Tomorrow’s Land celebrating our success – November 2018
Supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and Well Sefton Sefton Council,
Regenerus were pleased to host our International conference to celebrate the success of Tomorrow’s Land at Hinterlands in Liverpool on 22nd November 2018.
With the strapline ‘small actions can make a big difference’ the conference theme emphasised that we all have a part to play in making the world a better place, and that however small and local activities may be, they all contribute to positive social change.
Designing a space for creative thinking and connectivity, we recognised the value of the knowledge of everyone who joined us, and wanted to ensure there was plenty of time for delegates to share their experiences and ideas with each other.
Participants learnt more about social innovation, collaborative economies and community action, with the opportunity to hear about lots of real success stories, from Fairtrade to digital participatory democracy. Each conversation was sparked by two great examples of social innovation, with plenty of time for everyone to join in the conversation. Find out more about our contributors on the Tomorrow’s Land web site.
Showcasing the project achievements, throughout the day delegates also experienced the Tomorrow’s Land journey by joining our creative design thinking workshop or logging on to our MOOC.
Conversations were interrupted with snippets of inspiration from our keynote speakers:
Connecting the local to the global Dr Daniel Christian Wahl, an international consultant and educator, specialises in whole systems design and transformative innovation, and is the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures. He explained why he thinks that one of the most important skills for social innovators shaping our future today is to think in terms of dynamic whole systems design and ecosystems of collaboration.
Charles Leadbeater, a globally renowned, inspiring and influential author, and an award-winning journalist and social innovator in his own right, argued that education should prepare young people to be creative and collaborative problem solvers, shared his insights into building successful movements for positive change.
Capturing reflections throughout the day, we were delighted by the words of our resident poet, Lyndsay Price of Salt Water Poetry.
We were joined by delegates from universities, the social economy, the public, private and academic sectors, all investigating new and different ways of thinking and working together. We aimed to inspire social innovators, social entrepreneurs and aspiring ones, trainers, educators and policy makers. Including lots of space for delegates to get to know each other and connect, to plot and scheme to make the world a better place, helped us to achieve our aim as already new collaborations are working together to start new socially innovative projects.
And the good news is partners will be continuing to work together, building on the success of Tomorrow’s Land with our next project, Unravel Tomorrow, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. We will be designing learning resources to support new social innovators in putting their ideas into action, building new collaborations and starting new social enterprises.
Tomorrow’s Land Bootcamp – June 2018
Following the Champions of Change workshop, hosted by Regenerus at the Investment Centre in Bootle, partners reviewed the feedback from the trainers and educators who took part and added improvements to our MOOC and the facilitator guide.
The next step was to invite aspiring social innovators from all our partner countries to join us in Matosinhos, Portugal, to engage in a truly international learning experience.
Prior to this Bootcamp, participants were invited to work their way along the learning paths of the MOOC, to familiarise themselves with the concepts of social innovation and collaborative economies, and to strengthen their skills and competences.
To kick off the week social enterprises, businesses and the local authority in Matosinhos presented a range of local challenges to the 26 pioneers from the UK, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Latvia. Organising themselves into small task groups, participants researched the challenges and the local context, collectively working up their ideas into projects to deliver solutions.
Interspersed with creative workshops, using examples from the Tomorrow’s Land facilitator guide, the five-day experience combined learning with practical applications of new skills and the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge from all the different European countries.
A truly inspiring experience, as JonPaul Lowles, one of the UK pioneers, told us: “It was amazing. I learnt so much from the MOOC and the workshops, but what made this so valuable was the opportunity to apply all the learning to the ‘real’ challenges of local organisations in Portugal. Working together in a group with people from different countries in Europe was fantastic as it introduced me to a whole range of different perspectives and experiences.”
Tomorrow’s Land MOOC open for registration – April 2018
Tomorrow’s Land is out there for you to discover – view the video here
Join us for a Massive Open Online Course and become a pioneer of Tomorrow´s Land.
Tomorrow´s Land MOOC aims to ignite your creative thinking to help you open up your mind to new possibilities, to design and shape social innovations to make the world a better place.
In Tomorrow’s Land you need to shift your mindset, becoming a new kind of observer and creator, who looks for opportunities to solve some of the social challenges we face and collaborates to create a better world.
The MOOC combines theory, inspiration, practice, self-reflection and discussion and is designed as a journey to the future.
What can you expect from the Tomorrow´s Land learning journey?
Module 1 | Welcome to Tomorrow´s Land
Module 2 | The Explorer Guide Intro
Module 3 | Creative Thinker Path
Module 4 | Implementer Path
Module 5 | Connector Path
Module 6 | Catalyst for Change Path
Module 7 | Techie Path
You can take the course at your own pace and connect with a group of international learners and facilitators.
Register on the MOOC at www.tomorrowsland.eu.
Are you a facilitator?
We invite you, as educators to become a Champion of Change by experimenting with our learning resources to design creative learning experiences. Download the Facilitator Guide here.
Tomorrow’s Land offers a learning approach to guide future pioneers and you, the practitioners supporting them and is open to everyone who aims to respond to the societal challenges of the future, with innovative and transformative ideas.
Collaborate with us, engage future social innovators, encourage them to register on the MOOC, gather your own group of pioneers and support them on their journey to Tomorrow’s Land.
