Social and Policy Labs

What is the COMMUNITAS Social & Policy Lab?

 

Within the COMMUNITAS project, the social and policy labs are part of the research which is designed to develop and test the COMMUNITAS innovative tools with participation of the pilots. In effect, these labs are an umbrella term for a series of activities, performed locally at the pilot sites to enhance the tool development as well as engagement and participation within the energy community. These activities will be organized through the establishment of local labs. Through these local labs, pilots aim to foster active involvement, innovation, and the development of effective, impactful solutions within their respective communities or domains. As such the local labs are aimed at several key objectives:

  1. Engaging EC Members in COMMUNITAS Solution Development: These labs involve actively engaging participating members in the refinement and development of chosen solutions or ‘use cases’. Through collaborative efforts, these individuals contribute to shaping and improving the proposed solutions.
  2. Creating Impactful Value Proposition Design: Within these labs, there is a deliberate focus on crafting value propositions that are not only meaningful but also possess a significant impact. This entails designing solutions that effectively address specific needs and create tangible benefits for the stakeholders involved.
  3. Policy and Regulatory Participatory Experimentation: The participatory labs provide an environment for experimental engagement with policies and regulations. This involves testing and exploring various policy frameworks and regulatory measures in a participatory manner, fostering an environment for innovation and adaptation.

These activities may be identified under different designations within the grant agreement but are collectively referred to as “participatory labs” due to their shared purpose of engaging stakeholders and driving collaborative innovation.

Goal and Aim

This new research approach is geared towards collaboratively creating new services (solutions) with and for ECs and their members, supporting their participation in ECs and energy markets. To this end, an evaluation of the implementation of the COMMUNITAS use cases will be conducted, following guidelines from the methodology and evaluation plans.

The expected outcomes of these evaluations in the Participatory Labs are concrete insights into how the tools developed in COMMUNITAS impact sociological, psychological, regulatory, and economic conditions of the ECs. These insights will inform subsequent developmental stages, considering factors like usefulness, desirability, accessibility, applicability, acceptability, and adoption of COMMUNITAS by ECs and their members. 

The Tracks

The Social & Policy Lab comprises three distinct tracks aimed at fostering innovation and policy solutions within the quadruple helix framework through interactive testing:

  1. The Legal & Policy track will delve into themes critical to the pilots, such as effective control and tender qualification, conducting research within local contexts, and driven by Task 4.4 and 6.4 activities.
  2. The Value Proposition Design track will build upon the methodology established in Task 4.1 and WP6, shaping additional activities around value-based design and business modelling.
  3. The Social track centers on engagement methodologies outlined in T4.1, addressing specific pilot-relevant topics such as engaging the silent majority and younger demographics. This track encompasses engagement activities led by individual pilots and workshops facilitating knowledge exchange among EC managers from leader, learner, and listener pilots, fostering collaborative learning opportunities.