Democracies in Europe have demonstrated resilience and modernisation in the face of various social and technological challenges. Democracy in the age of the Anthropocene will necessitate radical shifts in values, power relations and modes of governance, while also being built on the present, in all its diversity, paradox and insufficiency. Innovating to meet these challenges will require re-imagining how people living in democracies become equipped and supported to co-create resilient, democratic futures in Europe and beyond. Clear visions are needed to build strategies that allow for rethinking and redesigning spaces, institutions, instruments and ways to represent and include people in democratic governance. YouthDecide 2040 aims to support European Union democracy to rise to these challenges through evidence-based historical and contemporary knowledge, strategic foresight, and robust deliberation. Specifically, YouthDecide 2040 has the main objective to: co-create with European youth – and older generations, political and institutional actors, and organised civil society – coherent pathways to desired futures of democracy in the European Union in 2040. We translate our main objective into a series of research questions that need to be answered to support the work. Each question is connected to a key objective and corresponding work packages to support co-creation. The questions and objectives, presented below, are in order of workflow, not in order of importance. All activities are planned to be inclusive and open processes – transparently documented along the way – to enable repetition and implementation beyond the life of the project. The project’s ambition is to reinvigorate democracy in and across Europe with visions and pathways -- made with active and inclusive citizen participation -- for becoming more resilient to current and future challenges.

CIMULACT has as a main objective to add to the relevance and accountability of European research and innovation – Horizon 2020 as well as national - by engaging citizens and stakeholders in co-creation of research agendas based on real and validated societal visions, needs and demands. The project will expand the outlook and debate on STI issues, increase scientific literacy in a broad sense, which includes the understanding of the societal role of Science, Technology and innovation (STI), and create shared understanding between scientific stakeholders, policy-makers and citizens. This multi-actor approach will embrace EU28 plus Norway and Switzerland. The CIMULTACT builds on the principle/conviction that the collective intelligence of society gives Europe a competitive advantage, which may be activated to strengthen the relevance of the European science and technology system. By establishing genuine dialogue between citizens, stakeholders, scientists, and policymakers visions and scenarios for the desirable futures will be developed and debated, and transformed into recommendations and suggestions for research and innovation policies and topics. In short, CIMULACT will ● Create vision and scenarios that connect societal needs with future expected advances in Science and their impact on technology, society, environment etc. in connection to the grand challenges ● Provide concrete input to Horizon 2020 through recommendations and policy options for R&I and simulated calls for the Horizon2020 Work Programmes. ● Engage citizens and stakeholders in a highly participatory debate/consultation/process on scenarios for desirable sustainable futures and research ● Build capacities in citizen and multi-actor engagement in R&I through development, experimentation, training and assessment of methods for engagement ● Facilitate dialogue and shared understanding between policymakers, citizens, and stakeholders ● Reveal the relative merits of the citizen focussed consultations

The D-TIPS project – Design Thinking In Primary Schools – aims to equip primary school teachers with the appropriate tools and methods to impart the design thinking approach to children in Europe. The development of critical cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, such as critical thinking, reflection, self-regulation, and collaboration, are high on the agenda of all schools. It is though developing these skills in children that schools can contribute to mitigating major challenges in society.A key resource in developing those skills are the teachers; upgrading their educational practices and providing lifelong learning opportunities for them is a European priority. Training in design thinking can increase the resilience of both teachers and children when facing complex issues. Design thinking is not only a way of responding to problems, but a practice of reframing the problems (critical thinking) and a practice of co-creation (collective intelligence and cooperation). It is also a method of continuous improvement, a way of imagining the future and an approach to iteration through trial and error (problema solving). Through utilising design thinking we are able to of visualise concepts (visual learning) and bring them to life through building and making with our hands (learning by doing). Finally, and crucially, design thinking embeds empathy (emotional intelligence) within its processes; a means to manifest caring and understanding with the ones who will benefit from the solution.D-TIPS will focus on designing tools and methods developed specifically for primary school teachers, especially those who have no experience with design thinking. It will provide training for teachers in design thinking practices and a means of connecting them in order continuously hone their newly acquired skills.D-TIPS will develop a series of unique tools ranging from ready-to-use ones (easy to put in place - ‘plug and play’) to more advanced tools (both digital and analogue) that teachers can customize, adapt and change according to their needs, However, being equipped with effective tools does not ensure the proper use and know-how of these tools. Therefore, the D-TIPS toolbox has a strong training component in which the basic knowledge of design thinking principles as well as competency-based teaching will be provided to the teachers. In order to ensure the transferability and accessibility of knowledge created within (and beyond the project), our toolbox is supported by an online environment which will help to facilitate the creation of Design Thinking learning activities. We will also build and develop a transnational community of teachers with similar interests that will enable the sharing of best practices, understanding, and professional experience. The D-TIPS project itself follows a Design Thinking methodology. This means that we will co-create the tools with the teachers we work with, try them out together with other stakeholders and children in pilot schools, and iterate until we reach a series of appropriate, robust, and reality proof tools.The direct participation of 7 different European countries (project partnership: Spain, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands and Lithuania, and associated partners: Romania and France) will ensure the integration of differents aspects from different European educational systems. The D-TIPS methodology is based on a active participation of the “end-users” to the development of the materials, a logic of trying-out at a very early stage of design, a principle of iterative and progressive adjustment and finally a spirit of co-creation in which we do not design “for” but design “for and with” teachers and children. For this reason 4 parallel multiplier events will be organized in Spain, Belgium, Lithuania and Romania with the aim of engaging local teachers. And one Final event will be hosted physically in Spain (but online broadcasted) a knowledge exchange event to internationally spread our final results, lessons learned and discuss with educators, teachers, parents and policy makers about the positive impact of integrating Design Thinking in Primary education.We expect to reach at least 10000 educators (including teachers, managers, trainers and policy makers) during the Project duration. The design of the Toolbox as an online environment is aligned to our sustainability plan to ensure the engagement and use of the tools by stakeholders beyond the duration of the Project. To conclude, the D-TIPS project aims at contributing to the progressive transformation and renewal of education: (1) by empowering teachers with new competences and tools based on the application of Design Thinking in Primary Education - through the use of the D-TIPS Toolbox; (2) and by implementing new ways for children to learn and think: being more prepared to face uncertainties and challenges and helping them discover their role in shaping the future.

