20 Examples - How to Kickstart Your Co-creation Platform

Introduction

2 image: CC Flickr - Hessie Bell

Electric cars, city charging points, biofuel, ... eMobility seems to We are transforming into a world where producers and compa-
be the future; but are we really ready for this? nies want to know their customers. They want to become our on-
The whole “transforming process” from the current automotive line “friends”, in a way to get as many feedback as they are able to.
industry to the greener one seems to go very slow. The few elec- The use of social input from different parties makes new business
tric cars are still too expensive for most people and getting the models possible and can make the difference between you and
world population on the eMobility-track is something that will your competitors.
take a lot of time...
In this benchmark study we selected 20 cases, as widely chosen
What if we could attract consumers to cooperate in this story? as possible. The global focus was new mobility, but other inspir-
Is it possible to bring industry, government and consumers to- ing co-creation cases were selected as well.
gether to think about it, together? Every case is described in a platform-sheet. Every sheet has a let-

Mission-e-Motion cooperated with Board of Innovation in an the co-creation canvas we created.
innovation study to combine new mobility with co-creation.
This document is a part of the whole study, and bundles 20 bench- As we believe co-creation is about sharing ideas & thoughts, to
marks of existing co-creation platforms. achieve a beter result, we decided to share this study as well with
you.
- We hope you learn as much as we did by scanning these plat-
- forms. Still some remarks? Suggestions? Ideas?
thing to do with collaboration between several parties combined Feel free to share, to comment or to contact us for further infor-
with coming up with a better result than “normal” collaboration. mation!

Have fun reading!

Board of Innovation - Manu Vollens

3

Types of Co-creation[1]
Co-creation exists in many different ways. Which type to choose is de-
pending on the challenge at hand. There is always an initiator, e.g.. the par-
ty that decides to start a Co-creation initiative. This can be a company or
just a single person. One or (many!) more contributors will be joining along
the process. The initiator determines who can join and under what condi-
tions. All platforms are categorized into one of the 4 groups.

Club of experts: -
through ideas. Contributors are found through a selection process. Quality of
input is what counts.

Crowd of people: Also known as Crowdsourcing. For any given challenge, there
might be a person out there having a genial idea that should be given a podium. It’s the
Rule of the big numbers.

Coalition of parties: In complex situations parties team up to share ideas and investments.
Technical breakthroughs and standards often happen when multiple parties collaborate.

Community of kindred spirits: When developing something for the greater good, a group of peo-
ple with similar interests and goals can come together and create.

4 image: CC Flickr - Carol VanHook

Anyone can
join

Crowd of people Community of kindred spirits
Openess

Selection
process

Club of experts Coalition of parties

Initiator Only Ownership Initiator And
Contributors

[1] Model: Fronteer Strategy, 2009

5

5 Guiding Principles[2]
a people’s business. Successful Co-creation initiatives all share 5 common
rules:

Inspire participation: Trigger people to join your challenge: open up and
show what’s in it for them.

Select the very best: You need the best ideas and the best people to deal
with today’s complex issues.

Connect creative minds: You have to enable bright people to build on each
others ideas, both on- and off-line.

Share results
crucial.

Continue development: Co-creation is a longer-term engagement, in- and
outside your company. Only then it will deliver results

6 image: CC Flickr - AtomicShed

Continue
development
Share
results
Connect
creative minds
Select
the very best
Inspire
participation

[2] Model: Fronteer Strategy, 2009

7

Differentiators
parameters to screen the platforms
Because we wanted to compare platforms with each other, some parameters
had to be chosen.
We make a difference between differentiators that are measurable (pareters)
and differentiators that are listable.
The parameters are measured on a scale from 1 to 5. Each parameter is de-
scribed below and gives an idea of how the scale is chosen.
Other differentiators (not measurable), are mentioned in the cases. Mostly
in the key info, but often also in the plain text.

image: CC Flickr - Bruno Girin

Amount of people involved Dialogue/Interaction Freq. Used parameters for Co-creation platforms
The amount of people that is co-creating in one The amount of time people interact during the co-
project or available as a community. creation, and through which channels.
Possible results can be: Possible results can be Amount of people involved 1 5
less then 10 people (1) almost no interaction (1) Competition degree 1 5
around 50 people (2) low interaction (2)
Customer Competence 1 5
around 100 people (3) basic interaction (3)
Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5
around 1000 people (4) high interaction (4)
Project Duration 1 5
and more than 1000 (5) really high interaction (5)
Return for Participants 1 5

Competition Degree Project Duration
The degree of how high the competition is between How long does it take between the start and the
participants. end of (most) project? Other differentiators
Possible results can be: Possible results can be:
no competition (0) a single moment (1)
natural competition between co-creating parties couple of days (2) Type of rewards used
(1-2) couple of weeks (3) Revenue
competition with little rewards (3-4) couple of moths (4) Interaction Tools used?
real game-competition or competition out of single +1 year (5)
Scope
challenge solutions (5)
Area Focus
Number and types of creators involved
Reward System
Type of Seeker, Solver, Initiator
Customer Competence Return for Participants Project Phases
Business Model
What does the participant get in return for his co-
(Key Learnings for Misemo)
real co-creation way? creation contribution? These things are for sure not
Possible results can be: only physical goods. This can be as well fun, knowl-
almost no special skills/available for almost every- edge, interest, …
one (1-2) Scalable from
normal skills in combination with some experts (3), almost nothing (0)
some special skills are handy (4) a good return (3)
real special skills are needed (5) emotion and meaningful “giveback” (5)

9

Co-Creation Canvas
a visual map of 20 co-creation platforms
All cases have been mapped out in this “Co-creation Canvas”.
As reference for the value on the X-axis, we used the amount of “co-creation interac-
tion”. Platforms that score low are placed at the left side, platforms that score high
are mapped at the right side. On the Y-axis, the scope is mapped out. The scope can

Every platform is symbolized as a dot with its case reference number inside. Plat-
forms that make more money out of the co-creation process are visualized bigger
than others.

image: CC Flickr - Wayne Large

Legend
A Quirky
B Fold.it Wide
C Co creation Scope

D Open IDEO
E New Planet Ideas A
F harKopen G
G Flemish Living Lab
H Ushahidi
I M@norlabs S
J SloCat
K The OScarproject Low
D
High
Co-creation Co-creation
L CityNet O
Interaction Interaction
M c,mm,n P H
N Eco Mobility Tour Project
O MyMachine E
T
P Local Motors
Q eCars-Now! L F
M
R Open Source Battery Project C
S RedesignMe I
K Q
T Innocentive
J
B
R
Narrow
Scope

High Revenue Mid Revenue Low Revenue

11

TOOLS
methods to enlarge interaction
When designing a Co-Creation platform, it is important to include enough pos-
sibilities for interaction. Platforms where youcan’t interact in the right way slow
down or even die. “Interaction Tools” are important for the whole dynamic
structure of the platform, and make collaboration easier.

image: CC Flickr - Ian Britton

Points/Status Comments Achievements

OpenIdeo Quirky & many other platforms use the possibility to M@nor Labs uses different user-classes and user-
Instead of that, they can collect points to make their give comments on ideas. This way, community mem- types to make visible what people have achieved in
bers get the chance to review and build upon others’ the platform. The harder you collaborate (post ideas,
works in different phases (inspiration, concepting ideas. make comments, review others’ posts, …) the more
Comments keep an idea or post “alive” and makes it involved in the process you are, and the higher your
contribution in each phase. Aside from generating simple to collaborate in an short & fast way. “rank”. People can climb up, starting from “Beginning
content in the 3 phases, collaboration (giving feed- Innovators” to “Emerging Innovators”, to “Change
back, helping someone else out) gives also more
point and a higher DQ.

