The research and development project "Multi-Generation Smart Community (mGeSCo) - Co-Working and Social Participation through Multigenerational Networking in Smart Neighbourhoods", funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, is being carried out at the Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena (duration: June 2021 to May 2024, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Erfurth, Prof. Dr. Michael Opielka).

The project aims to develop and test technical and social solutions for making work more flexible and for participation in a social context by research and practice partners in a real laboratory (Living Lab) - together with the users throughout the entire process.

In the scientific expertise for the Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena, the IZT identified centres within and outside Germany that are related to the mGeSCo project, in which on the one hand the scientific institutions - primarily universities - take on the function of a network node ("hub") and on the other hand transdisciplinarily network different actors outside the science system and integrate them into the centre's work (real labs, living labs, "real world labs" etc.). Within the framework of the expertise, criteria were determined according to which the various forms of cooperation in the centres can be categorised and evaluated. The selected centres were compared on the basis of these criteria. A SWOT analysis was then carried out on the basis of guideline-supported expert discussions with selected actors in the centres and an analysis of sources. In addition, topic-relevant data sources were evaluated. In each case, the strengths and weaknesses of the centres were analysed in summary and compared with the recognisable opportunities and risks for the goals and organisation of the Centre of Excellence ZeSoDi (Centre for Social Digitalisation). Finally, strategic implications for the further development of the ZeSoDi were presented for discussion.

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