This is a CTP of initiative: Living Knowledge ‐ Wissenschaftsladen Bonn (Germany)
Date: 2000
Topics: Founding, international collaboration,
Understand: This CTP relates to both the first international project, the founding of the Living Knowledge network and the start of the international collaboration, which all happened simultaneously and contributed to each other. While this template is based on an interview, additional details can be read from the official reports from the first international project called SCIPAS, available at the Living Knowledge network webpage.
This CTP describes the first international project run by a consortium of science shops, which ended up founding the Living Knowledge network. However, international contact did exist earlier, even if it was informal:
What we did into the very beginning was exchanging experiences with other science shops and we did this at a national level. However, we never managed to be in contact with Dutch colleagues, although we are only a few kilometres away from the Dutch border.
For WILA Bonn the networking was, initially, limited to the German science shop. The science shop idea had originally been copied from the Dutch science shops, but that had been through reading about them and not visiting them. Then an opportunity came when an Austrian science shop invited WILA Bonn, and there said there would be Dutch science shops present as well.
So, I travelled to Innsbruck in Austria and I met Dutch colleagues for the first time, and we were talking about science shops and developing ideas to how we could collaborate on the international level. And as I was the one doing these magazines for our science shop with the job offers at that time, and I was also the one who were responsible for our quarterly newsletter, I suggested the idea: why not having this international newsletter
This was the very start of their international collaboration, where the interviewee met the other partners for the first time. However, only shortly after that, WILA Bonn were invited to the first international project.
And I said I am going to do this no matter what [making the international newsletter], it was so great to meet you and we should stay in contact and see what we can learn from each other. And a week or two later I got an invitation to join the first international science shop project. And I did that, I did the magazine and the newsletter for the project. Moreover, I contributed or was somehow one of the main drivers to set up the Living Knowledge network. This was the launch of living knowledge and this international project, and of course, it changed our activities quite a lot.
This CTP is thus about the founding of the Living Knowledge network as much as the first international project, which was instrumental in that process.
As described in the content of this CTP co-production are at the very core. However, there is little to add beyond what is described in the contents section.
Actors
The European union was instrumental, as they funded the first European project that founded the Living Knowledge network. There were an EU officer who were very proactive and actively encouraged a consortium of science shops to answer an EU project call.
The various science shops very also crucial. An Austrian science shop took initiative to some early meetings, the coordinator from a science shop in Groningen were important as well, and Michael the science shop coordinator from Science Shop DTU were also part of the founders participating in this early process.
Contextual factors
Other development can be inferred to be important. Paramount among them the development of ICT that enabled communication, like the newsletter the interviewee were running both locally for his science shop, and the newsletter that in this CTP started for the international network.
There are many related events for this CTP. Among preceding events there were a range of meetings, especially the meeting in Austria seem important:
And then we got an invitation to an Austrian science shop. They said we are going to run a meeting and there will be Dutch science shops at this meeting. And I said this is a great idea! This is a good opportunity to talk to people who are also working in the same field and it would be interesting to exchange with that
This was the first meeting in the string of events leading to the first project and the founding of Living Knowledge. This first project also lead to many subsequent projects:
Well, so we developed the second project and the third project, we developed our own projects, we now are invited…
And now WILA Bonn is often invited to new project. They have developed a sort of expert status, especially in Germany:
So we developed an expert status on linking civil society into research. Our office is still talking about living knowledge and the team working in that. But for me it was you know… I contributed to this project more on the communicational level, but more and more I got recognized as one in the organization to be asked when it comes to ideas of how to link civil society to research resources. This did not only happen in the European level, because I like travelling and I love to talk to people, and I developed and discussed ideas, and then promote them and invite other people to put it into practice. This often brought me into conferences and cooperation in Asia, Australia, the US and Canada. So throughout the years we were able to develop a global network on community based research, central work, and civil society research relations. And this started in 2000 with the first international project and the living knowledge network
Here the interviewee describes a string of events, and what the consequences of this project has been over the years. Especially the expert status they have gained through their international prominence is important, but also have implications for their current activities today:
This comes, for example, partly from our advisory board. They say “you are such a recognized actor on the international level, and you have such a huge number of cards, you should do more to promote the idea of civil society research here in Germany”. So being recognized in this field often gives us certain possibilities. So we have to do something because we are here, we are doing it. And we can do more or should do more. And this is what now starts last year and in this year. To think about a new direction of our activities
Besides these events, the international projects also meant that they were slowly growing, as they had more work in the international projects that the interviewee could do alone.
For this CTP there were no contestation. The funding came from the EU, so there were no fights about resources, and there were no opposition to the research they were doing in the project. Likewise there were no resistance in any of the science shops participating. What contestations there is here came due to related events following this CTP, like the quote about the advisory board who wants them to more to promote civil society research.
The interviewee had been aware of other science shops, especially in the Netherlands, from the beginning as that was where they copied the idea. However it does not seem there was any anticipation of a European project or the founding of Living Knowledge. Indeed, the interviewee did not seem to expect the invitation for an EU project following his initial meeting with international colleagues in Austria. Likewise the interviewee did not seem to realize the significance this international project work would have internally in Germany.
Some of subsequent events were anticipated though. They of course anticipated that Living Knowledge would continue, and they were already discussing future projects after the first project, SCIPAS, had ended.
There are many different learnings coming from the first international project. One of them is how international recognition has had an impact internally in Germany:
I do not know if you know about German rock bands. German rock bands are playing in the country and it is good music, but it is only recognized if they have success overseas. It was with the Scorpions and with Ten Foot Dreams when they had success in the US and in Australia, then they were recognized in Germany as well. And the same happened here as well, we had international projects with European recognition of civil society relations of research. And there were almost no other actors, or of course there were actors but no outgoing actors like the one in the science shop field. So we got our recognition in our project from the European funding. There was even a science shop call in let me see in 2006 or so. So science shops appears on the agenda and we were successful with the project. We were able to link, to have universities in our consortia and this gave us as one science shop recognition here in Germany as well.
Another of the impacts is the slowly expanding activities and collaboration with other types of international networks, as the interviewee said in an earlier quote
I like travelling and I love to talk to people, and I developed and discussed ideas, and then promote them and invite other people to put it into practice. This often brought me into conferences and cooperation in Asia, Australia, the US and Canada. So throughout the years we were able to develop a global network on community based research, central work, and civil society research relations
On a side not. All projects included, both the international projects and local science shop project, there are likely thousands of bigger or smaller impacts, but here in the CTP we are mostly focusing on impacts for WILA Bonn, and in extension the Living Knowledge network. See the various reports at the Living Knowledge and WILA Bonn webpages for further details.
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