EuroSpaceHub together with our partner VilniusTech and Hack4Vilnius organised a series of workshops for the students, academics and non-academics at the Innovation Factory in Vilnius. The main objective was to train and collect feedback about the innovation ecosystems in Space and Aviation. This was an in person activity, where we took the opportunity to visit the aviation faculty and to understand new ways of experimentation, collaboration and hands-on learning for students, researchers and academics. Jara Pascual, CEO of our partner Collabwith, was conducting the workshops, together with mentoring sessions. Jara is the creator of the methodology “Innovation Ecosystem Canvas” and also author of the book “Innovation and Collaboration in the Digital Era” . She was invited to talk about Collaboration, Ideation, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.at the opening of the Hack4Vilnius Hackathon.
The innovation workshops we did in Vilnius were not the only activities we organised on Collaboration & Innovation. Collabwith also conducted an informal event in Munich last October. The title of this session was “Kaffee Kuchen.” During it we spoke directly with industry players to understand their needs and vision of innovation in the SpaceTech ecosystem. The goal of this informal session was generating debates among the participants and sharing views to get insights for the EuroSpaceHub project. Indeed, EuroSpaceHub goal is understanding the root causes of the lack of efficient collaboration, of an innovative mindset and of the low ratio of success of entrepreneurs in the Space ecosystem. Sessions and workshops like these are useful to gather the perspective of the different stakeholders from inside.
The EuroSpaceHub is following the ethnographic approach to understand the ecosystem members needs, challenges and issues. Instead of creating surveys and sending them to a variety of space and aviation researchers, industry leaders or entrepreneurs, EuroSpaceHub is getting data from individual conversations in person or online. In this way, we can investigate and observe the “workplace of the actors”, thus gathering hidden thoughts and problems.
During the workshops, a specific tool was provided to the participants to lead the discussion: the “Innovation Ecosystem Canvas” created by Jara Pascual. This is a tool to gather user feedback, hidden needs, and hidden perspectives that complement the feedback obtained with the live sessions. The data collected is very useful for designing the innovation ecosystem actions, programs, communication and strategies developed in a joint effort by the EuroSpaceHub core partner: VilniusTECH, International Space University, Complutense University of Madrid, Lunex EuroMoonMars, KPI Ukraine and Collabwith.
Participants from different countries took part in the workshops. In total, 32 people participated in our ecosystem analysis and ecosystem training, where 34,5% were women. Each participant was invited personally and could choose between two options of participations. They could participate to the full workshop or they could have an individual conversation session to discuss about their Innovation Ecosystem Canva. The agenda of the workshop was:
- Definition of an innovation ecosystem
- Understanding of Digitalization of ecosystems
- Definition of ecosystems
- Innovation ecosystem canvas
- Innovation ecosystem mindset
- 30min work with the innovation ecosystem canvas all together
- Q&A
The individual sessions were a one to one conversation about their role inside the ecosystem, following the “Innovation Ecosystem Canvas”.
Are you interested and would you like to attend one of our workshops? Check out our social pages to stay updated on upcoming events.