13

Expert Panel Voting Social Media

Quirky, The Flemisch Living Lab, M@nor Labs, and Open IDEO uses, as Facebook does, the “like button”, Open Planet Ideas uses besides Facebook (to attract
many other platforms use expert panels to make only they named it the “applause-button”. User can as many new people) also Twitter as a Brainstorm-
their ideas less subjective. Expert panels can be used applause other community-members to vote on their tool.
idea, mention a comment is nice, … The Build Hour was a 60-minute brainstorming
evaluation, …) Expert panels are people who are still It is the term applause that makes it more realistic. A session on Twitter, during which everyone rapidly
nice co-creation technique! posed, discussed, and expanded upon one another’s
they can make easier a decision. ideas. People shared 26 concepts and more than 250
tweets in an hour!

14

Local Wiki Crowdmapping Questionnaire

harKopen & eCars-Now! use wikis to store their in- Ushahidi uses CrowdMapping as main tool in their eCars Now! uses a basic questionnaire to collect
formation in a structured way. The fact that one glo- open source platforms. CrowdMapping gives the direct data-feedback from their users. Basic ques-
bal platform has several local wikis makes it easier to contributor the possibility to add information de- tions are asked to the community, which are used to
contribute on language level and gives it a real global pending on the place where it happens. This way make decisions on. This way the platform facilitator
background. local information can be viewed on global level.
Contributing and collaboration in your own language A number of other embedded tools make contribu- ideas.
is easier to do and evokes less boundaries. tion to the CrowdMap easierSMS, mail, voice to text,
…)

15

BENCHMARKS
study of 20 co-creation platforms

image: CC Flickr -Twicepix

A Quirky From Platform Perspective
Quirky is a platform which offers co-creation in the whole process (from ideation until sales). It pro-
www.quirky.com vides all the tools people need to “influence” a project or an idea, and to work together towards a good
end-product. Because people can be part of every step in the overall process, their contribution can be
really high. Even in sales: influencers are going to present/sell their product.
The fact that the platform is supported by the whole community and Quirky, makes it a strong struc-
ture where anybody can find a way to contribute in his/her own way.

From Solvers Perspective
Solvers, or better said creators, are encouraged to “influence” projects. This can be done in different
ways (research, voting, comments, ...). The bigger their influence (real-time measurement), the bigger
their reward (=money). This way people get more rewarded if they are more involved, which makes
everything more active.
The fact that the whole Quirky-community is pretty big at this moment, makes it possible to have a
huge user/community feedback. This way a product is a “team-product” where many people are proud
of (providing Quirky already a “social base” for pre-selling the new product).

From Seekers Perspective
From the moment Quirky “approves” a community-idea; Quirky is involved in every step that is made
afterwards. Quirky can get financial benefit either in the possibility to make money out of ideas in the
sales phase, or indirectly by collecting huge market data (which can be used in next projects). Every
week Quirky provides a new design brief for a new product; contribution as an individual is free! Only
if you like to “send” your own idea (not related to the design brief), you pay a little “upload-fee”. This is
besides a little bit money-making also a natural filter selecting only thought through concepts.
Overseeing the whole process at every step, is what makes Quirky so strong.

Key Learnings
• Give the easiest job to the crowd (generating ideas), work alone on the hardest part (finding best
Key Info manufacturers, engineering, ...).
US • Work together in between (feedback, branding) and afterwards (sales).
• Reward your co-creators in a way they think is correct and valuable
Category Crowd of People
• Give many tools to contribute in many ways (voting, messages, rating-systems, ...)
Scope New Product Development
Initiator Corporate (Quirky) Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation - Sales Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G The fact that Quirky scores high (as well on
Founded 2006 the X- as Y-axis), depends of course on the
Customer Competence 1 5 S different products that can be posted on the
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 platform, and a lot of co-creation tools are
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High provided to help the user contribute in a new
Focus Global Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction and/or existing product. Thanks to the com-
P H
Platform Description mission on sold products, Quirky has a high
Quirky is a co-creation platform for inventors. Users vote on new inventions based on their T E and balanced revenue model.
merit. Exceptional product ideas are promoted to prototype and eventually marketing phases,
receiving input from the community along the way. Weekly one community-voted concept is C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Rating
put into action; from idea to production. K Q
J • Voting
Keywords B
• Making Comments
Weekly New Products - Inventions - Community - % of Sales as Reward - R • Social Media
R
Narrow • Expert Panel
Scope

B Foldit From Platform Perspective
As all other cases are platforms or real-life co-creations, Fold-it uses an interesting feature to solve
www.fold.it problems: play. People can play either alone or solve puzzles “in group”. This makes the game both col-
laborative, and competitive.
Why is this a co-creation example and another game like “World of Warcarft” not? Maybe this last one
is also an example, but with fold.it the focus is something to solve in real life (science problems), where
in other games this doesn’t exist.

The solvers know they are helping the platform with solving “science problems”, but it is not their drive
to do so. The profile of the foldit-seekers are people who are looking for nice puzzles to solve. The
more difficult, the more interesting, and the more they like it.
Because every puzzle comes with a competition amongst other players, the player gets even more “in
to the game”. Problems become puzzles, solutions become game-achievements.

Fold-it is an interesting way to solve the problems universities were looking for: unfolding protein
structures through a video game. Saying it is cheaper than rewarding people for it, is maybe not some-
thing that can be said immediately. The development of the game, analyses, ... takes a lot of time as well
(= money). On the other hand, the total set-up is on university-level; which makes it easier to do so.
Implying this model on corporate-level, means the initiator needs a high set of skills/€ to start such an
initiative.

Key Learnings
• People don’t always have to be rewarded in physical things. Fun can also be a good “return”.
Key Info • Gamification is a technique that becomes more and more important in online platforms/websites.
US • Making a co-creation tool for solvers starts already with co-creating as a seeker yourself (different
departments of university join in one project).
Scope Solving Science Problems
Initiator University Wide
Scope
Phases Design Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Because of the narrow scope (protein struc-
Founded 2008 tures), Foldit is almost on the bottom of the
Customer Competence 1 5 S scope line (Y-axis). Thanks to the several
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 “tools” and the possibility to collaborate with
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High others to solve puzzles, we can consider them
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction as a platform with mid co-creation interac-
P H
Platform Description tion possibilities.
E
FoldIt is an experimental video game about protein folding, developed as a collaboration be- T
tween the University of Washington’s departments of Computer Science and Engineering and
Biochemistry. Gamers use their human skills to do research to protein structures in a fun way, C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Points & Status (~Gamification)
where computers have problems to fulfill these tasks. K Q
J • Social Media
Keywords B
• Forum
University - Game Co-creation - Solving Science Problems - Fun as a Reward R • Wiki
Narrow
Scope

C Co Creation From Platform Perspective
The idea behind the platform is finding people who like to share ideas about “New Energy problems”
www.cocreation.pt and/or who like to make suggestions for the distribution of it. Making this open source could give the
people the drive to join (they can read through all generated content, …) But there it stops...
The platform has a lack of tools to bring these challenges to live. People can only comment and discuss
with each other in specific fields or through a blog.

