On Wednesday 17 June, Principal Investigators from The Open University Business School welcomed a small but engaged audience to an online webinar sharing insights from three European projects: ENCASE, ICAERUS and ACCELERATE. Hosted by Dr Francesca Calo, Interim Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, and Dr Giacomo Carli, Associate Head of School (Curriculum), the session explored how co-creation and practical business strategy tools can help small organisations grow while supporting the green transition.
Co-creation and the green transition
Francesca opened by asking a deceptively simple question: why co-creation? Drawing on the ENCASE project, a Horizon Europe initiative building research infrastructure around carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), she described how five engineering teams across Norway, France, Scotland, Italy and the Netherlands each designed their own co-creation process with equal resources and timelines.
The results were varied and inventive: a STEM meteorite hunt in Norwegian schools, an interactive CCUS art exhibition in the Netherlands, energy-transition storytelling in Italy, and a co-created children’s book in Scotland. From these, Francesca distilled ten lessons learned. Teams that began sceptical about co-creation came to value it for building trust, strengthening community relationships and improving internal practice. The keys to success, she explained, included starting with genuine problem identification, mapping stakeholders iteratively, creating space that reduces power dynamics, using intermediary “broker” roles to translate technical language, and treating mistakes as learning opportunities.
Strategy tools for emerging businesses
Giacomo then turned to ICAERUS, a Horizon Europe project developing five drone technologies, from crop monitoring and spraying to livestock management, logistics and forest management, alongside an extensive capacity-building work package led by The Open University. This included an eight-week open course on turning a technology into a business idea, co-designed with partners through seven focus groups.
The heart of his talk was a walk through the practical strategy tools now freely available on the ICAERUS platform: a concentration index for sizing up competitors, a six forces industry analysis, a SWOT analysis, and a layered business model canvas that adds environmental and social dimensions to the classic economic version. His central message was pragmatic: companies often feel lost when applying for funding, so these tools help them “speak a common business language” that funders recognise.
Giacomo closed with an introduction to ACCELERATE, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie staff exchange applying similar thinking to new use cases including cultural heritage detection, coastline litter, vineyard monitoring and air-quality “sniffer” drones.
A lasting conversation
The discussion turned to a question many in the audience clearly felt: how do you sustain relationships once a project ends? Reflecting on this, attendee Dr Cristina Galalae commented: on the suggestion given by the speakers of building networks beyond the funding period.
Both presenters agreed that lasting partnerships are personal rather than institutional, built on demonstrated value, maintained through core relationships, and grown by expanding the wider network over time.
