavataren (The Health Avatar); The Health Avatar is a journal system, aiding doctor and patients in communicating better by visualizing a patient’s health status. View in action: A good image can produce an important overview.
• The Health Care App is an application for mobile phones and tablets that let patients upload and keep track of different measures that are related to the patient's illness. View in action: It is good idea to keep track of critical measures.
• Grow App A website to match the students skill sets for future jobs. A guidance to early get knowledge about which education to choose for in the future and to receive support on how to reach the goal, towards ones career. View in action: It is good to get an overview of future upcoming jobs matching with own interests and skills and to get advice on proper education possibilities.
• Connecting Competency Awebsite/app that will enable entrepreneurs and people in general to search and find "mentors" of specific competencies. That way they can be guided in order to properly get their companies/projects started up and running! View in action: It is good for an entrepreneur to have a mentor.
• The entrepreneur A digital meeting place helps those who are thinking about starting their own business. By bridging the gap from idea to startup, with help from experienced mentors and others who have travelled down the same path. By sharing experiences and building your own network, our solution helps you reach your goals. View in action: It is good to have mentors and a network of people who have travelled down the same path
• Connectified Connecting mentors and entrepreneurs through keywords derived from his or her idea.
Creates an encouraged environment to pursue improved business skills. Allow mentors to connect and share their knowledge to the next generation. Increases awareness of relevant events and lectures based on your location of choice. View in action: It is good to be connected to relevant mentors and events related to the business idea you are working with.
The prototypes are now in process of implementation also with establishment of one new company. [7]
In a broader perspective the impact is even larger than the produced solutions. The process and prototypes inspired a number of important actors from the whole region, Västerbotten

6 and Northern Sweden to accelerate work with co-design, co-creative and co-constructive workshops for public e-services in a prospering society. This was also manifested in a workshop during the conference eChallenges 2013 in Dublin.[8]
A legitimate critical question here is whether the presented results would have happened without the PIDoT project. Well, the prototypes would most surely not have been developed, at least not in this level of quality, with input and involvement from the important stakeholders. Maybe even more important the experience and the results from the
Lycksele-event have stimulated an increased year loop 2014 with more stakeholders and economical resources involved. As part of this we are keen to meet people and regions working in the same direction. Together we can “meta-co-create” even more effective innovation and learning loops. In our terms we are entering a co-constructive worldview.
It is also up to us as participants and readers of this report what will happen with the cothinking movement in the future. One thing is clear, as the world leading trend analyzer
Peter Majanen concluded: “The trend towards co-creation and co-design is stronger than ever”.[9]
In a more profound theoretical and philosophical long-term view the world famous Finnish
Philosopher von Wright summarizes: “ The analytical philosophy of knowledge creation is now in a replacement of a number of co-constructive evolving philosophies” (Our translation).[10]
A clue to the most important impact of this trend gives the Swedish professor of philosophy of science Ingvar Johansson when he writes “in co-constructive approaches the scientific rationality and the political rationality is the same rationality.” (Our translation) [11] This statement indicates the possibility of new methods and formats where politicians, experts and citizens with different background can work on new problem definitions and solutions.
It is big words but may be this is the beginning of an improvement of the democratic model of society development?
[1] Churchman C. W. (1971) The design of inquiring systems, Basic Books, New York
[2] Forsgren, O. (2006). Churchmanian Co-design—Basic Ideas and Application Examples. In Advances in
Information Systems Development (pp. 35-46). Springer US
[3] Ackoff, R. L. (1967). Management misinformation systems. Management science, 14(4), B-147.
[4] Forsgren, O., Johansson, T., Nilsson, O., & Siösteen-Thiel, M. 2010. e-Power to the People– a Driver for
Cross Sector Regional Development in Europe, eChallenges e-2010. Warsaw.
[5] Ackoff, R.L. (1981). Creating the corporate future: Plan or be planned for. N Y: Wiley.
[6] Forsgren, O., & Johansson, t. 2010. e-power to the people - integration of web 2.0 and Science 2.0 in eservice development, International Symposium on Science 2.0 and Expansion of Science: S2ES -WMSCI
2010, Vol. 14: 259-264. Orlando Florida: International institute of informatics and systemics.
[7] Forsgren, O. 2013. DO-Tanks, the edge of the powerful scientific co3 movement. Stockholm: Vinnova.
[8] Forsgren, O., & Johansson, T. 2013. CO3 - A Powerful Driver for Regional Development. In P.
Cunningham (Ed.), e-challenges e-2013, Vol. 2013. Dublin: IIMC
[9] in a seminar at Uminova Science Park sept 4th 2013
[10] Von Wright, G. H. "Science and reason." Vetenskapen och förnuftet (1986).
[11] Johansson, Ingvar, and Sven-Eric Liedman. Positivism och marxism. Norstedt, 1981.