It is easy to join as a “solver” on this platform, little registration is necessary. But directly as you do so,
you can feel the platform is not “alive”. And this is the first step that is really important for people to
contribute. As long it is not visible that a platform is alive, people won’t contribute (because in the first
place they don’t feel as they get something back) and the platform stays in the same “frozen” loop.

A platform as this, from company side, is possible but you have to make choices. EDP is, at this moment,
somewhere in between. It is not clear what their role is in the platform; is it to generate new ideas for
EDP and to make money out of it (of course this it, but for the solvers it is not clear), or is this a platform
of being open-source and setting up a community of kindred spirits?
Communicate good to your user, and they will communicate back. Do this wrong and they will take a
step back.

Key Learnings
• People who “join” want to see/experience a breathing/living platform. Not something that is dead.
Key Info • With only a forum and providing the possibility to comment on projects, people don’t have the
PT proper tools to co-create as they should be able to.
• Not rewarding people is possible, only when they get “something else” in return (content, play, ...)
Scope New Energy Ideas
Initiator Corporate (edc) Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Co-creation is one of the “this is not working”
Founded 2008 examples. The lack of proper tools to collab-
Customer Competence 1 5 S orate and the rather narrow scope, makes it
Country Portugal Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 very hard to sustain as a platform.
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High Thanks to the financial input from EDP, co-
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction creation is still able to “exist”.
P H
Platform Description
E
Co-creation is a platform where individuals and companies can talk about new possibilities/ T
concepts in the Energy Sector. (e.g. Energy efficiency, eMobility, …) The platform initiator is
EDP, a Portuguese energy distributor. People don’t get rewarded for contribution. It is all C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Making Comments
about sharing interest and being open-source. K Q
J • Forum
Keywords B
Energy distributor - Platform - eMobility - Energy efficiency - OpenSource R
Narrow
Scope

D Open IDEO From Platform Perspective
The OpenIdeo platform is a bit the same as other more commercial examples where people get re-
www.openideo.com warded if they find a good solution for a “challenge” (e.g. Innocentive). With OpenIDEO, the reward-
system is based on recognition. People are contributing “for the better” and to increase their “Design
Quotient” (a way of telling how much a person has contributed to the platform). The platform provides
lots of tools to share ideas. Because of that, and in combination with the “non-reward-method”, it has
a strong platform-structure. Splitting up the design process in different phases makes it easy to take
decisions.

People don’t get physical things back for contributing. It is the joy of working together with lots of
people in one project and the recognition (~exposure) out of that what makes the solver to participate.
Because of the 3 different phases, people can contribute more easily to the phase in which they’re
good at.
One specific project in collaboration with Sony and WWF has been scoped out; evaluated seperately
as a different case.

Most challenges are posted by companies. OpenIDEO approves only interesting/valuable challenges
and only if they are “for the Social Good”. As such, there is already a good filter from the beginning.
Outcomes are Open Source but can be used to make it “real” if seeker & solver are both interested in
finding collaborative partners.
Not sure about this, but companies probably have to make a little contribution to IDEO after the project, if
that is in their power.

Key Learnings
• People contribute for free if they see the benefit of the project or get the recognition they’re look-
Key Info ing for.
US • Splitting up the design process in phases makes it easier to choose ideas/concepts.
Scope Problems for Social Good
Initiator Corporate Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation - Design Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G OpenIDEO has some really nice embedded
Founded 2010 collaboration tools, which makes it easy to
Customer Competence 1 5 S collaborate and co-create with others. On the
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 other hand, the specific scope of “problems
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High for the Social Good”, in combination with al-
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction most any possibility to solve those problems,
P H
Platform Description balances out the Y-axis.
E
OpenIDEO is a platform where people/companies post challenges “for the social good”, which T
can be solved through 3 phases: inspiration, concepting, and evaluation. Community mem-
bers can contribute in a variety of different ways, from inspirational observations and photos, C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Forum
sketches of ideas, to business models and snippets of code. Everything is open-source. K Q
J • Making Comments
Keywords B
• Visual Collaboration Map
Challenges - Social Good - 3 Phases - OpenSource • “Applause” Ideas (= like)
R
Narrow • Uploading different Media Content
Scope

E Open Planet Ideas From Platform Perspective
The structure of this platform is completely the same as the OpenIDEO platform; some more tools are
www.openplanetideas.com provided though (more social media connection, more language abilities, ...). Also very important is the
addition of the “realisation”-phase. This makes the platform and the project more tangible. Because
the website covers only one project, the project duration is really clear and people know what they
can expect and when. Providing a clear communication and letting the user know which next steps are
taken in the process makes everything more concrete.

The drive for people is a little bit different from a normal project on OpenIDEO. Because they are hav-
ing only one project on the platform, the goal of what will happen is more clear and the contribution
for that is also easier to communicate. People don’t get ﬁnancial rewards for putting their ideas in the
cloud, the “winning prize” is just being in the spotlights and getting recognition for your idea. You can
get the chance to work with a big company that will make your idea tangible. The sustainable part is
very important here. Nowadays, people want to care about the environment, and want to make their
contribution to a better world: putting a world-changing idea on a platform.

Also here (~ Fold-it) two separated parties join together to cooperate and make one co-creation
project. WWF supports from the sustainability side, where Sony supports from the technology side.
They both need each other to make the co-creation easier to access for a broader audience. Thanks to
the cooperation, the platform attracts both people interested in Sony and others interested in sustain-
ability. A good sustainable project can’t survive when it doesn’t has the proper technology, and a good
technology project can’t survive without a good context. Providing a platform in 5 main languages,
makes this a really global project, where both initiators will get huge “diverse local insights”.

Key Learnings
• Making the platform accessible in different languages, makes it more “glocal”. More people can
Key Info contribute, more diverse input is generated.
US • Starting idea generation with existing technologies makes concepts stronger and more realistic.
• Adding a realisation phase, makes it more interesting for solvers to contribute.
• Use the network-access of your company to reward your TOP-contributors with “fame” and put
Scope Technology for Sustainability them into the spotlights (~achievement).

Initiator Corporate (Sony & WWF) Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation - Realisation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G OpenIDEO and Open Planet Ideas are almost
Founded 2010 the same (have the same structure). The spe-
Customer Competence 1 5 S ciﬁc focus on “technology for sustainability”,
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 and the enlargement with the realisation-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High phase, gives it a very high interaction score (X
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction axis).
P H
E
Open Planet Ideas is a co-creation project of SONY & WWF, based on the OpenIDEO plat- T
form. Where normally the 3 phases of Ideo are used to generate concepts, here the realisation
phase has been added. With the platform they are looking for concepts where the technology C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Forum
of Sony can be used to generate ideas for a sustainable future. K Q
J • Making Comments
Keywords B
• Expert Panel
Sony&WWF - Sustainability - Different Phases - OpenSource - Exposure • Social Media
R
Narrow • “Applause” Ideas (= like)
Scope • Uploading different Media Content

F harKopen From Platform Perspective
This platform is totally Open Source. No companies posting challenges, no specific rules for what can
www.harkopen.com go to another phase or not, ...
The fact that this “platform” runs by its own users makes it a powerful community-platform, where
ideas level-up to a better product.
Providing an offline- (city work spaces) as well as an online space (the platform) improves the motiva-
tion to collaborate, and makes harKopen both global and hyperlocal.

