DIALOGUES – Inclusive dialogues towards an operational concept of energy citizenship

 

DIALOGUES – Inclusive dialogues towards an operational concept of energy citizenship focused on co-creating energy citizenship innovations through inter- and transdisciplinary techniques, with a spotlight on open innovation and co-design of the research process through novel Citizen Action Labs in 8 countries.

In order to reach the ambitious challenges of the European Union’s Green Deal and the Paris Agreement and make Europe the first carbon neutral continent by 2050, swift action is needed involving a broad range of actors. Within this wider challenge of the energy transition and climate neutrality, the concept of energy citizenship aligns with each of the EU’s four strategic objectives: decarbonising buildings, renewables uptake, energy storage, and sustainable mobility. DIALOGUES aims to operationalise, contextualize, measure, and support the framework environments, policies and institutions that allow deep, inclusive energy citizenship to emerge.

DIALOGUES' central methodological pillar is grounded in tested inter and transdisciplinary techniques, with a spotlight on open innovation and co-design of the research process through novel Citizen Action Lab in 8 countries. DIALOGUES will organize Citizen Action Labs with the flexibility to address energy-related issues of relevance to the participants in each lab with diverse interventions. Citizen Action Labs build on the concept of living labs and real-world laboratories, as creative environments where participants co-create the research space with scientists and other stakeholders to test innovations in a real-world setting.

DIALOGUES will realize 9 Citizen Action Labs, including one in Geneva. Though partnerships between researchers, civil society and a utility company, the Swiss Citizen Action Lab will focus on two main aims: 1) engaging people to make energy citizenship meaningful, and 2) supporting a process of delivering an action-oriented plan for the energy transition in their region.

• May 2021 – April 2024
• H2020, European Commission
• Partners: Association Terragir, University of Basel, Association suisse pour l'énergie citoyenne (ASEC), Services Industriels de Genève (SIG)
• Keywords: Energy, citizenship, living labs
• Contact
• Website du projet européen DIALOGUES (en anglais)
• Site web du Forum Citoyen à Genève (en français)