Inter-Organizational Co-Creation: An Approach to Support Energy Transition Projects

Societal challenges such as climate change and inefficiency of energysystems more and more crave for a sustainable environment. Research proved thatrestructuring energy systems into more sustainable forms, called “Energy Transition”, has faced challenges. How to deal with these challenges requires the cocreation between various actors with multiple disciplines, expertise, and perspectivesfrom different organizations. The research question to be answered here is whetherco-creation helps the interaction between different actors in an inter-organizationalproject for the sake of better project results. By doing case study research in theNetherlands, an example of co-creation project in its front-end phase was investigatedregarding the interaction among different actors involved in the project. The researchrevealed that in the case of a co-creation project the multiple actors collaborate acrossorganizational boundaries in order to unite. This leads to a better solution-findingapproach. Openness, trust and respect are valued more in co-creation. Moreover,the project team is better integrated to work towards a shared interest which aresocial benefits. The co-creation facilitated the data-sharing among the key actorsin the project which traditionally is influenced highly by the mother-organizations’culture. Further research will investigate the transition in organizations to supportthe co-creation approach.