The platform set-up was made to share/discuss projects with people with the same interest. People
join this community because they are interested in the content. It is not about finding as many people
that want to contribute with fresh ideas; it is about finding kindred spirits who want to give you advise
and help you finalizing YOUR PROJECT.
Aside from that, also other things are discussed in the community: where to buy the best parts online,
what is the best local store, ...

As said before, this is a community of kindred spirits. People are looking for “people like me” to work
together and to get feedback. Of course the virtual space has its limits when designing real hardware.
HarKopen maps several local “Hackerspaces”, where people with common interests meet in real life.
Thanks to this “local-minded approach”, the motivation of participation in harKopen is influenced in
real life as well as online. People don’t participate because they can win prizes, rewards, ... They par-
ticipate because it is the platform that brings all the “people like me” together, and where they can talk
with peers from all over the world.

Key Learnings
• Providing an offline as well as an online space improves motivation to collaborate on the platform.
Key Info • People are always looking for other “people like me”.
RO • Communities of Kindred Spirits don’t need competition, this can lead to envy and bad collabora-
tion.
Category Community of Kindred Spirits
Scope Electronics & Open-Source
Initiator Group of People Wide
Scope
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Thanks to the many local hackerspaces, in
Founded 2010 combination with the platform, harKopen
Customer Competence 1 5 S provides several tools and ways to collabo-
Country Romania Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 rate between community-members.
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High The focus on electronics makes it still rather
Focus Global/(Hyper)Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction narrow.
P H
E
HarKopen is an open source internet community with the main goal of helping the world inter- T
connect. By offering service, web tools & help, people can post electronics projects, the com-
munity can grow faster together and make awesome open tech. No competition: people post C
L
M
F
Used Tools
ideas and build together on what and with whom they like. K Q
J • Social Media
Keywords B
• Local Wiki
Electronics - Online and Offline co-creation - Open Source • Real Life Workshops
R
Narrow
Scope

G Flemish Living Lab Platform From Platform Perspective
The Flemish Living Lab Platform is a good example of an offline co-creation initiative. Where for a good
www.vlaamsproeftuinplatform.be/en online platform, the provided communication-tools are important to keep the platform alive and well,
here the organisation structure is really important.
Typical projects run for one single year, where the interaction frequence is really high. Again the
project-timing is crucial for keeping the project “alive”. People know what they can expect and are
more comfortable to act on that.

The participation of the user in the living lab is rather one directional. They co-create together with
all other existing parties to think about new possibilities, giving feedback, ... but are not involved in
the overall process. Their rewards for contribution are mostly financial, but that doesn’t exclude they
might be participating out of other interests.
Once people are recruited, they are also “available” for other projects, no matter what the subject may
be.

The Flemish Living Lab is a government initiative, led by and in cooperation with different companies.
Main organizer is a Belgian telecom operator (Telenet). Collaborating with different parties makes it
possible to test different cases at the same time. It is perfectly possible that in one test-project both
Internet-data-analyses and energy-efficiency are tested. Within this structure, different companies
are working together, opening doors for collaboration in new innovative products and services.

Key Learnings
• Real-life co-creation with different parties needs a proper cooperation structure between all dif-
Key Info ferent parties
BE
• When you want really valuable user feedback you have to go to the place where they feel most
comfortable (= their home) to get the most relevant result.
Category Club of Experts
Scope Testing Products/Services
Initiator Corporate & Government Wide
Scope
Phases Testing Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Thanks to the possibilities to co-create with
Founded 2010 several companies, the scope of the Flemish
Customer Competence 1 5 S Living Lab project is, or better said can be,
Country Belgium Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 very wide. The lack of a good combination be-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High tween online and offline collaboration makes
Focus Hyperlocal Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction it an example, where the co-creation interac-
P H
Platform Description tion is rather low.
E
The Flemish Living Lab Platform supports private and public organizations, associations or in- T
dividuals who want to perform living lab research. Experimentation and co-creation with real
users in their own living environment. Users, researchers, businesses and government are C
L
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F
Used Tools
I • Real life Co-creation
jointly involved in finding innovative solutions, products, services and viable business models. K Q
J • User Feedback
Keywords B
• Expert Panel
Experimentation - Real life Co-creation - Testing - User Feedback- Different Parties R
Narrow
Scope

H Ushahidi From Platform Perspective
Ushahidi itself is not a platform for co-creation. It is a company, providing software and tools to make
www.ushahidi.com co-creation possible. Their greatest example is the open-source crowdmapping possibility: a way to
collect data in a specific area, generated by the people in that area. One example is http://syriatracker.
crowdmap.com, where people try to map the different types of crimes in Syria.

Most tools are used for solving problems that are society based, which are often local. As for example
with the Syria Crime Map, all people in Syria “who don’t like crime” are possible contributors. Projects
who use the Ushahidi mapping tool start mostly with a group of kindred spirits or goals.
Providing different ways to collaborate in the crowdmapping (through email, text, SMS, ..), a good par-
ticipation-base is created for people who like to contribute.

In this case the “seekers” are not the people of Ushahidi itself, it are the users of the tools. Mostly seek-
ers and solvers are the same people (~kindred spirit). It are people who care about a common problem
that is supported by the “real-life” local community.
“It is an aim to provide a better place for you and your loved-ones”: this is mostly the starting point for
the seekers’s initiative to use this open source tool.

Key Learnings
• Making it possible to contribute online in many offline ways (SMS, voice to speech, ...) makes the
Key Info platform more valuable
• If your project gets the support of the “offline”-community it has a good base for action
KE

Scope Information Collection
Scope
Phases Research Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Ushahidi is a nice example of a good average
Founded 2008 co-creation platform. The amount of interac-
Customer Competence 1 5 S tion tools are limited, but used in a very effi-
Country Kenia Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 cient way (through social media, SMS, ...). The
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High fact that one open-source tool can be used in
Focus Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction different fields makes the scope not too wide,
P H
Platform Description and not to narrow.
E
Ushahidi is a non-profit tech company that develops free and open source software for infor- T
mation collection, visualization and interactive mapping.
Being open-source it can be formed fast to anybody’s shape/design and put directly online for C
L
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F
Used Tools
I • Crowdmapping
crowdmapping. K Q
J • Social Media
Keywords B
• Mobile Contribution
Crowdmapping - OpenSource - Information Collection - Visualisation R
Narrow
Scope

I M@nor Labs From Platform Perspective
This is also a platform where people get rewarded for their ideas and concepts in virtual points. Work-
www.manorlabs.org ing, as OpenIDEO, with 3 different phases (Incubation, Validation and Emergence) makes it easier to
contribute and to make selections.
The whole game concept behind the platform, combined with the original city-store (people can use
their earnings to become mayor for one day, to “buy” a city T-shirt, ...) makes it a platform with different
participation levels.

