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SELF REFLECTION TOOL | March 29, 2023
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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY
  • HOW TO BOOST CREATIVITY AND INVOLVE PEOPLE
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  • HOW TO CONSIDER FUTURE IMPACTS
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  • THE BUSINESS CASE FOR RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION
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  • RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION CRITERIA FOR INVESTORS
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  • CORPORATE RESPONSIBLE TOOLS
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  • INCLUSIVE INNOVATION
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  • TRAINING
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Inclusive innovation

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Why Inclusive Innovation?

From a business perspective, Inclusive Innovation points to the market potential of involving the needs of physically and socially weak people into product and service development. The number of people with visual, hearing or mobility impairments is increasing in ageing societies According to the World Bank, about 15 % of the world´s population experience some form of disability. When it comes to Inclusive Innovation, there is also a second strand of people frequently excluded from opportunities available. Here, we talk about the needs of socio-economically less advantaged people. Including those who would otherwise remain excluded can enrich the innovation process and bring in new ideas. Inclusive innovation is not only important when it comes to designing new products and services but also for estimating future trends

Inclusive innovation seeks to provide sustainable solutions to those who would otherwise remain excluded from access to offers as a result of their physical, mental, social, economic, or environmental context. As an activity and business model, it reconciles the goals of commercial viability with sustainable social development.

This short online how-to guide is based on the work on inclusive innovation developed by Dialogik, De Monfort University and the Siemens Accesibility Center in the context of the LIV_IN project and has been enriched with additional resources from the RRI Toolkit.

It provides you with some back-ground resources to learn more about the concept of Inclusive Innovation, presents some examples of Inclusive Innovation processes, and provides methods, tools and practical tips for successful implementation.

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The RRI Toolkit: further reading
Hereby you can find some recommended resources to learn more about the concept of Inclusive Innovation
  • Inclusive Innovation in Developed Countries: The Who, What, Why, and ...
    Library Element
  • Inclusive Innovation Atlas
    Library Element
  • The OECD’s Inclusive Innovation Policy Toolkit
    Tool
  • Equity in energy and climate innovation
    Library Element
  • Inclusive Innovation: from idea to impact
    Library Element
  • Opportunity Lost: How inventive potential is squandered and what to ...
    Library Element
  • Meeting the needs of underserved populations: setting the agenda for ...
    Library Element
  • Designing a Process for Inclusive Innovation. A Radical Commitment to...
    Library Element
  • The Key to Designing Inclusive Tech: creating diverse and inclusive t...
    Library Element
More recommended resources
Go to the RRI Toolkit

Bringing Inclusive Innovation to life: best practice examples

DMU case study: Inclusive Innovation with low-income families

An experience by De Monfort University with families from Leicester co-creating future home technologies through a “design thinking” approach with evaluation from cutting edge innovators

Read more >

PULSE exhibition

An innovative research-based science exhibition and community activities developed by the Experimentarium science center, which serves as model demonstrating how science centres can involve socio-economically less advantaged families, as well as more privileged families, in co-creating user-driven health changes.

Read more >

Movao - Move as one

Movao is a community platform where amputees and their relatives and friends can connect locally and globally with like-minded people about similar interests and challenges. The platform is the result of a series of co-creation workshops with prosthetics users organized by Ottobock in the context of the Living Innovation project

Read more >

Siemens case study: Inclusive Innovation with blind and visually impaired people

An experience by the Siemens Accessibility Competence Center. They conducted a workshop to discuss the question “How do we want to live in 2030”. The overall intention was to co-create non-intrusive, non-stigmatizing and affordable technologies that could enhance their daily lives, the workshop focused particularly on developing an amateur radio device which meets the requirements of blind and low vision users.

Read more >

The “Sensory Assistive Technologies for Impaired Persons" project

An initiative led by the Italian Institute of Technology where they worked together with people affected by sensory disabilities (with a special focus on visual & hearing impairments) and with technology makers and researchers, policy makers, end user associations, clinical validators, and industrial partners to co-develop novel rehabilitation practices and assistive technologies.

Read more >

3DNovations

An IT business initiative, led by Hao2, a social company that develops and sells 3D virtual environments, that is targeted to include autism in the working environment and to empower employees with complex needs. 3Dnovations is a multi-stakeholder initiative designed at every stage with and for people with autism and serves to demonstrate how industry led RRI methodologies can create a more inclusive society by unlocking ideas and talents of people with autism, increasing their employment, and improving industrial competitiveness.