Will you accept this challenge?
Help us spread the work by sharing this message through your network!
Register at www.tomorrowsland.eu
Champions of Change workshop review – March 2018
Regenerus
Catalysts of Change: inspiring future social innovators
Regenerus, as the lead partner in the Tomorrow’s Land strategic partnership project in adult education, aiming to create a more collaborative economy by fostering the creation of the next generation of social innovators, hosted an international workshop in Bootle.
Partners worked together to create resources and workshops, available for free, on a MOOC, to encourage future social innovators to reflect on their interests and passions to shape their ideas, supported by a guide for trainers who can use these tools to inspire social innovators; people working to develop practical new solutions to social challenges.
Innovation in action
As part of the project activities, throughout the week beginning 12th March 2018, facilitators from across the EU were introduced to the Tomorrow’s Land journey in their Champions of Change workshop. Packed with information, creativity and meetings with local social innovators, partners introduced the five learning paths of Tomorrow’s Land and tested the group tasks with facilitators to gather their feedback.
The reaction to their project has been overwhelmingly positive. Rasmus Dilling told us how what he had learnt would be useful in his role as a lecturer at Roskilde University in Denmark: “It really got me thinking. It has given me some practical tools, ideas and personal insights for me as a facilitator.”
Partnership working
Partners are keen to embrace social innovation in their own working style, as Ruth Livesey explains: “The whole thing about social innovation is working collaboratively and cross-sectorally, pulling in public sector, private sector, social economy and academic and that is reflected in our partnership.
“It is a really great partnership, sharing knowledge and experience – Advancis lead on promotion and dissemination, Politecnico di Milano lead on the MOOC, whilst bespoke have taught us all new techniques in creative design methods. Everyone works to their area of expertise and shares their creativity – it’s brilliant.”
Personal and wider achievements
Ruth feels she has personally benefited from the partnership and notes: “Every time I’m involved in a European partnership, I learn so much. You have the opportunity to work with people from different cultures, learning different approaches and finding out about how things work all over the world.
“We are a local organisation and the work we do is great, but what Erasmus+ helps us do is think beyond and not get stuck in a local bubble. On a practical level, Erasmus+ helps us connect more widely across Merseyside as well as across Europe.”
This inspiration extends to the participants of Champions of Change, as Claire Morgans from local social enterprise YKids said: “It was great. I’ve never had the opportunity to work with so many people from different countries, to share perspectives on social innovation and to make such great connections.”
Champions of Change workshop planned – March 2018
The beta (test) version of the Tomorrow’s Land MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) was up and running. Our aim is to offer a learning approach which combines theory, inspiration, practice, self-reflection and discussion, and is designed as a journey to the future.
During March 2018 we looked forward to hosting changemakers from across Europe and the Liverpool City region at our Champions of Change workshop, here at Regenerus, where over five days we will be inviting educators to experiment with our learning resources and tell us how we can make it better.
The Map of Tomorrow’s Land introduces key insights which are intended as examples of the constituted areas of Tomorrow’s Land, and thus to guide current and future social innovators in navigating its landscape to effectively collaborate with others and create a more inclusive and innovative society.
Walking through seven inspiring paths pioneers will gain a new perspective on the future, and practice new skills while developing their social innovation idea.
Two introductory paths to help prepare for the journey.
Five paths dedicated to exploring a specific aspect or competence that social innovators need to have in their backpack:
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Creative Thinker: Switch on your creativity
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Implementer Path: Understand the wider context
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Connector Path: Build relationships
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Catalyst for Change: Lead with servant approach
- Techie: Be collaborative, be digital
If you are reading this you, like us, believe that the future holds the opportunity to create a more collaborative economy, and that together we can contribute to this by fostering the next generation of social innovators.
We invite you to help us on our journey, collaborate with us, engage future social innovators, encourage them to register on the beta version of the MOOC, gather your own group of learners and support them on their digital learning journey to Tomorrow’s Land.
To complement the digital learning resources, why not also facilitate creative thinking spaces for pioneers to work together to strengthen their knowledge, skills and competences. We also offer a Facilitator Guide to inspire you, a collection of ideas which you can draw upon and adapt to suit your audience.
Experiment with Tomorrow’s Land learning paths to help future social innovators to embark on a journey which will foster the adoption a new mindset to design, refine and implement their social innovation idea.
Join us, collaborate and share your experiences.
www.tomorrowsland.eu
Facebook.com/tomorrowslandeu
@TLinnovation
The six partners in the Tomorrow’s Land project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, joined together to create a way to support the next generation of social innovators capable of influencing and contributing to the development of a better society
Next steps on our journey – November 2017
Following the launch of The Tomorrow’s Land Strategic Foresight report which you can download here, partners are embarking on the next stage of our journey to develop creative resources to support educators who are training new social innovators – people working to develop practical new solutions to social challenges.
Partners are working hard to design the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), to inspire future pioneers to explore together and design Tomorrow’s Land, starting with the map which introduces the eight regions we identified in the creative research phase.
The MOOC will offer five different learning paths to give future pioneers the opportunity to strengthen skills and competences. Learning paths will include training moments, inspiration, challenges and tools, and we are making exciting progress.
Regenerus is the lead partner of the Tomorrow’s Land project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, and working alongside partners from Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Latvia.