The main goal for the participant, after providing ideas for HIS ideal city where he/she lives, is to earn
points. For various actions performed on the site, users earn those points. Members can earn for dif-
ferent activities, including posting content and ideas, reviewing, voting, and investing wisely in ideas.
The more value you add to the site, the more currency you will earn.
In this way it is not only possible to contribute/collaborate in different ways, but also to collect your
rewards in different ways. Again like in fold-it, a lot of gamification techniques are used to keep the
“solver” active and to come back to the platform.

As the platform has a rather simple structure, the feedback that the city gets from the solvers is really
interesting. They succeed in having a nice platform where a lot of tools and elements are providing a
good structure for co-creation; with a low financial effort. Because of the personal interest of the solv-
ers in the platform (the results will directly influence their lives), the effort the seeker has to do can be
lower compared with other co-creation platforms.

Key Learnings
• A lot of gamification techniques are used; not only to let the user participate, but to get them back
Key Info to the platform after a while.
• People are willing to co-create on things they care about (~their own street, city)
US
• Special rewards make “winning” more personal (mayor for one day, Ride Out with the Chief of the
Police, ...)
Scope Government 2.0
Initiator Government Wide
Scope
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G When we look to the Y-axis, we can see that
Founded 2008 the scope is rather narrow. This thanks to the
Customer Competence 1 5 S local “problem solving” issue and the focus to
Country United States (Texas) Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 solve only city-problems.
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High The creativity of the online platform in the
Focus Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction way people can contribute/get rewarded/...
P H
Platform Description makes it possible to co-create in many ways.
E
Manor Labs is the official research and development division of the City of Manor, Texas. Man- T
or is a small, but growing, community of about 6,500 innovators (citizens) located on the out-
skirts of Austin. People work together on Government 2.0 and give ideas how they can im- C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Making Comments/Reviews
prove their city. People can get small rewards for good ideas. K Q
J • Liking
Keywords B
• Social Media
Ideas for the City - Texas (US) - Government 2.0 - Online/Offline • Expert Panel
R
Narrow • Reward Store
Scope

J SLoCat Co-creation?
SLoCaT is a voluntary multi- stakeholder initiative and documented on the UN participation-list.
www.slocat.net The thematic scope of the Partnership is on land transport in developing countries and includes freight
and passenger transport. Both motorized and non-motorized transport is included. The geographical
scope of the Partnership includes developing countries. The Partnership will initially focus on Asia,
Latin America and Africa.
The Partnership has as its overall goal to mobilize global support to reduce the growth of GHG emis-
sions generated by land transport in developing countries by promoting more sustainable, low carbon
transport.

This eMobility partnership, is a partnership to map the knowledge about this speciﬁc topic.
Because the initiative focus on the mapping of knowledge and has not the direct aim to makes some-
thing together, this is not a co-creation initiative.
This doesn’t mean that it could not be useful for a good co-creation platform. SLoCaT-members could
be part of an expert panel when designing an eMobility platform.
It is the knowledge what makes this eMobility-group valuable. They don’t have the direct aim to trans-
form knowledge in new concepts/services/...

Key Learnings
• When designing a co-creation platform it can be necessary to select a group of expert that helps
Key Info you validate decisions. These expert can already exist in “knowledge-partnerships”.

Category Coalition of Parties
Scope Low Carbon Transport
Scope
Phases Knowledge Exchange Amount of people involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition degree 1 5 G As described in the Key Info, SloCat is a typi-
Founded 2009 cal example of a “coalition of different par-
Customer Competence 1 5 S ties”. These structures are more often based
Country Asia, Africa, Latin Am. Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 on transmitting & sharing knowledge. They
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High are not building together on one project. Be-
Focus Global/Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction cause of this; most coalition of parties score
P H
Platform Description rather low on X- and Y-axis.
E
SLoCaT (the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport) improves the knowledge on T
sustainable low carbon transport, helps develop better policies and catalyse their implemen-
tation. Over 50 organizations have joined the Partnership, including UN organizations, multi- C
L
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F
Used Tools
I • Expert Panel
lateral development banks, technical cooperation agencies, NGOs, research organizations, ... K Q
J
Keywords B
Low Carbon Transport - Knowledge Exchange - Different Parties R
Narrow
Scope

Ready for an awesome new innovation project?
Let’s co-create together... Connect!

Mo re Cases

image: CC Flickr -Ben Cooper
17

K OScar From Platform Perspective
The Oscar Project is a typical small co-creation project of a community of kindred spirits.
www.theoscarproject.org It is an eMobility platform where people are trying to build an open-source car with the things they
have. The lack of several tools, the uneasiness to immediate access (~only after registration) and the
high standard of competence before you can contribute, makes this a rather small & exclusive co-cre-
ation initiative.

Although the project is open-source, the OScar community itself is rather closed. This does not mean
that everyone can’t join the community. It is free! After giving you a login and password, you can con-
tribute to the project through the Wiki.
This co-creation platform, or shall we say co-creation collective, is a perfect example of people who
like to find other “people like me”, to start together a common-shared initiative.

Because of the rather closed community of kindred spirits, the solvers and seekers are the same. This
initiative was started by a group of 4. Let’s say the seeker is not a seeker anymore, it becomes more the
facilitator who guides his peer-solvers through the process.
This way it is always possible that communication between solvers/seekers happens in a more familiar
way, with the risk that not everything is communicated in the cloud (and some things might get lost).

Key Learnings
• Give the users already an idea of how they can contribute before they have to make a user account.
Key Info This way, you don’t create false expectations.
DE

Scope Open Source Car
Initiator Group of People Wide
Scope
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G The rather basic collaboration-structure of
Founded v0.1 1999 / v0.2 2006 the OScar project makes it difficult to com-
Customer Competence 1 5 S municate and collaborate in different ways.
Country Germany Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 It is the wiki that is used as main interaction-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High tool. This tool is good for structuring almost
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction everything online. Really making comments
P H
Platform Description and replying is rather difficult. For this they
OScar is an open-source project where people try to make a new innovative car through an T E use a forum.
online community. Everyone who likes to participate can join. OScar 1.0 started in 1999; in
2006 the second release started. C
L
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F
Used Tools
K Q
I • Forum
J • Wiki
Keywords B
Open Source Car-Online Community R
Narrow
Scope

L CITYNET Co-creation?
CITYNET was officially established in 1987 at the Nagoya Congress (N’LAP) in Japan with the support
www.citynet.org of different organizations.
From that point on CITYNET has maintained its mission to promote cooperative links and partner-
ships throughout the Asia-Pacific in order to improve the sustainability of our cities.

Any city whose population is higher than 100,000 citizens or organisation that share the activities
and goals of CITYNET may apply for membership. Increasingly, cities and organisations have seen the
relevance of being part of CITYNET. Members have benefited from the various aspects of urban exper-
tise and have easier access to numerous sources.

The goal is to create ‘People-Friendly Cities’ that are socially just, ecologically sustainable, politically
participatory, economically productive, ... CITYNET aims to achieve this goal by acting as a focal point
for promoting exchange of expertise and experience among all urban stakeholders, particularly be-
tween local authorities and civil society groups. In this way, CITYNET endeavours to strengthen the
capabilities of local governments to effectively manage the urban development process and to build
partnerships between various stakeholders.

When talking about co-creation, CITYNET is a better example than SLoCaT (case J). With CITYNET,
there is a clear objective: “create people-friendly cities”. The fact that they like to do so by bringing dif-
ferent parties together, makes them the engine behind any co-creation project that can come out of
CITYNET.

