Project Description

The Living Lab for Health at IrsiCaixa aims to transform the Research and Innovation (R&I) system to make it more open, inclusive and transdisciplinary inspired with methodologies that follow Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Open Science & Open Innovation criteria. We promote multi-stakeholder engagement interfaces where different actors are invited to participate in the R&I process at different phases of the value chain (priority setting, project design & execution, implementation, evaluation, dissemination). We also offer training workshops to develop the necessary competencies. The final outcome is to increase social impact of R&I and to make it more legitimate. The Lab has participated in 6 European Commission funded-projects related with RRI and has already trained more than 3,000 researchers on this needed transformative change.

Read more at www.irsicaixa.es/en/livinglabhealth

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Why is so difficult to promote healthy and sustainable diets? Exploring the complexity of the system

The FIT4FOOD2030 lab coordinators experimented with a new narrative method to tell stories of the impact of the project. The team coordinating the City Lab Barcelona reflects on how their analysis of the ecosystem promoting healthy and sustainable diets and conversations with stakeholders informed the focus of their lab.

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Defining the lab's trajectory The City Lab Barcelona aims to support the transition towards a more systemic and collaborative model of promotion of Healthy and sustainable Diets through a Community of Practice with collective strategies and the redesign of organisations' strategies and individual strategies for change. A first phase of workshops was completed by mid-2019, and the lab is currently in an ideation phase that will result in pilot projects. Understanding the local food system - stakeholder analysis The FIT4FOOD2030 lab coordinators experimented with a new narrative method to tell stories of the impact of the project. The story of the City Lab touches on how their analysis of the ecosystem promoting healty and sustainable diets and conversations with stakeholders informed the focus of their lab. Access the narrative by clicking 'View more'. A common vision and system understanding First cycle of workshops The workshops contained three elements: visioning the desired transformation in the R&I System towards FOOD 2030, system analysis: identification of challenges, opportunities, needs from the different actors to move towards the vision and identifying disruptive R&I solutions: taking into account systemic elements (trends, breakthroughs and showcases - gathered by the project or brought to the table by participants - a first ideation.  Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca i Alimentació (Government of Catalonia) & CosmoCaixa, Barcelona; September 2018 A preliminary Research & Innovation Agenda Dialogue Meeting Stakeholders met again to validate a preliminary R&I agenda composed of eight missions, R&I programmes for each mission. Each programme is - accompanied by a vision and illustrative examples for each. Priority setting on two missions: ‘Consensus in the concept of a healthy and sustainable diet and food’, and ‘Prevention and Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles’. CosmoCaixa; 10 January 2019 A map of the dynamics of the system The Lab analysed internally all the results, paying special attention to the problems and opportunities collected during the first series of workshops, and the causes and consequences of each. With all of this information, the Lab built a systemic map representing the dynamics of the system, and therefore showing the interconnections between different components of a healthy and sustainable food system. January - February 2019 Dynamics and a need for change Second cycle of workshops The workshops' main aim was to build consensus around the healthy and sustainable food system map and the interconnections it represents and analyse where changes should happen to move towards the vision. At the end of this cycle, 59 stakeholders had been involved in the discussions. The main aims of knowledge development and the piloting of methodology for such workshops had been achieved. Palau Macaya and CaixaForum, Barcelona; March 2019 Systemic Strategic Plan for 2020-2030 The outcome of the second cycle was a Systemic Strategic Plan for 2020-2030 which is distributed into five missions and contains solutions that were identified during the workshops and also new ones identified internally in the Living Lab. These strategic conclusions were next confirmed with key participants during 12-14 interviews and an online consultation. May 2019 Signature of agreement with Barcelona City Council and 'la Caixa' Foundation The commitment of these two key players ensured the sustainability of the Community of Practice we were building and made it possible to work towards putting the strategic plan into action. Summer 2019 Sharing tools - three educational modules Three educational modules focus on the promotion of healty and sustainable diets: 'Why is it so complex?', 'Where is change needed?' and 'Roadmaps for change' and enable other interested professionals to use the systemic map to identify key and interconnected factors that need to be considered when defining R&I solutions. December 2019 Collective Strategic Plan Third cycle of workshops A cycle of ten workshops served to validate a Collective Strategic Plan and define the collective need for change within several strategic lines: Governance, Education, Communication, and Access to food, products and services. Online; July - September 2020 Collective Action Plan Fouth cycle of workshops 4 workshops worked to validate a Collective Action Plan and the ideation of solutions within strategic lines ideantified in the previous cycle, including possible changes  in organizations' strategies. Online; October 2020 Towards pilot projects Fifth cycle of workshops With over 50 stakeholders from 30 organisations involved so far, the lab is looking to define pilot projects with a fifth cycle of workshops planned for 2021. Iterative strategic reflections and events for mutual learning and collaboration will also continue. 2021 Longer term sustainability The Lab is building sustainability by creating a transformative Community of Practice to facilitate collaborative strategic reflections taking into account complexity, mutual learning and alignment through changes at individual, organizational and systemic level. They strongly believe that iterative multistakeholder meetings with this approach will improve each organizations’ strategies and allow them to identify and implement missing collective actions.