The Water Game
Where does water come from?
A clean, constant supply of drinking water is essential to every community none the less water is something we all take for granted as a commodity in our part of the world.. When we turn on the tap, water comes out.
In a close collaboration with Grontjemij | Carl Bro, a leading sustainable design, engineering and management consultancy based in 20 countries, framework identity and Built Identity have developed an inspirational “game” called The Water Game. Target groups are water suppliers and the aim is to re-think the significance of water for the modern man. The Water Game raises questions that give inspiration, input and food for thought. It works as a dialogue tool that boards, management groups and employes at water can use in the process of developing the future strategy of their local waterwork.
The Water Game was presented at a recent fair organised by the Danish Water and Waste Water Association (DANVA), a national association of water and waste water utilities. Though scepticism was shown at the beginning several waterworks were curious about the game and its use it in their strategic work.
Innovation and education in Roskilde
For months now we have worked on an innovation process with with Roskilde, a Danish municipality, together with our partners Per Løkken and Build Identity. The aim of this process is to develop a strategy that guides Roskilde in the direction of becoming Europe’s leading, educational city in the year 2030.
As an important part of the process, we wanted “the silent voice” (the users) that are often overruled or ignored by “the known voice” (the professionals) to be heard. In this case, we defined the “silent voice” as being students from Roskilde’s different educational institutions. In many cases, the future work force and citizens of Roskilde. The userdriven innovation process is divided into three stages:
Stage one, Involvement
We invite the students (the users) to become co-developers and share thoughts, wishes and dreams and contribute ideas on the project.
Stage two, Idea- and concept development
The material we are left with form the basis for stage two where the people that normally work with strategy development in the municipality (“the known voice”) take part in transforming all the thoughts and inputs into concrete ideas and concepts. Again, students are invited into this process
Stage three, realisation
Development and realization of innovative concepts for the municipality.
The grand opening
Last Tuesday (November 24) was the highlight of stage one. A one day innovation work shop were we had invited seventy students from various schools and universities to participate in six different work shops. Furthermore employees from the municipality (the educational institutions, politicians etc.) were working together in a seventh workshop. The workshops were designed as an experience for many senses where the participants through play and creativity explored future lifestyles within 6 areas of everyday life and education.
For you Danish speaking readers you can follow this link to watch a small video. A feature by a regional tv station that stopped by on the innovation day.
