PILOT STORY: Involving agency’s internal stakeholders in the evaluation process
In June, PRO-Ethics' RFO partner CDTI hosted a workshop with three internal stakeholders to discuss their Neotec programme and its implementation context. The aim was to refine the stakeholder map and tune up the next steps of their pilot – evaluating the social impact of Neotec from a participative approach.
The participation of three internal programme managers in the evaluation of Neotec marked the first step of the participatory approach undertaken by CDTI, the Spanish Centre for Technological Industry Development.
Programme managers are key in the approach because they know the programme and its implementation context well. Moreover, they work as starting point for contacting relevant external stakeholders.
Three CDTI administrative managers with different roles were invited to a workshop led by experts in participatory methods in June 2022. They were selected on the basis of their connection with the companies which apply to be funded by the programme, so not only do they know the Neotec programme, they also know the Spanish technological industry setting.
Throughout the event, they discussed several questions: what they think are the real goals of Neotec, what they would like to know about its impact, who the relevant stakeholders are, and who should be included in the evaluation.
They identified different aspects, sharing complementary visions and experiences. They confirmed being very knowledgeable on the Neotec programme, and on the innovation and entrepreneurship context in Spain. In fact, sometimes it was difficult to focus the conversation on the practical issues because many interesting topics arose. Anyhow, all three programme managers agreed in becoming part of CDTI's internal evaluation team. Their participation in the evaluation process is indeed an added value for this project.
By CDTI/DBT
Photo: CDTI
Published: 19.09.2022
In the pilot stories , PRO-Ethics' RFO partners tell tales from behind the scenes during the planning and implementation of their pilot projects, offering a peek into how the pilots develop practically and over time. The goal is to better represent and learn from insights and tacit knowledge, some of which might be seen as smaller issues and hence downplayed or forgotten in official reporting, despite the learnings they may bring to others. The stories are fully available to all the project partners and support cross-learning activities and ultimately the ethics framework. Some of the stories will also be shared online with the wider public.