Better Together: Empowering Citizens’ Initiatives

Why Better Together?

We are facing major societal challenges in the areas of sustainability and health. Technological innovations alone are not sufficient to realise the urgent societal changes of our time. Major transitions in sustainability and health require the active involvement of citizens.

Despite the crucial role of citizen initiatives in these transitions, their contribution often remains underutilised. Trust and cooperation between citizens, governments and the private sector are declining, while there is insufficient insight into the impact and scalability of the valuable initiatives that already exist.

These challenges call for new forms of collaboration, research and innovation, with co-creation at the heart of joint efforts.

Our approach

To increase the collective impact of citizens, government, businesses and knowledge institutions, the Better Together project develops innovative methods for structural collaboration.

We do this together with community initiatives, municipalities and market parties in living labs: places where different groups come together to test new ideas and learn collectively. In these settings, we gather independent knowledge and practical methodologies that connect the ecosystem, strengthen collaboration, and make systemic change possible and visible.

What does it deliver?

Through this learning-by-doing approach, a toolbox of proven, effective methods (key enabling methodologies) for social innovation is created, with measurable impact by, for and through citizen initiatives. These methods also provide policymakers and market parties with insight into their role in, and contribution to, citizen initiatives, supporting the design of transition pathways that fit the local context and can be scaled to other locations.

The approach results in:

• greater impact of community initiatives;
• a growing market for social and sustainable innovations;
• increased public support for policy;
• valuable investments in social cohesion and sustainable choices;
• accelerated societal transitions.

In this way, our project helps build trust, social cohesion and resilience. It strengthens the capacity of citizens and organisations to take steps together. This accelerates societal transitions and stimulates the broad adoption of innovations in health, energy and climate.

Working together on societal transitions

The knowledge and tested methods from Better Together are shared through our public and private partners and learning programmes. This enables you to determine which approaches are most effective in your specific situation.

Would you like to learn more about this, for example by setting up a local living lab? Please get in touch with us. Together, we can explore opportunities and build sustainable societal change.