Since April, the team from Aarhus University has been working on the mapping and the networking of ecosystems around each of the CRAFT-IT4SD pilot and replication sites which is part of Work Package 7.
The purpose of the ecosystem mapping is to identify and map local actors related to consortium partners within the scope of the CRAFT-IT4SD project which will help to identify collaborative opportunities and to create new relationships. The ecosystem map will be a tool for connecting organisations based on their commonalities, being a dynamic platform that grows organically as partners contribute with new links from their ecosystems. The ecosystem map will be publicly available to sustain the results developed throughout CRAFT-IT4SD in order to support future initiatives with our experiences. The online platform Kumu serves as a tool to visualise the ecosystem mapping and to show, for example, clusters and connections, and to give easy access to key information on each organisation.
The methodological approach of the task was initiated by a brainstorming session to figure a possible structure for the data feeding the ecosystem map. Through researching similar mappings and with the help of theoretical input, a range of identifiers was revealed that supports the clustering of data. In collaboration with the team from VIA University College the data structure was finetuned and tested as input for Kumu. To ensure a comprehensive data set, a template set up in Microsoft Excel, will assist the pilot partners to identify actors within their ecosystems.
Moving forward with the task the next stage will include follow-ups on the data collection, interviews of pilot partners and other stakeholders, and implementing the data into the Kumu platform. Additionally, as part of the data evaluation, a playbook for Ecosystems as Enabler for the Sustainable Transition of CCSI will serve as a guide for other projects and organisations: As a supporting element it embeds the data displayed in Kumu into its context of the past, present, and future of the clothing industry and maps different hotspots for trends, craftsmanship, or production.