The Department of Design shares the experience gained by its researchers in designing innovative and desirable services, tailored to the real needs of users. The presentation explored the crucial role of the joint engagement of citizens and stakeholders in service design, analyzing its dynamics and challenges in order to develop more inclusive and effective solutions.

 

On March 11, 2025, the Policy Learning Platform — a digital space created by the Interreg Europe programme — hosted a webinar titled “Citizen-oriented Innovations”, focused on the transformative impact of digital innovation in public services and urban policies. The session explored the essential shift toward more inclusive, efficient, and citizen-centred solutions, highlighting the role of service design, smart city initiatives, and co-creation processes in urban environments.

Ilaria Mariani, Researcher at the Department of Design at Politecnico di Milano and member of the coordination team of the ORBIS project, delivered a keynote speech focusing on the dual perspective of citizen and stakeholder engagement in service design. Starting from the ORBIS project, her talk expanded to reflect on the broader experience gained by the Department of Design’s research group in interacting with stakeholders and citizens across multiple projects—as a process and methodology, as a research topic, and as a pedagogical practice—by experimenting in multistakeholder contexts.

The following projects formed the basis of the reflection:

• ORBIS: enhances citizen participation in decision-making processes by leveraging artificial intelligence (Francesca Rizzo, Ilaria Mariani, Sabrina Sacco)

• easyRights: facilitates access to rights for migrants through more inclusive services (Francesca Rizzo, Ilaria Mariani)

• GovTech Connect: supports SMEs and startups in designing more effective GovTech solutions (Francesca Rizzo, Marzia Mortati, Ilaria Mariani)

• AI4GOV: a Master’s programme on the use of AI in public services, winner of the European Digital Skills Awards 2023. It later evolved into an Executive Master at Poli.Design and was expanded within the AI4GOV-X project (Francesca Rizzo, Alessandro Deserti, Marzia Mortati, Ilaria Mariani)

Each project was examined to understand how citizens and stakeholders were engaged and which participation strategies proved most effective. The reflection focused not only on opportunities and potentials, but also on the obstacles and challenges that can arise when citizens and stakeholders are actively involved in service design.

In this context, the ORBIS project was presented as a flagship example, showcasing a series of co-creation and co-design activities carried out to support the development of relevant innovation, following human-centered and socio-technical approaches.

The key elements of the ORBIS experience were outlined through its main pillars:

Multidisciplinary co-design

The integration of diverse professional skills enriches the process with multiple perspectives and vocabularies, making close collaboration essential to align ideas and reach shared understanding. Although this can slow down development, it helps produce more inclusive and effective solutions. Some partners, initially less familiar with emerging technologies, struggled to grasp the potential of artificial intelligence for their activities and to recognize its benefits in deliberative practices.

Bridging the gap between technology and deliberative practices

ORBIS adopted methods of continuous exchange and co-design to foster mutual understanding among stakeholders, enabling the collaborative development of solutions that respond to diverse needs and expectations.

The risks of real-world experimentation

Engaging real organizations as pilot sites placed them at the heart of innovation, but also exposed them to the risks inherent in experimental projects. This dynamic highlighted the delicate balance between innovation and operational stability.

The webinar provided a meaningful context that involved over a hundred participants and allowed for the exchange of experiences and lessons learned from various projects. This perspective was enriched by discussions on current Interreg Europe practices, which offered additional best practices in stakeholder engagement to improve cities and make them smarter and more responsive to citizens’ needs.

The discussion highlighted how stakeholder engagement facilitates a shift from technology-driven innovation to value-oriented, socio-technical innovation. This approach actively involves citizens and stakeholders in the development of public services, making them not only more innovative, but also more desirable, as they better reflect users’ needs. The collective insights from these projects continue to shape and refine approaches to incorporating citizen feedback in decision-making and service design, ensuring that innovations truly respond to the real needs of communities.