IMPAC3T-IP

Scenario

Co-creation

Crisis
Classical Plus

Traditional innovation follows a linear model where companies develop solutions and consumers adopt them.

Co-creation challenges this by involving diverse stakeholders, such as employees, customers, patients, communities, and partners, throughout the innovation process.

This participatory approach can lead to more relevant, impactful, and sustainable solutions.

Explore real-world case studies in the IMPAC3T-IP “Report on analysed case studies (scenarios) with Good Practice transfer paths“.

When is co-creation used?

Co-creation applies to various fields, each with different goals and challenges. Some examples include:

Enterprise Co-Creation: Businesses collaborate with external teams to develop products and services that better meet user needs. While the enterprise typically owns the resulting IP, contributors may receive compensation or recognition.
Societal Challenges: Public sector organisations engage communities to tackle issues like transportation, pollution, and resource management. IP ownership can be complex, as diverse stakeholders contribute to shared solutions.
Healthcare & Public Patient Involvement (PPI): Patients, carers, and community groups participate in healthcare innovation to improve services and reduce costs. Transparency and trust in implementation are key to engagement.

What kind of impact does co-creation create?

Economic Impact

Co-creation can lead to greater competitiveness and market relevance by involving users, suppliers, and partners in early-stage innovation.

This type of co-creation is common in industry-led projects, where companies share development processes to reduce risk, speed up market entry, and generate shared IP.

Licensing challenges may include defining IP ownership, managing confidentiality, and balancing risk/reward across collaborators.

Useful tools and approaches

Templates for joint IP agreements and contributor recognition
Stakeholder engagement frameworks for private-sector collaborations
Revenue-sharing and licensing models tailored for multi-party innovation

Societal Impact

Here, co-creation focuses on solving real-world problems, from climate resilience to social inclusion, by involving citizens, NGOs, and public actors in innovation.

The outcomes may include tools, services, or frameworks that are public goods, best served through open or socially responsible licensing.

Licensing questions often revolve around recognition, equitable access, and long-term stewardship of outputs.

Useful tools and approaches

Open licensing and attribution guidance for civic innovation
Tools for capturing community input and shared ownership
Models for scaling and replicating co-created outputs in other regions

Healthcare and Wellbeing Impact

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in health innovation is a fast-growing area of co-creation. It helps ensure that interventions, from digital health tools to treatment pathways, are usable, trusted, and effective.

Here, licensing must reflect trust, data governance, and ongoing consent, especially where contributions involve lived experience or sensitive data.

Useful tools and approaches

IP and data governance templates for co-produced digital tools
Ethical co-creation checklists and informed consent resources
Licensing frameworks aligned with public health values and equity

The IMPAC3T-IP Co-Creation Toolbox

As part of its broader Toolbox, IMPAC3T-IP is developing a Co-Creation Toolbox to help organisations navigate the complexities of collaborative innovation.

By equipping organisations with the right tools, the Co-Creation Toolbox supports more transparent, effective, and scalable innovation, ultimately benefiting businesses, communities, and society as a whole.

The toolbox provides:

Tools to recruit and manage diverse stakeholder groups.
Strategies for building trust and ensuring open idea-sharing.
Guidance on securing and transferring IP rights in multi-stakeholder environments.
Business models for sustaining co-created solutions.
Case studies on successful co-creation and licensing practices.

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IMPAC3T-IP's other two scenarios

Crisis

Ensures equitable access to technology for crises and provides flexible licensing solutions for urgent situations.

Read more

Classical Plus

Classical Plus rethinks licensing by focusing on societal impact and accessibility, going beyond patents to include diverse intellectual assets.

Read more