Exploring great ideas for MK

The MK:Smart Citizen Innovation team hosted the first in a series of advice workshops this week, organised to support MK Citizens with great project ideas to apply for funding through the Citizens Ideas Competition. The Competition is open to projects aimed at improving transport, energy, water, health or environment in MK. The successful entries will be granted funding to help them start or develop their projects in the coming months.

The workshop featured an opening presentation from Gerd Kortuem and Daniel Gooch at the Open University, and Rebecca Brown from Community Action: MK, who deliver the Citizen Innovation work-package within the MK:Smart project. The session covered the key facts about MK:Smart project and its objectives, and explained the process behind the MK:Smart Citizen Innovation Fund.

This introductory part was followed by interactive sessions with a number of advice stations for the attendees, offering information and advice in the areas such as:

• Community Enterprise
• Starting up a new group
• Involving Citizens
• Bid writing tips
• Our MK: technical support

The attendees had a chance to ask questions, browse the materials showcased at each of the advice stations, and take some resources with them. The session was also a great opportunity for them to network and chat about their ideas to fellow citizens, identifying areas of synergy and potential for collaboration. Rebecca, from Community Action: MK said “We heard a range of different project ideas from the citizens and we were able to offer them guidance on how to make their ideas a reality using this opportunity”. Ten Citizens attended this workshop from groups such as Wolverton Community Energy and Transition MK, as well as individuals across the city. We expect a similar number and range of people again next week.

We were delighted to see a wide range of interesting projects being represented at the workshop: from the Urban Farm concepts to community energy and white-coated rooftops generating renewable energy. We are now looking forward to seeing some of these ideas developed into projects and entered into the competition officially. You can see all the project ideas on our new interactive website, OurMK.

The feedback from the attendees has been very positive and we are already aware of some of the project owners talking to one another to connect their ideas and find areas of synergy.

The next advice workshop is taking place on Wednesday 29th of July and we are encouraging all citizens who have ideas for projects to submit them on OurMK and come along to the workshop to find out more about the competition and the MK:Smart project in general. Sign-up via Eventbrite here.

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