The aim of this paper is to collect evidence-based experience on a co-creation multi-stakeholder participatory process in a non-formal academic environment. We use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the “6i model,” and a participatory approach as background methodologies. Within the long-lasting process of collaboration with Eurochild (Eurochild advocates for children’s rights and well-being to be at the heart of policymaking. A network of almost 200 organizations internationally recognized for its work to promote children’s rights and well-being. It influences policies, builds internal capacities, and facilitates mutual learning and exchanges of practice and research), the event started with an open session followed by a World Café dynamic with 50 participants from different age groups (13–81), cultures (Spain, United Kingdom, Finland), professions, academic fields, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Several types of data were collected: participant observation during four months (20 h), informal communication with participants, and three in-depth interviews. Based on overall analysis, the application of both the 6i model and the child participation approach had an impact on three different levels: (1) in the functioning of the core group; (2) in the experience of the participants in the event; and (3) in the final outcome of the whole process.

Under the inspiring and aspiring title: Paving the way for pushing and pursuing a “one for all, all for one” triple transition: social, green, and digital: The Three MuskEUteers, a group of remarkable co-authors and contributors have developed radically new forward-looking visions, principles, approaches, and action recommendations for an attuned indivisible social, green, and digital transition.The triple transition is aimed at helping humanity gather around a life-sustaining purpose, as opposed to life-destroying one in terms of wars of all kinds (military, economic, political, etc.); nature decay and wreckage (carbon footprint, plastic pollution, soil poisoning, etc.); human alienation (favelas, homeless persons, refugee camps, child malnutrition, poverty, exclusion of any kind); and geographic imbalances with empty rural spaces and overcrowded megacities (creating difficult access of rural and/or remote population to care, health, and other essential services; difficulty of urban population to contact with natural environments).The work highlights the urgent need to speed up a third social transition (Within this social transition dimension we understand the socio-cultural scope as any social shift implies a cultural transition and vice versa, with its very deep implications.), in addition to the green and digital transitions more widely recognised by the international community. Innovation, or a European industry-led twin transition aiming for climate neutrality and digital leadership, cannot be supported without a firm, responsive, responsible social and environmental engagement. Neither is it possible to tackle a JUST triple transition which is not firmly rooted in worthwhile human development, underpinned by the Sustainable Development Goals. And none of these transitions can go separately and/or isolated; they all need to intertwine around the notion of (more, firmer, and determined) just transition.European society is presented as a huge “co-laboratory” for this “all for one, one for all” boundaryless triple transition to respond to the urgent radical changes demanded by humanity and by the planet. The chapter proposes a radically new vision to pursue a non-explored transformative way to ideate, design, develop, and deliver science, innovation, and collaboration through experimentation and learning, and throughout multi-stakeholder engagement from the n-helix spectrum. It proposes systemic innovation tactics for the “how” (green, techno-digital), for the strategic “what” (green, social), for the purposeful “why” (green, social), and for the operational “how best” (green, social, techno-digital) within the governing principles of eco-centric society. This encompasses: Courageous goal-aligned alternatives, as a shift to new (yet ancient) principles of eco-centric rather than ego-centric behaviour. The adoption of a “complex system mind-set” to build up dynamic, context-sensitive, and holistic approaches to co-design mission and purpose-driven actions, outcomes, outputs, and no-harm impacts. The ignition of the transformative capacity of all forms of collaboration (international, interdisciplinary, intersectoral, intergenerational, inter-institutional, inter-genders) vs hierarchy as alternative governance and distribution models to overcome the unjust and unsustainable biased status quo within evolving, adaptable, flexible, and transformational n-helix ecosystems. The Three MuskEUteers, deeply anchored in European values (human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights), will pave the way and drive humanity towards the achievement of the ambitious, but achievable, targets of the United Nations 2030 Global Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals.Europe can be the initiator of co-laboratory experiments where social change drives the “all for one, one for all” dream into transforming this three-prong transition into possible real good ecosystems working.

Since its burst in early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected every aspect of daily life, from international trade and travelling to restrictions on an individual level, becoming a complex multi-level and highly multi-faceted problem. Due to its overarching influence and deep impact, it can be seen as one of the most disruptive Grand Challenges of our time. Different from most other lasting Grand Challenges, such as Climate Change, the pandemic exerted its influence with little ramp-up, rapidly transforming health and health systems, human lives, goods and economic flows, decision-making mechanisms, research and innovation, and many other aspects of life in a very short span of time.Grand Challenges require extraordinary efforts from society as a whole since they need holistic, effective, collaborative endeavours to solve them. One such unique orchestrated effort can be observed in the subsequent series of virtual massive EUvsVirus (https://www.euvsvirus.org/) events and committed collaborations (‘hackathon’, ‘matchathon’, ‘launchathon’, ‘community’, ‘EIC Covid platform’, and the unparalleled ‘Academia Diffusion Experiment’ [ADE], analysed in chapter “Academia Diffusion Experiment: Trailblazing the Emergence from Co-Creation” of this book).While this chapter explains ‘what’ has been produced with the ADE, inspired by the EUvsVirus phenomenon, the ADE chapter describes ‘how’ it has been done. Both are extremely unique in terms of content, procedure, motivation, collaboration, effects—and they attempt to trailblaze at highest level co-creation, co-evolution, and co-dreaming. Hence, situated as the last chapters of this book.This chapter will shed light on the EUvsVirus events, where over 30,000 individuals from 40 countries came together and addressed the complexity of this massive challenge in a pioneering and groundbreaking way. The chapter is focused on analysing the EUvsVirus hackathon (alongside its mentioned unique spillovers) as a tool, method, and process capable of channelling and activating individuals’ and institutions’ concerns, wills, and commitments into a unique orchestrated open, collaborative response to an urgent Grand Challenge, the pandemic. We are producing a multi-vortex tornado model, resembling the EUvsVirus phenomenon, its components, mechanisms, behaviour and how to replicate it to achieve such disruptive, global organisational effort of co-creation. Especially, the emergence of such collaboration in the face of such urgency leads to the assumption that there are crucial lessons to be learned from this endeavour, quite fittingly encapsulated by these words:‘We are learningThat though we weren't ready for this,We have been readied by it’.Amanda Gorman’s New Year poem (https://amandagormanbooks.com/#the-hill-we-climb-and-other-poems or https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/01/06/exp-amanda-gorman-nye-poem.cnn)