Seminar on Co-production of Services, Co-creation of value

THE FOLLOWING DRAFT FLYER SETS OUT A PROPOSAL FOR A SEMINAR WHICH WE HOPE TO RUN ON 10 DECEMBER 2009 AT UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM.

AS WELL AS CIRCULATING THIS DRAFT AMONGST COLLEAGUES AT THE UNIVERSITY, WE'D WELCOME INVOLVEMENT FROM OTHER RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS WHO ARE WORKING ON THESE TOPICS.

SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EDIT THE MOCK FLYER/'NEARLY-WIKI' BELOW AS YOU SEE FIT, ADD YOUR NAME AND EMAIL IT TO Tony.Bovaird@bham.ac.uk SO THAT I CAN CIRCULATE IT TO COLLEAGUES WHO ARE PARTICIPATING IN THIS CO-DESIGN EXERCISE! (YES, I KNOW, IT'S A WORD-WIKI, NOT AN HTML-WIKI, SORRY BUT IT'S FASTER FOR THE MOMENT!)


CO-PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SERVICES, CO-CREATION OF PUBLIC VALUE
Seminar on the shaping the research agenda

In the last few years, an enormous groundswell of interest has arisen in the potential of ‘co-production’ and ‘co-creation’, working with users and citizens.

Lots of different terms are used to describe what's going on here. They include working with users and citizens on:
• Co-production of services (e.g. expert patients) and products (e.g. software)
• Co-design of services
• Co-planning of public policies
• Co-creation of value
• Co-evaluation of public programmes and policies

A number of staff in Birmingham University are working on these themes. So far, many of these efforts have been unconnected. We think that it might be good to see if we could productively join up some of these research streams.

So we invite you to a seminar to explore what we are all doing, and potential links. And, if some links are found, we hope to have a few follow-up events.

Tentatively, we have pencilled the seminar in for 10 December (probably from 10.30 – 12.30). But let us know if that doesn’t suit – we may have to change it. In any case, you may catch us at some of the follow-up events.

To make sure something happens, we’re seeding the seminar. The people whose names are at the end of this email are committing to say something about their own research – but add your name, too, if you’re going to come along and say something. We’ll find someappropriate format, however many (or few) agree to come along!

And let’s co-produce this flyer like a wiki. Feel free to edit it (don’t bother with tracking mode) and send it out (to all the people who were copied into the email you got it from) with a short note of what changes you made – so feel free to improve the scope, the content and the process as best you can.

One other thing, we’ve invited a few people from outside the Uni Bham community to come along, too, as they have some really interesting things to contribute – if you want to do the same, feel free and add their name to the list (but only if they have agreed to come!) – but do please make it clear that you've done that in your subsequent emails, so that we keep a handle on the potential room and refreshment implications!

Tony Bovaird, INLOGOV and Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
Elke Löffler, Chief Executive, Governance International
Graham Hill, Strategyn UK and Customers and More