Formative evaluation of Gothenburg Innovation Platform, Phase 2 

In the aim to realise just cities, innovation is seen as a tool to create economic development, to find solutions to ecological challenges and to promote equality through social innovations. But, there is a gap in the production and the implementation of this kind of knowledge on a strategic city wide level. This project focuses on trying to close this gap by increasing the understanding of how a city can work strategically with research and innovation by asking the following:

Why and how can municipalities work with research and innovation strategically to support sustainable urban development and increased attractiveness?

The formative research will analyse the strategy process, and also contribute with background material such as base line interviews, literature reviews and mapping of existing innovation activities. The project is linked to national processes regarding Urban Innovation Platforms and will collaborate with similar formative evaluation processes in e.g. Malmö and Stockholm. Vinnova and the City of Gothenburg cofound the project.

The project is also closely tied to the city of Gothenburg and the development of a strategy for research and innovation that has been outlined as a prioritized goal in the 2016 budget of the city.

The project will result in the following outputs:

• 2 research publications (scientific papers)
• Contribution to a handbook in strategic urban innovation management

The expected main outcomes are:

• Formulating problems, pathways and futures
• Concepts and models
• New knowledge and tangible solutions 
• Methods and ways of working
• Impact evaluation and assessment