From 22 to 24 April 2025, the second partner meeting of the DISCO project took place in Oldenburg. During three intensive and inspiring days, the partners came together to exchange knowledge, discuss the progress of their project and jointly set the direction for the next steps of the project.
Learning and experimenting together
In the historic student city of Oldenburg, the partners took their first steps towards the implementation of five pilot projects that will take place between now and 2028. The four universities – Innovative Hochschule Jade-Oldenburg, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, VIA University College and University of Twente – together with technology partner AMACHAN, demonstrated how far they have come with the assessment framework and monitoring strategy. The assessment framework will soon help the partners and authorities with co-creation, the use of digital tools and increasing their innovative strength. The monitoring strategy will closely follow the development of the pilots and co-creation.
Workshops and knowledge sharing
The programme included a number of interactive workshops. The focus was on creating a timeline, both per pilot and DISCO-wide. The communication approach and capitalisation strategy were also examined in detail in order to determine stakeholders and target groups. There was also intensive discussion of how we can make optimal use of and disseminate the results of the five DISCO pilots in the period up to 2028 and beyond, in order to achieve the greatest possible impact.
Highlights of the programme
Content-based workshops were interspersed with inspiring activities in Oldenburg. A particular highlight was the visit to the Digital Cave at Jade University of Applied Sciences. Participants were given the unique opportunity to experience for themselves what immersive digital environments can mean for participation and decision-making. During a city tour of Oldenburg, we also saw how innovative climate adaptation projects, such as the earlier EU Catch project, have made the city resilient to the impact of heavy rainfall.
Expected results
The DISCO project is expected to result in:
- a better understanding of the barriers to innovation and the use of digital solutions in CCA organisations.
- increased knowledge and expertise about digital solutions for CCA.
- usable digital solutions that can be replicated in other regions.
- strengthened cooperation between CCA authorities, citizens and other stakeholders.
Thanks to the host city
The meeting was made possible thanks to the excellent organisation and hospitality of Innovative Hochschule Jade-Oldenburg and Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV). Their efforts created an inspiring environment in which the DISCO partners could continue to build on their joint mission: strengthening the digital innovation capacity of municipalities, cities and districts in the North Sea region.
