Customer: Marktgemeinde Engelhartszell
CiMo Partner: Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
Challenge
The Upper Austrian municipality of Engelhartszell is struggling with increasing vacancy: several buildings that shape the character of this Danube market town stand empty, including:
- the upper floor of the municipal building
- the upper floor of the former elementary school
- the ground-floor premises in the former courthouse (previously a postal delivery base)
- the premises in the former Trappist monastery (convent)
In a small municipality with limited resources, filling these buildings with life again is no easy task. Traditional, administration-internal processes quickly reach their limits here, especially when it comes to involving younger residents and generating ideas beyond the established structures.
Engelhartszell wanted to open participation up more broadly. Implementing a participation process digitally, however, was new territory for the municipality: public surveys had been carried out in the past, but never before online. Digital crowdsourcing also requires a certain baseline of digital literacy from both the administration and the participants – something that cannot be taken for granted in a municipality with a comparatively older population.
The task was therefore to generate new, viable ideas for the empty buildings while at the same time building the municipality’s own confidence in running a digital participation process.
The task was therefore to generate new, viable ideas for the empty buildings while at the same time building the municipality’s own confidence in running a digital participation process.
Methods
The municipality decided to try something new: a digital crowdsourcing campaign on the open innovation platform IdeaSpace. Under the title “Vacancy Is Stagnancy”, locals and external contributors were invited to propose exciting and feasible uses for the four vacant buildings.
The challenge was promoted across various online and offline channels. The focus was primarily on young residents of Engelhartszell as well as people with an interest in regional development and municipal innovation.
A winning idea was chosen for each building, and the winners received regional shopping vouchers. The selected ideas were presented to the Municipal Council, where they are now being examined for feasibility. A crowdsourcing campaign thus turned into concrete items on the local political agenda.
Over the campaign period, a total of 28 ideas were submitted. An interdisciplinary, eleven-member expert jury consisting of mayors, heads of administration from neighbouring municipalities, and young Engelhartszell residents first assessed the submissions individually online, then met for a virtual jury session to discuss and select the strongest concepts.
For each building, a winning idea was selected, and an additional winning idea was chosen by the community on the open innovation platform. The winners received regional shopping vouchers. The selected ideas were presented to the municipal council, where they are now being assessed for feasibility. A crowdsourcing campaign thus turned into concrete items on the local political agenda.
Winning Ideas
🏅Municipal building, 2nd floor: medical practice on the municipal building’s second floor
🏅 Former elementary school: physiotherapy practice and fitness studio
🏅 Former courthouse: The Untold Archive – Where Stones Begin to Speak
🏅 Former Trappist convent: KlosterZeit – Overnight Stays in the Rhythm of Silence
🏆 Community winning idea: Engelhartszell Health Centre
Results and Impact
The campaign has had an impact: a local issue was put on the public agenda, awareness of building vacancy was raised, and a discussion was sparked about how these buildings could be used in the future. Two of the submitted concepts had already been informally discussed beforehand, but had not yet been developed further. During the competition they matured and were ultimately selected as winning ideas. A good example of how a structured crowdsourcing process can sharpen and give visibility to initiatives.
Beyond the ideas gained, the municipality also took a further step in its digital capability. Running a crowdsourcing campaign and working with IdeaSpace was a new experience for Engelhartszell. In the process, the administration built up routine in handling digital surveys and a blog – competence in digital citizen participation that remains available for future initiatives.
The campaign in numbers:
28 ideas submitted
4 winning ideas (one per building)
1 community winner
2 moderators in the innovation process
11 experts on the jury
Learn more about the campaign: https://www.ideaspace.cc/en/vacancy-is-stagnancy/
Information on Open Innovation and Crowd Technology Services at: crowd-in-motion.eu
Image credits: Marktgemeinde Engelhartszell; IdeaSpace by Salzburg Research