Innovation develops within the network of collaboration, where diverse entities converge to catalyse creativity and progress. At the centre of this collaborative landscape lies CORE, a project that explores the intricacies of European Research Infrastructure innovation ecosystems. Fundamentally, the project seeks to unravel how social connections and knowledge dissemination fuel effective collaboration, laying the groundwork for transformative innovation.
To sum up, CORE is about collaboration patterns in innovation ecosystems, which is relevant to ATTRACT as this is an ecosystem of multiple companies, entrepreneurs, and academic institutions. For this reason, the research team thought studying this network would be a great idea to contribute to its efficiency.
Get to know more about the CORE project with this interview featuring Sine Celik, Assistant Professor at TuDelft and one of the members of the project.
What is your personal and career journey so far?
During my architecture studies, I got interested in social design, and systemic change. This is what brought me into the industrial design engineering field, which is where I did my Ph.D. During this period, I got involved with social networks, studying their role in systemic change. Now I’m here still studying and networking and changing.
What is the idea of the project? And how did it come about?
In our project, we’re studying multifocal innovation ecosystems. Typically, these ecosystems are studied from a single company’s point of view. In CORE, we wanted to turn this around and look at it from a systems perspective and see how the company’s entrepreneurs, and scientists can develop capabilities to excel and innovate better in a more collaborative and democratic way.
Which partners are involved and how did you find them?
In the CORE project, there are two main partners: the first one is Aalto University in Finland, and the second one is Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, which is where I’m currently based. We have similar interests, we are all design researchers, but we have different fields of expertise. From Aalto’s side, Tua Björklund and Vikki Eriksson are experts in creativity, idea championing, and innovation. Myself, I’m on the systemic change side of the project. I work on networks, analyzing collaborative ecosystems. So, we are completing each other.
What can be the impact of your study on ATTRACT?
ATTRACT ecosystem is a multifocal one. Many initiatives are going on as a part of the same ecosystem. We want them to collaborate as efficiently as possible diversely and democratically. And we believe this can be the impact of our project.
How do you envision participating in this project will contribute to your personal and professional development?
In my research, I study social networks and how they contribute to systemic change to tackle complex societal challenges we are experiencing in the world. Through ATTRACT I get to meet many scientists, entrepreneurs, who are normally not accessible to me, and of course, I get to study their way of collaborating and, I hope to contribute to more efficient ways of innovating.
For more information
Visit the CORE project site.
