Encouraging Collaboration between Citizens, Higher Education and Library Staff and Students through Open Knowledge and Open Innovation Activities

The INOS Project is an Erasmus+ project aiming to integrate Open Science and Citizen Science activities into active learning approaches in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In INOS, Open Science and Citizen Science activities are categorised as Open Knowledge Activities (OKAs) and Open Innovation Activities (OIAs). OKAs refer to activities that carry the principle of Open Knowledge i.e. “any knowledge (either embodied in artefacts, in social practices, or in research outputs) that is freely circulated – without any legal, technological or social restriction” (Open Knowledge Foundation, nd). Likewise, OIAs embody Open Innovation, which is “to open up the innovation process to all active players so that knowledge can circulate more freely and be transformed into products and services” (European Commission, 2016).

By engaging citizens, HEI and library staff and students in OKAs and OIAs, INOS aims to increase the social impact of HEIs and libraries as knowledge creation, sharing and (re-)use ecosystems. During the project, the INOS consortium has developed a learning design framework and implementation guidelines for OKAs and OIAs with the aim to enhance their educational value and to support collaboration and co-creation among their participants. The proposed poster focuses on the OKAs and OIAs that the INOS partners are currently designing and implementing, including the general framework that these activities follow.

The goal of the OKAs is to upskill academic and library staff and students connected to INOS project partners, through exposure to contemporary trends in public engagement and fostering active citizenship and social participation, by opening up university and university library pedagogical models to engagement with citizens.

OIAs come downstream of open knowledge creation from OKAs, as their goal is to engage HEI staff and students in interdisciplinary activities with the aim to deliver an innovative solution to a technical challenge or social problem. Stakeholders outside the HEIs may also contribute to this endeavor. During these interdisciplinary activities, HEI participants from different disciplines get together, co-reflect, co-develop and apply their knowledge to address a problem drawn from observation or from previous knowledge.

The OKAs and OIAs were initially planned as face-to-face activities that would take place at the premises of each project partner’s university (with the exception of LIBER, who would hold their activities on the premises of four LIBER-member university libraries). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these activities are currently implemented online.

The proposed poster will depict specific examples of the implemented activities, from design to evaluation. It will also address the following topics raised by the LIBER Call for Papers: Impact of Libraries, Open Knowledge, Open Innovation, Skill Development and Libraries’ role in Teaching and Learning.