Key Learnings
• Co-creation can be about bringing the right parties together to reach a specific goal.
Key Info
Category Coalition of Parties
Scope Urban Sustainability
Scope
Phases Knowledge Exchange Amount of people involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition degree 1 5 G As said in the SloCat-case, “coalition of par-
Founded 1987 ties” score rather low on X- and Y-axis.
Customer Competence 1 5 S In this case, CITYNET is looking for sharing
Country Asia Pacific Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 knowledge, but out of that knowledge mak-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High ing projects, together with their coalition-
Focus Global/(Hyper)Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction members.
P H
E
CITYNET (The Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settle- T
ments) is a Network committed to helping local authorities improve the lives of its citizens and
create the urban sustainability across Asia-Pacific and beyond. C
L
M
F
Used Tools
K Q
I • Expert Panels
J
Keywords B
Sustainability - Knowledge Exchange - Different Parties R
Narrow
Scope

M c,mm,n From Platform Perspective
The c,mm,n community is, as other eMobility projects, a project to “invent” car 2.0.
www.cmmn.org Thanks to a specially designed collaboration website (only available after registration) and by splitting
the project into different “workspaces”; everyone can contribute to what only he/she likes.
Again registration makes it a higher effort to contribute. Only here it may be something positive. It is a
filter to void “spam”. Because c,mm,n is a community of kindred spirits, things like registration should
be no problem: of course only if it is clear what can be expected and what can be done afterwards
(showing videos as they do)!

As there are worldwide enough possibilities to contribute to 2.0 cars; most platforms are constructed
in a basic way: attracting only basic people. Thanks to the sponsorships of different parties (govern-
ment, banks, ICT-platform builders, ..) c,mm,n can offer a nice Online Collaboration Platform where
ideas can be shared and people can find other “people like me”.
Of course the idea is the same for every platform. People contribute in a community of kindred spirits
because they like that. Only here the tools are helping to do that better and more efficient.

c,mm,n is a project of Dutch universities in collaboration with an NGO. The Society for Nature and En-
vironment is an independent organisation dedicated to a healthy environment, a rich ecosystem and
beauty in the natural landscape. They lobby among governmental authorities and the corporate and
political sectors for sustainable solutions to issues on nature and the environment.
The c,mm,n project is something that is part of their vision and policy. Thanks to the sponsorships of
different parties, the project can be something more than just a wiki.

Key Learnings
• Splitting a difficult project up in small parts (~workspaces) makes it easier to contribute as an indi-
Key Info NL
vidual with only a little bit of competence in one field.
• If you are an individual: find sponsors to finance your platform and to make it better. For you, and
your users.
Scope Open Source Car
Initiator Universities + NGO Wide
Scope
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Because c,mm,n is an initiative from univer-
Founded 2008 sities & NGO, the possibilities to interact
Customer Competence 1 5 S are larger than other platform with a similar
Country Netherlands Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 project (OScar, ..) The fact that they built a
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High special online collaboration platform, where
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction users can interact/share/post/..., the platform
P H
Platform Description can distinguish itself from others.
E
c,mm,n (pronounce as common), is a dutch open-source platform for sustainable, individual T
mobility. C,mm,n focuses on electrical vehicles and tries to built car 2.0: open-source and glo-
bal; while also adopting a broader ambition in new mobility. C
L
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Used Tools
K Q
I • Special Collaboration Platform
J • Wiki
Keywords B
Open Source Car- Platform - Online Community R
Narrow
Scope

N Eco Mobility Tour Project Co-creation?
This co-creation project is being developed to facilitate the mobility of millions of travellers through-
www.greenmobility.com.br out the world. The initiative is initiated by Green Mobility, but they’re calling on universities, cities and
consultants to be part of this project worldwide.
Any city can participate by sending information about their systems of mobility, modal integration,
integrated ticketing and facilities for citizens and tourists. Right now they are cataloguing systems and
cities that would like to participate in a first test.

The proposed Eco-Mobility Tour is to provide the traveller (internal and external) information about
Sustainable Urban Mobility in cities around the world. Through a multi- lingual platform this will inte-
grate Flights Possible, plan an overland journey in Santiago, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Beijing, Singapore,
Berlin, New York, Munich, Paris or Barcelona.

Goals?
How much is a taxi fare in Brazil? How much is a taxi fare in Seattle? How to rent a bike? How to find
a ride? How to split a cab? What is the cheapest way to make a trip around the city? What is the most
sustainable way?
It is better to rent a car? Or be part of a system of car-sharing? For a tourist on the best ticket for travel
on Berlin? Where are the points of car-sharing and eco-bike in Mexico City?
How to get the best from each city through their systems cyclo-road, road, rail and subway? How to
get a Ticket? Understanding the mobility systems of cities? What are the solutions to the population
of cities and tourism?

As it is not really clear what the final outcome will be, we have to wait until January 2012!

Key Learnings
• Again the multi- language possibility is available
Key Info • Release with the idea that a lot of people will visit “foreign cities” during world-wide events (Lon-
don 2012 Olympics Games, Brazil World Cup 2014, Rio de Janeiro Olimpic Games 2016)
Scope Sustainable Urban Mobility BR

Scope
Phases Ideation + Mapping
A
Co-creation Map
G No mapping possible at this moment...
Founded 2012 Scope chosen
is too narrow
S
Country Brazil
Low D High
Interaction P
Interaction
H
E
Green Mobility is originally a consultancy studio, now developing a mechanism which im- T
proves sustainable mobility in companies and governments. With their Eco-Mobility Tour
project, they will provide travellers and citizens information about Sustainable Urban Mobil- C
L
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F
A lot of space
Used Tools
I available • tbd
ity in cities around the world. The project will launch January 2012. K Q
J
Keywords B
Sustainable Urban Mobility - Cities - Worldwide - Travelling R
Narrow
Scope

O My Machine From Platform Perspective
MyMachine is not really a platform. It is an offline co-creation project between three parties: elemen-
www.mymachine.be/en tary schools (who “invent” out of the box dream machines), universities (who transform the ideas in
realistic working machines and who lead the project) and high schools (who build the machine until a
real, working prototype).
Co-creation here is more about the process, and less about having a practical end result.

At the end, when an idea has become a reality; everyone can see their input. For the elementary school
children, it is their invention that has become reality. Of course it is not always exactly the same, but it
is still close enough to be “his/her idea”. For the high school students it is about making this project real
and being proud of what they can make out of a construction plan of a designer.
The designer at last has overseen the process and is the one who is responsible to transforming crazy
ideas into a real machine. Of course all parties get degrees for participating in the project. It is still a
school environment.

Here the seekers are more the teachers who cooperate with their class. The first goal is not to come up
with a realisation that is a really good design, but with a good collaboration and co-creation between
the three parties (elementary-school, high school and universities). Working from idea until realisa-
tion, with the help of different parties, is what makes this project so interesting.

