EXPANDING HORIZONS - CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

Funded by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Coordinator: Fraunhofer Center for Responsible Research and Innovation CeRRI

Consortium: 5 national project partners (Fraunhofer Center for Responsible Research and Innovation, ISInova, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, HU Berlin, Fraunhofer INT)

Term: 36 months, starting in March 2017

Goal: The research project “Expanding Horizons – Changing Perspectives” develops measures and recommendations for the transfer of knowledge and technology in non-agglomeration areas to promote social and technical innovation. These strategies are based on a new understanding of non-agglomeration areas as innovation spaces. They are developed and implemented for and in model regions. Local actors are involved at an early stage to ensure that strategies are developed with a focus on needs.

Approach: The project records the cooperation between research, business, civil society and the public sector in order to formulate concepts for a successful transfer of knowledge and technology:

• What are innovation processes and practices of knowledge transfer? (IfL)
• What challenges and success criteria exist for the development of rural areas? (ISInova)
• What role do cooperative actors play in the context of knowledge transfer and innovation? (HU Berlin)
  
• Which desirable future scenarios can be formulated from the needs of actors in non-agglomeration areas? (Fraunhofer CeRRI)
• What are the relevant technology developments for technology transfer in non-agglomeration areas? (Fraunhofer INT)
  

The resulting analysis of needs, conditions and obstacles for knowledge and technology transfer will form the basis for the development of measures, strategies and recommendations for action. The results will be discussed with stakeholders in science policy and funding. On this basis, technology transfer measures and further project ideas will be developed with selected Fraunhofer Institutes.

Tasks of Fraunhofer INT: Together, Fraunhofer CeRRI and Fraunhofer INT will design desirable and realizable future scenarios for rural areas based on the needs of local stakeholders. In this approach, social and technological innovations will be considered together, implementation projects will be initiated, and new measures and strategies for technology transfer in rural areas will be derived.

What desirable visions for the future can be formulated for rural areas? And how can new strategies and measures for innovation processes in rural areas be derived on this basis?

To answer this question, ideas on three overarching topics were developed with thought leaders using design-based methods. The result is speculative visions of the future that are intended to change our ideas of rural areas in 2034+, replace outdated clichés and initiate new discourses. Technology experts from Fraunhofer INT are then developing these into technologically realizable visions of the future.

In three selected model regions, workshops are held in which these future scenarios are compared with existing local needs. The local actors move in a playful and interactive setting that overlays the actors' familiar environment with one of the developed future scenarios. Supported by design-based methods, they express their perspectives on the future of their region as well as the associated demands for innovation and technological development.

On the basis of these articulated needs, concrete measures for technology development, knowledge transfer in areas remote from agglomerations, and the realization of the desired future scenarios are derived. In an open discussion with actors in science policy and funding, this strategy is to be implemented in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. In this way, demand-oriented future scenarios will be incorporated into future research and transfer projects.

Main tasks of Fraunhofer INT: Fraunhofer INT is mainly responsible for the following tasks/work packages in the project:

• Technological adjustment of the future scenarios
• Identification of relevant technologies and technological developments using technology foresight
• Preparation and game-based implementation of workshops in rural model regions