The Projektschmiede is essentially a space for people with good ideas for socially relevant questions that make a contribution to the common good. A wide variety of actors and socially-engaged citizens meet for an afternoon and work on concrete projects, and seize the opportunity for easily accessible, timely public participation. The hub’s initiator is the Office for Future-Related Issues, financed by the state of Vorarlberg, but the format is supported by a far-reaching network made up of people from a variety of backgrounds. It takes place every two weeks, hosted and supported by different teams of people. The diverse group constellation produces new, innovative solutions in the realisation or specification of projects.
With the help of a tried-and-tested method in process planning (Design for Wiser Action), small groups work in three phases. The initial focus is the clarification of key questions: where is the need for the project? What is the sense and the purpose of the project on a personal/institutional/social level? What is the main issue? Changing the groups around in the second phase again provides a valuable external perspective. The third phase is focused on working out definite next steps. The blend of constructive feedback and concrete suggestions is a prerequisite for an innovation culture with the potential for further development. On the long run, the Office for Future-Related Issues wants to regularly stimulate and implement a culture of cooperation, collaboration and co-creation. We believe that complex challenges are better solved by a group of people with different backgrounds, professions and know-how. Projektschmiede is an event where this culture is already lived and put into practice. The slogan ‘create change together’ implies activity by people, work done in groups and creation as positive impacts.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the challenges of the contemporary era can no longer be overcome with an outdated mindset. The need for innovative solutions to major macrosocial issues is growing more and more. There is an urgent need for forums in which people can work together in a cooperative and multidisciplinary way.
Since 2011, the Office for Future-Related Issues has been organising and running ‘Art of Hosting’ training courses. ‘The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter’ is a package of methods and an approach utilised worldwide that invites people to work together in a participatory, self-organised and cooperative manner. This way, they mutually identify effective solutions to urgent questions. The aim is to anchor this approach and procedure in the region in the long term. The approach is being applied by many people working in a variety of fields, such as administration, schools, associations and businesses.
‘Art of Hosting’ is a synonym for co-intelligence, collaboration and self-organisation, participation and cooperation. The basic assumption is that with these components, better and more widely supported solutions to significant challenges can be found. In particular, the positive experience of the group’s dynamic is what often triggers great enthusiasm among participants, but also leaves them with key questions.
Since 2018, the Projektschmiede slogan has been Gemeinsam Wandel gestalten! (‘Shape Change Together!’). The background belief is that the active involvement boosts self-efficacy, and the experience of genuine cooperation and innovative procedures has a positive influence on society as a whole. By working on concrete and tangible projects, this bolsters the sense of having quickly and effectively made a meaningful contribution to the common good. Dialogues can still be a good thing, but they are ‘essentially useless if they do not serve as an impulse for future actions’ (quote from Dr Stefan Bergheim, quality of life researcher and director of the think tank Zentrum für gesellschaftlichen Fortschritt [Centre for Societal Progress]).