Key Learnings
• Working with children is good to get new fresh ideas. When filtering those ideas through a de-
Key Info signer, you can come up with real innovative and surprising outcomes.
BE

Scope Inventing “Dream Machines”
Initiator University Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation -Realisation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Offline co-creation problems have always
Founded 2009 more problems with interactions between us-
Customer Competence 1 5 S ers (and content of course). Because MyMa-
Country Belgium Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 chine is more about the “I build something”-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High ”give it to someone else”- “and he/she
Focus Hyper Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction upgrades it”; the interaction between three
P H
Platform Description parties is not that high as would be possible.
E
MyMachine is a non-for-profit initiative for small and large children that want to have their T
‘dream machine’ realised and working. Children from elementary school come up with ideas,
these are transformed to tangible and realistic machines by university design students, and in C
L
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F
Used Tools
I • Expert Panel
a later phase, the products are build until real working prototypes by highschools. K Q
J • Real life Co-creation
Keywords B
Schools - Children - Inventors- Dream Machines - Collaboration - Process R
Narrow
Scope

P Local Motors From Platform Perspective
Local Motors has a large community of car designers and engineers, who are making cars through open
Www.local-motors.com collaboration. Not all car ideas are put into reality. Only the cars that are chosen by the community go
to another phase where they are upgraded on a technical level through co-creation (and where people
all over the world work & communicate with the people of Local Motors).

Many people dream about building their own car, but they don’t have the ability to do so themselves
(or they lack the proper skills). Thanks to this co-creation method they are able to participate in the
design-process of a car and people can share knowledge with fellow co-creators. After the technical
phase is ended, the car is manufactured in Micro Factories. This makes it able to customize the car
as you like. From competition stage to co-creation phase, and ﬁnally the personalisation phase. The
solver or collaborator has all the methods to make this project his/her own.

Local Motors is a company that made, with this co-creation project, a business-model which has sever-
al innovative blocks. Because the whole structure and process is part of the big community, community
members become directly their customers.
Working with limited series, and micro factories, makes the car not only an exclusive object; it is also
something that can be put into realisation without making too big investments. This makes this project
both global and local!

Key Learnings
• Competition in an early stage, and pure co-creation in the phase that follows, ensures a good
Key Info amount of people to start co-creating with.
• Working with local micro factories enables ﬂexibility in realisation and ensures no big investments
US
have to be made.
Scope Designing new Cars
Initiator Corporate (LM) Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation -Sales Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G By itself, the structure of the Local Motors
Founded 2008 Platform is basic. What is really nice is the
Customer Competence 1 5 S whole idea behind it (producing in micro fac-
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 tories, ..) As long as people are willing to pay
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High double the prize of a normal car, this concept
Focus Global + Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction can keep itself alive. The moment that this
P H
Platform Description willingness stops might they have a problem...
E
Local Motors gives people the opportunity to build their own cars through co-creation. T
Voted concepts are worked out. From sketch to sales (in micro factories). Only 2000 copies of
every design will be made. C
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F
Used Tools
K Q
J • Reviewing Ideas
Keywords B
• Forum
Car Design - Build your Own - Creative Comments - Co-creation • Voting
R
Narrow
Scope

Q eCars-Now! From Platform Perspective
eCar-Now! is not only a platform driven by a common interest. It is a necessity for the initiators be-
ecars-now.wikidot.com/ cause they want results as soon as possible.
Started as a local project, it transformed in a global collaboration project with several “local”-wikis,
providing collaboration possibilities to a group of kindred spirits.
As the chosen scope is rather narrow, they made a nice model for a private project.

The fact that the platform is in English but all the contributions can be made in local languages, makes
it easy to contribute. This enables the formation of offline groups and real-life meetings. It is true, as
they say, that local communities are important; not only to meet people face-to-face, but to make lo-
gistics easier in the realisation-phase.

The project-owners are some individuals who wanted to get a modern electric car for a reasonable
price and as quickly as possible. They figured out that the easiest way to get it for oneself is to make it
available for everyone. After translating their community-website in English; people all over the world
are joining the project.

Key Learnings
• Using Local Wiki-structures makes language no barrier and makes it possible to map directly the
Key Info FI “globalness” of the project. Also logistics can be handled easier in the future.
• From only Finnish to English to 12 different languages!
Scope Modern Electric Car
Initiator Group of individuals Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation -Sales* Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Because of the rather narrow scope (con-
Founded 2008 verting car to electrical one), their “people
Customer Competence 1 5 S involved” is rather small. Thanks to the local
Country Finland Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 wiki and some other tools, people can con-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High tribute worldwide and with each other.
Focus Global + Local Co-creation O Co-creation
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction P
Interaction
H
E
eCars-Now! is an open community, started in Finland 2008, devoted to develop high quality T
electric car conversions available for everyone. Everything happens open source and in co-
creation with as many people as like to participate. C
L
M
F
Used Tools
I • Questionnaire
*Cars are sold without profit, the prize is only to cover the costs. K Q
J • Several local Wikis
Keywords B
Electric Car - Open Source - Co-creation R
Narrow
Scope

R Open Source Battery Project From Platform Perspective
The Platform of the Open Source Battery Project For Electrical Vehicles is a rather closed environment.
autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/OSBP4EVs/ Only registered community members can view the files and collaborate with other members. The lack
of several collaboration tools and the very specific scope; makes this a more non-public project than
an open-source platform.
OSBP4EV is a nice example of an online community with co-creation out of common interest and with
as low financial input as possible.

A little bit the same as the car 2.0 ideation platforms, it is a group of kindred spirits that wants to find
other “people like me” to work in a global way to a common goal.
As said before, it is not the aim to make money out of the platform. Giving money to new prototypes
is more important than having a good website. The contributors found their own way to communicate
the best.

Again the seekers are a group of individuals who like to find as many other people worldwide with
whom they can share their ideas. As it is a narrow subject, it is also not possible to handle this individu-
ally with a large community. The small community with basic communication techniques is perfect for
this project. On the other hand, it would be nice if an open-source co-creation platform would be avail-
able for smaller groups to collaborate in a open/closed system. On this moment they have to look for
wikis or yahoo-groups.

Key Learnings
• Making a project rather closed in the first place is not good for collecting new members.
Key Info • Suggestion: maybe this kind of project would better work in co-creation with broader car 2.0
projects.
?
Scope Open Source Battery
Initiator Group of individuals Wide
Scope
Phases Ideation-Realisation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G With one of the smallest scopes, also the most
Founded 2007 small platform of all cases. Still an example
Customer Competence 1 5 S that (global) co-creation can exist for really
Country ? Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 specific problems and/or products...
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High
Interaction
H
E
The OSBP4EVs is an attempt to gather the expertise of many to design low cost battery solu- T
tions for Electric Vehicles and Hybrids. In addition a suitable charger/battery management
system needs to be designed that can charge and maintain these packs. C
L
M
F
Used Tools
K Q
I • Yahoo Group
J
Keywords B
Batteries - Open Source - Sharing Knowledge R
Narrow
Scope

S Redesignme From Platform Perspective
The platform structure of RedesignMe is similar to the OpenIDEO-structure. Only here there is money
connect.redesignme.com involved. The criteria for posting challenges are also smaller. Almost any company can post what they
want; as long they tell how many money people can earn if they win.
As described in the Innocentive-example, the effect of money is less real collaboration between solv-
ers. At RedesignMe the money is not given to one winning person, but is divided under the top 10 win-
ning ideas (where the best project receives the most money).

Dividing the money between the 10 best concepts of one challenge, makes it easier to get “return
out of your investment”. People are not looking for collaboration with other solvers, they are here to
“win” the competition, and to prove that they are better than others. The fact that big companies post
challenges, it can “open doors” for solvers if they win the challenge. The reason for participation in
platforms like this (other examples: Battle of Concepts, FellowForce, Ideastorm, Ideaken, ...) are mainly
individualistic.

