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Impact assessment of Project IDOLS*

How can the creative industry add value and collaborate with the public sector to solve complex societal challenges in The Netherlands?

Research theme: Designing Design Main disciplinary perspective: Organisation

Project IDOLS* is a social innovation initiative funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Science and Culture that took place in 2019. IDOLS* proposed a different type of collaboration between the public sector and creative industry: public institutions form consortia with a common challenge that is solved by a consortia of creative companies. The goal of IDOLS* is to show the public sector the added value of the creative industry and foster similar future collaborations in The Netherlands.

A team of four IDE TU Delft researchers currently works on the impact assessment of project IDOLS*. This team consists of Dr. Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer, Dr. Jotte de Koning, Ir. Marie Van den Bergh and Ir. Eva Legemaate.

For Project IDOLS*, ten complex societal challenges were proposed by the public sector, and tackled by the creative consortia. Think about combatting sexual child abuse, or shortening the food chain in the Netherlands. To connect and support these public institutions in their collaboration with the creative consortia, a coach was assigned to every challenge.

The research team of TU Delft will focus on the added value of the creative industry when solving complex problems in society. They research the impact of the collaboration set-up within the project. Which means they will look into:

  1. The change in relationships between participants
  2. The individual learnings of participants
  3. The impact of the role of the coach.

By evaluating these three aspects they can identify the positive effect of this different approach when tackling complex societal challenges. The research team aims to enrich the knowledge of social innovation practice and to give recommendations for future collaborations within social innovation.

If you have any questions on the IDOLS* project, contact them via details below. 

Jotte de Koning

Final rapport Project IDOLS* (in Dutch)

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