Read more >

CAREABLES project

An EU project dealing with the maker & DIY movements. The aim of the project is to link local communities of citizens with disabilities, their families, and healthcare professionals with makers/designers to establish collaboration between these communities to co-develop open-source interventions and solutions.

Read more >

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Practical tips to successfully perform Inclusive Innovation

1. Get started with the main question: What goal do I pursue?

Involvement can have different objectives, ranging from information to collecting ideas and opinion polling to advise seeking and co-creation. It should be clear for the process owners what the goal is, because the goal of the process strongly influences the selection of participants, suitable methods, timelines, etc.
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2. Invitation Process

  • Define selection criteria for the recruitment process.
  • If you really want to get some people from a special group, tailor your approach to their expectations and needs
  • Think about ways how to approach your target group. This can successfully be done by networks or multipliers, e.g. self-help groups, patient representatives or neighbourhood associations.
  • Think about an incentive. You want to know something from the audience. A financial incentive can also be used so that the single mother or father, for example, can afford a babysitter for the time and thus participate.
  • Use a variety of channels, e.g. Facebook, radio broadcast, artists, etc.
  • If you have a personal network, use it.
  • There is no difference between online or offline recruitment.
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3. Location

  • The possible restrictions of the participants require that the location is chosen carefully.
  • It should be a familiar and accessible location. There should also be good freedom of movement in the room itself.
  • The event location should be in the immediate vicinity of the participants’ homes. Ideally, the participants already know the location.
  • For visually and hearing-impaired people, make sure that the acoustics of the event room are good. 
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4. Online Tools

If you are planning your workshop as an online format, there are some things to consider here as well

  • The software used should be free of charge.
  • Data protection for the participants must be guaranteed.
  • Bear in mind that a lot of software is not usable for blind people. Inform yourself in advance. A telephone conference could be the tool of choice here.
  • When using online tools, plan enough time for all participants to familiarise themselves with the technique. Here, an extra appointment can help to bring everyone up to speed.
  • Technical support and interaction are somewhat more difficult in online formats. Setting up extra technical support for the workshop can be a great help here.
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5. Facilitation

  • Ideally, find a facilitator who is familiar with working with the target group.
  • A professional facilitator can ask the right questions to provide a constructive and creative working flow and will ensure that everybody has the opportunity to participate.
  • A facilitator can also help designing the workshop and ensures a target-oriented and effective process.
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The RRI Toolkit: recommended resources
Hereby you can find some examples of methods and tools to be used for Inclusive Innovation
  • Inclusive Design Toolkit
    Tool
  • Case studies on Inclusive Innovation: Engaging hard-to-reach target ...
    Tool
  • The tree of participation: a new model for inclusive decision-making
    Library Element
  • The Inclusive Design Guide
    Tool
  • Co-Creation Toolkit | a guidance on the design, development and imple...
    Tool
  • Co-creation Toolkit for researchers and developers.
    Tool
  • The co-creation navigator | guides you through the different stages...
    Tool
  • Getting it right | a guide to improve inclusion in multi-stakeholder ...
    Tool
  • Seven practical points for facilitating workshops with blind & visual...
    Tool
More recommended resources
Go to the RRI Toolkit
Insights from RRI experts
Video interviews with Responsible Innovation experts from academia, industry, and policy
    The MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge
    - interview with Devin Cook, Executive Producer of the Inclusive Innovation Challenge
    How can businesses adopt more inclusive, open and transparent innovation methods
    interview with Rainer Kuhn, project leader at Dialogik
    Success Stories of Scientific Crowdsourcing | synergies between Responsible & Open Innovation
    interview with Marion Pötz, Associate Professor of Innovation Management at Copenhagen Business School and Scientific Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft's Open Innovation in Science Center in Vienna
    How open is your Open Innovation?
    interview with Marcel Bogers, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Copenhagen and Senior Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
    Beyond Open Innovation - Responsibility as the New Paradigm
    interview with Marzia Mazzonetto, co-founder and senior consultant at StickyDot
    Open Innovation, responsibility & the human dimension of emerging tech
    interview with Vincent Blok, Associate Professor at Wageningen University
    Why innovations fail without a gender dimension
    webinar with Eileen Trauth, Professor Emeritus in Information Sciences & Technology and Women´s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University
    Inclusive Innovation Workshops with blind and visually impaired people
    video showcase with André Martinuzzi and Svetlana Ivanova, based on results from the LIV_IN project

SEE MORE

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This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 612393.