Outsourcing creative challenges is easy for big companies. The money they have to give to the winner
and the platform is nothing compared for what they get in return. Using platforms like RedesignMe are
the perfect way to get new, fresh and innovative ideas in your company.
The only thing to watch out working like this, is the total openness for competitors.

Key Learnings
• Make a clear difference as a platform if there are others that do the same!
Key Info • Getting paid makes real, valuable co-creation difﬁcult
NL
• Not everything can be discussed using open-source co-creation techniques. Some subjects are too
corporate sensitive.
Scope Design problems
Scope
Phases Ideation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G As one of the “Revenue Cases”, RedesignMe
Founded 2010 can generate money as well as content.
Customer Competence 1 5 S Because of the single direction communica-
Country The Netherlands Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 tion and the rather high competition; the co-
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High creation interaction is rather low.
Interaction
H
E
RedesignMe is a platform where companies can post challenges for innovation and design T
that can be solved by individuals. People can get rewards if they win.
C
L
M
F
Used Tools
K Q
I • Social Media
J • Like
Keywords B
• Making Comments
Innovation - Design - Companies - rewards - reward shop R
Narrow
Scope

T Innocentive From Platform Perspective
The Innocentive platform has a little bit the same structure as OpenIDEO. Only here the challenge is
www.innocentive.com more effective, because people get rewarded in financial goods (if they win). The seekers will join the
platform, mostly out of money interest or for the opportunity to work with big companies. Collabora-
tion between peers to come to a better result, is not the focus of Innocentive.
Only little tools are provided to solve the challenges. Because challenges are clear and bounded prob-
lems, the user knows what he/she can expect. The fact that only “science” problems are posted, lowers
the possible participation degree (but makes it more exclusive)!

The fact that people get rewarded in dollars if they “win” a challenge, makes it of course a competition.
This has another effect on the whole structure. Because other ideas can be “the enemy” (only the best
idea wins the reward), people will not contribute with help/comments/advise on already posted ideas.
The collaboration is lower because of the money that is involved. There is the possibility to participate
as a team in a challenge, but again this reflects in team against team.

Innocentive itself is a consulting studio that offers, besides the online platform, also other forms of
“help”. This of course for a cost that companies and/or governments are willing to pay. The online plat-
form with the challenge/post system is only a key to attract many customers to cooperate with. It is a
part of their company business structure and not stand-alone!

Key Learnings
• Paying your users with money can be done but this is not always good for real collaboration.
Key Info • Focusing on one domain (science problems) makes the platform more exclusive, with more interest
for the user to participate.
US

Scope Scientific Problem Solving
Scope
Phases Ideation -Realisation Amount of People Involved 1 5 A
Co-creation Map
Competition Degree 1 5 G Innocentive is, again, an example of how peo-
Founded 2009 ple can get almost a freelance-payment for a
Customer Competence 1 5 S challenge. The specific scope (science prob-
Country United States Dialogue/Interaction Freq. 1 5 lems) in combination with the money (and
Project Duration 1 5 Low D High competition) makes the co-creation interac-
Return for Participants 1 5 Interaction Interaction tion rather small.
P H
E
Innocentive is a website where (big) companies can post problems which can be solved by in- T
dividuals. Winning outcomes receive money prices. Most problems posted are scientific prob-
lems that are solved by students or other people with science interest. C
L
M
F
Used Tools
K Q
I • Expert Panel
J
Keywords B
Science Problems - Government - Universities - Companies - Challenges/Reward R
Narrow
Scope

Conclusion Size & Scope
Key learnings The size and scope of your platform
are not always the right parameters
for good/valuable co-creation.
Examples like Redesignme (case R)
show that a nice platform, with a high
revenue and a wide scope, are not al-
Co-creation? ways the best examples for real co-
creation. The problem is that the traf-

It is very important to implement enough tools and communication techniques for post answers to a challenge): no real
co-creation interaction. - comments, no reviews of peers, ... only
ation session needs other tools than an online co-creation platform like Quirky. Not all a competition for money. It is a co-cre-
- ation structure between companies
and individuals, not between peers.
easily.
The questions you always have to ask yourself is “who is my user, how can he/she com- Platforms who want to use many users
municate the best; and how do you want him/her to collaborate with others?” Meet need
your users’ expectations. If things don’t work (e.g. cocreation.pt), people don’t even take can communicate with each other in
the effort to co-create. They leave as soon as possible and your platform dies! a simple and easy to use way
what you can and can’t do. Choose
To screen your users before entering the platform, your scope!
keep only the most interested people/ideas.

Local vs Global
Although almost every screened platform is available in English; some cases use other platform languages to enlarge their community. Many
“communities of kindred spirits” (harKopen, eCars Now!, ..) host a global platform, but give the possibility to set up your own local wiki.
Working in your own language gives people more freedom to think about ideas and to work them out. Remember: what you can’t commu-
nicate on the platform doesn’t exist!
18

Competitions
When designing a good co-creation platform, the engagement of the user and the commitment
to the platform and/or project must be mapped out
already simple examples to make sure people come back after making a comment or sharing an idea.

There are clearly two kind of platforms. Those with and without competition. Competition can lead
to greater results, but has several other negative aspects. Combined with status and money, it can
evoke envy which is of course not good for collaboration. It is because of this reason, rewarding peo-
ple with money results typically in less effective real co- creation. You can buy user-feedback. But for

though where monetary reward and co- creation go well together.

Business Models

products sold) are at this mo-ment rare, because people outside a community are mostly not worth willing to pay extra for something they didn’t
contribute to.

It’s another story when co-creation platforms work together with (big) companies (Innocen- tive, Redesignme, ...). In those cases money is avail-
able. Platforms which use the collaboration between user and company as part of their business model, can easier collect money to stay alive.

Examples as RedesignMe are perfect cases to show that the power of many works: Companies pay a little fee to the platform to post their chal-
lenge, in return they get many ideas from different perspectives and on top of the fee they pay for a winning concept. Easy no? Yes! As long you
have enough contributions to pay your bills at the end of the month of course.

Most eMobility platforms are at this moment knowledge sharing points (coalition of parties) or communities of kindred spirits who are work-
ing on one project. Money-making models are rare in both cases. Projects get either their money through funds from the government, other
parties, ... or projects are sponsored by other companies or are even part of a company-strategy.

platform.

19

Board of Innovation
inspire companies in developing new markets, products, services and business models. Or
in short: better ways to make money. Structured innovation projects; including strategy de-
velopment, trend research, technology scans, service design... that’s what we do! We’ve had
the pleasure to work with organizations like eBay, Cisco, P&G, Carglass, European Commis-
sion, Volkswagen, and many others.
Ready for an awesome innovation project? Let’s chat.

mission-e-motion was founded in 2009 to bring companies, institutions & individuals to-
gether in order to come up with fresh ideas and work on new solutions that would help elec-
tric mobility come to life. An interdisciplinary network. Mission-e-motion seeks to combine
two of today‘s most fascinating topics “electric mobility” & “crowdsourced knowledge”.
Want to join? Get in touch!
www.misemo.com

41

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20 Examples - How to Kickstart Your Co-creation Platform

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