Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has emerged in recent years, in Europe and across the world, as a model of scientific and technological advancement that is the result of the cooperation of actors that traditionally worked in an autonomous way. Advanced perspectives on RRI suggest how knowledge and solutions should be co-produced by diverse actors working in synergy, including civil society and citizens. This article introduces the notion of co-creation as a framework to operationalize RRI. The article discusses insights coming from ten labs across Europe, where experiments in co-design processes and tools are designing and testing solutions to societal challenges under diverse science, technology and innovation (STI) policies. Furthermore, it compares empirical insights with the debate on experimentation of co-creation practices in STI policy making and on the potentialities and limitations of design for policy. Moreover, the article discusses the restricted focus of RRI, which has primarily concentrated on scientific and technological research and science-based innovation, highlighting the need to include other forms of innovation (like social and human centered innovation) and perspectives to sustain the concrete uptake of RRI in diverse contexts.

Increasing attention is being paid towards the potential of social innovation (SI) in responding to society’s greatest challenges. While measures have been taken to support the flourishing of these innovations, they have thus far been made on ideal models of development, misaligned with what occurs in reality. This has led to the creation of supporting infrastructures that fail to respond to the real needs of social innovators. The article seeks to provide a picture of the real SI development process through a case-based discussion coming from the results of the SIMPACT European research project. The article will also present areas of improvement and reflection, on which to develop an evidence-based model of SI development. Moreover, it will connect SIs with local conditions that determine their development, suggesting that their growth and diffusion are primarily based on the adaptation to the context rather than on the scaling up mechanisms that characterize for-profits. The article argues that this leads to the necessity for social innovators to find a difficult balance among contradictory needs, and to develop peculiar typologies of business models to make their innovations sustainable.

Within the last few years, there has been increasing attention towards climate change and strategies enabling climate neutrality and biodiversity development. Green spaces are one of the main elements in achieving these ambitious goals. Their role has become increasingly relevant in facing climate change, especially considering that Europe aims to be the first continent to be climate-neutral by 2050. In doing so, recently, the European Commission adopted different regulations with a specific focus on the role of green spaces, introducing strategies and activities for sustainable development. The article investigates the role of green spaces in urban planning, considering three main perspectives in dealing with them: (i) the nature of their property, (ii) their ecological nature, and (iii) their social and public nature. After describing green spaces as crucial for contemporary urban development, this article will introduce a potential planning tool enabling the combination of the three different ‘natures’: the Urban Greening Plan. The article presents the two case studies of Barcelona and Paris, which have already adopted this instrument. The article highlights the potential of Urban Greening Plans to restore nature and biodiversity while engaging different stakeholders in co-creation processes for more sustainable development. It also critically introduces a variety of open questions that require further investigations and analyses.

Social Innovation (SI) is considered a key lever for supporting climate action and decarbonization. In addition to the adoption of technological innovations, novel social practices can lead to the reconfiguration of socio-technical systems toward more democratic energy transitions and heightened civic participation for climate action. Several frameworks and cases of social innovation for climate neutrality are described in the academic literature; however, this rich body of knowledge is scattered across different fields and the actual relevance of social innovation for climate is rarely measured. A core challenge remains regarding the systematic assessment of social innovation’s contribution to decarbonization. With the aim of developing a comprehensive framework for potentially assessing social innovations, the extant literature is mapped and the following key dimensions of social innovation for climate neutrality are derived: context, input (or resources), social innovation activities (capacity building, types of SI initiatives and scaling), and results (immediate outputs, medium-term outcomes, long-term impact toward wellbeing). The framework has both theoretical and practical relevance: it provides a structured pathway of social innovation mechanisms and related assessment categories, which can be deployed showing evidence of social innovation effects, gaining insights for actions’ improvements, as well as informing policy-making.

This open access book examines how the adoption of Design Thinking (DT) can support public organisations in overcoming some of the current barriers in e-participation. Scholars have discussed the adoption of technology to strengthen public engagement through e-participation, streamline and enhance the relationship between government and society, and improve accessibility and effectiveness. However, barriers persist, necessitating further research in this area. By analysing e-participation barriers emerging from the literature and aligning them with notions in the DT literature, this book identifies five core DT practices to enhance e-participation: (i) Meaning creation and sense-making, (ii) Publics formation, (iii) Co-production, (iv) Experimentation and prototyping, and (v) Changing organisational culture. As a result, this book provides insights into enhancing tech-aided public engagement and promoting inclusivity for translating citizen input into tangible service implementations. The book triangulates qualitative analysis of relevant literature in the fields of e-participation and DT with knowledge from European projects experimenting with public participation activities implying experimentation with digital tools. This research aims to bridge the gap between theoretical frameworks and practical application, ultimately contributing to more effective e-participation and digital public services.

This chapter provides an overview of e-participation, tracing its evolution from early public involvement initiatives to its current integration with digital technologies. It provides examples of implementations and highlights both the potential and challenges of e-participation practices and platforms. The cases are used to discuss the strategic importance of e-participation in enhancing transparency, legitimacy, and trust in public governance, pointing out the role of digital technologies in broadening the scope and depth of public engagement, transforming traditional models and fostering more direct and meaningful interactions between citizens and governments. Ultimately, it explores open challenges in need to be addressed.