Energy Conscious Consumers ECO2 will facilitate a large amount of consumers to become conscious about and improve their energy efficiency. It will offer them two forms of learning. Either they choose to go alone through an online e-learning, or they choose to be brought through transformative group learning, in which the e-learning system supports the group processes. Together the two – single or group processes - provide attractive approaches for a wide array of consumer segments. The ECO2 processes are based on “blended” engagement methods, making use of both online and dialogue elements. Consumers will be recruited by contacts through social media, consumer media, energy suppliers and other gatekeepers. Segmentation will be used to increase the effectiveness of recruitment and to adapt the e-learning processes. The processes will be thematic, facilitated by an online ECO2 Platform, based on the online/blended engagement platform EngageSuite. Each consumer will be stepping up a ‘ladder of change’ from Motivation to Exploration and finally to Action. In the process the user receives information, reflects/deliberates and seeks knowledge and knowledge sharing. The user creates her/his own action plan on the next personal steps to take. ECO2 will deliver “Actions” on five important themes – the house, smart equipment, energy use/bills, rebound and prosuming. Further, an Action on co-creation of policies, innovations and designs will be executed and the results communicated to policy-makers and innovators through policy seminars. ECO2 has three phases – Ramp-up, Pilot and Upscaling. Ramp-up makes infrastructures, segmentation analysis, story-boards and production of themes. Pilots test the Actions with voluntary consumers. Upscaling involves viral recruitment of consumers, expansion to new countries, and collaboration with consumer gate-keepers. ECO2 will continue after end of project by: 1) an ECO2 Community, 2) stakeholder responsibility for the ECO2 Platform.

The challenge of the COMPASS project is to collect and deploy evidence on how RRI can be meaningfully integrated into extant innovation systems in European industry. COMPASS will pursue three overarching objectives: Providing evidence for better uptake of RRI in industrial R&D&I, fostering collaboration in three key innovation fields (healthcare, nanotechnology, ICT) and promoting responsible and sustainable R&D&I governance of highly innovative businesses. To achieve these objectives, COMPASS will build upon previous research and best practice cases on RRI, CSR and sustainable business models. It will involve industry, research and civil society in co-creation processes from very early on in order to ensure usefulness, feasibility and ownership of results among the target communities. The ultimate aim of the project will be to develop, pilot test and finalise an interactive online platform, the Responsible Innovation Compass. The platform will deploy RRI visions and roadmaps for the three innovation fields, a Responsible Innovation Self-Check Tool for SMEs as well as audio-visual training materials and tutorials, short thematic guides, additional resources and promotional materials. It will provide guidance and orientation tailored to the needs of innovative enterprises, particularly SMEs. COMPASS aims to substantially increase the evidence base for benefits of the inclusion of RRI into industrial R&D&I, through integrating findings of previous projects, systematically collating the extensive stock of knowledge dispersed across communities of practice, analysing empirical evidence on critical responsibility issues, success factors, and barriers for adoption of RRI in industry and pilot testing the added-value of all content of the project’s Responsible Innovation Compass. COMPASS will further explore improved business governance by facilitating co-creation of visions and roadmaps for RRI by stakeholders from industry, research and civil society.