To challenge the status quo you experiment with small interventions  and develop a concept with a radically new approach aimed at multiple value creation.

3.1 You develop a concept aimed at economical, social and ecological value. 

3.2 You experiment with small interventions and iterations, involving key stakeholders. 

3.3 You define appropriate indicators to evaluate impact on multiple levels. 

 

 

Introduction

In this learning outcome, you’ll move from analysis to experimentation and design. You’ll develop a concept that challenges the status quo and aims to create value. Not just economically, but also socially and ecologically. You will explore what really matters to people and communities, and how your ideas can contribute to a more sustainable and just future. 

This process is not linear. You will test small interventions, learn from what happens, and adapt your concept along the way. Involve stakeholders, gather feedback, and refine your ideas through iteration. It’s about being bold and creative, while staying grounded in real-world impact. You will also think about how to measure and communicate success, not just in terms of output, but in terms of meaningful change. Your ability to design, test, and evaluate with purpose will be key to making a difference. 

Have look at the introduction of this learning outcome in this powerpoint: 2526-COL-LO3-Multiple value creation.pdf

 

Body of knowledge and skills per success indicator 

 

3.1 You develop a concept aimed at economical, social and ecological value. 

Creating value today means thinking beyond profit alone. In the Crossover Labs, you’re challenged to design solutions that simultaneously generate economic, social, and ecological value. This approach asks you to consider not only how your concept works, but also who it benefits, how it supports communities, and how it respects environmental limits. 

You’ll explore how to align financial viability with social impact and ecological responsibility. This means involving stakeholders, understanding different value perspectives, and making conscious design choices. Rather than choosing between values, you’ll look for synergetic solutions that serve people, planet, and prosperity together. By focusing on multiple value creation, you’ll learn to design with a broader purpose, contributing to systems that are not only innovative but also inclusive and sustainable. 

  

Models and theory 

Sustainable Development goals 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global objectives adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to address urgent environmental, social, and economic challenges by 2030. They were defined to create a universal framework for sustainable development that applies to all countries. The SDGs guide governments, businesses, and civil society in shaping policies and actions that promote equity, environmental protection, and economic growth. For local projects (like the Crossover Labs topics), the SDGs offer a shared language and measurable targets, helping communities align their initiatives—such as clean energy, inclusive education, or sustainable transport—with broader global priorities. This makes local efforts more impactful and easier to connect with funding, partnerships, and policy support. 

 SDGs.jpg

 

Value Framework 

The Value Framework (den Ouden, 2011) helps you design innovations that create value on multiple levels. It emphasizes that successful solutions must deliver value not only for end users, but also for other stakeholders such as businesses, governments, and society at large. 

The framework distinguishes between four types of value: user-, business-, social- and ecological value. By mapping these values and identifying potential tensions or synergies, you can design concepts that are more holistic, impactful, and future-proof. 

Value Framework.jpg  

 

More information: https://www.tue-lighthouse.nl/Images/Propositions/20161003%20Value%20models.pdf  

 

Doughnut economy 

The Doughnut Economy, developed by economist Kate Raworth, is a new econmic framework for sustainable development. It balances essential human needs (the social foundation) with planetary boundaries (the ecological ceiling). The safe and just space for humanity lies in between—where everyone can thrive without overshooting Earth’s limits. This model is especially relevant for complex societal challenges because it encourages systems thinking, integrating social justice with environmental sustainability. It helps policymakers, communities, and businesses design solutions that are both inclusive and regenerative. 

More information and tools: https://doughnuteconomics.org/about-doughnut-economics 

Doughnut economics.jpg

 

Broad prosperity 

Broad Prosperity (Brede Welvaart), as defined by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), refers to the quality of life “here and now,” and to what extent it comes at the expense of future generations or people elsewhere in the world. The concept goes beyond economic growth and includes well-being, health, education, the environment, safety, and social cohesion. 

For local government (like Tilburg), broad prosperity serves as a guiding principle in shaping policy. It helps local governments address societal challenges—such as the climate transition, inclusive labor markets, and livable neighborhoods—in an integrated way. TThey use broad prosperity as a compass to make decisions that contribute to a sustainable and just future for all residents. 

More information:  

  

Possible exercises and tools to start with 

  • Look at your system mapping and consider the economic, ecological, social (and psychological) value perspectives 
  • Get an overview of economic, social and/or ecological values in your concept. 
  • Connect the value perspectives of your concept to the local agenda on broad prosperity and/or the dougnut econmics framework. 

3.2 You experiment with small interventions and iterations, involving key stakeholders. 

You will have to test your ideas in the real world, starting small and learning fast. Involve the people who are part of the system, listen to their feedback, and adapt your approach. This iterative process helps you refine your concept, learn from the system and build support for change. It’s about learning by doing and doing with others. This is research, so stay keen, plan, test, learn and stay open for new insights.  

 

Models and theory 

Strategies for system intervention 

Key in the experimentation process is your interaction with the system. Stay close to stakeholders and users, ask questions and test your ideas with small interventions. Collect your data and improve your ideas. Every small intervention (an interview, a workshop, a new way of working, a performance, an art piece, a user test) is a change in the system on the short term and sometimes even on the long run. It’s also a key moment to collect data and measure the impact of your interventions. Documentation of this process, from preparation, to execution to evaluation and reflection is key to determine next steps. 

Examples of experiments: 

    • Concept test 
    • Co-creation sessions 
    • Paper prototypes 
    • Visual expedition 
    • Interviews 
    • Visual future thinking with stakeholders 
    • Lego Serious play with stakeholders 
    • 3D mapping  

 

Links to useful protyping and experimentation tools: 

  • Participatory action research 

 

Possible exercises and tools to start with 

  • Consider different ways of testing various aspects of your concept / design. 
  • Make a plan to test your concept. Define your hypothesis, how to test and observce and how to measure impact. 

3.3 You define appropriate indicators to evaluate impact on multiple levels.

Evaluating the impact of your actions and defining what success looks like starts with identifying what truly matters. Instead of focusing only on numbers, you’ll consider the kind of change you want to see—both in the short term and over time. To support this, you’ll develop indicators that help you observe your impact at different levels. These markers will guide your process, keep your goals in focus, and help you reflect on what’s working and what needs to shift as you move forward. 

 

Models and theory 

Theory of Change  

The Theory of Change (ToC) is a strategic planning framework that outlines how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a specific context. It helps organizations, projects, or initiatives articulate the steps needed to achieve long-term goals by identifying the relationships between activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact. 

At its core, the Theory of Change answers three key questions: 

  • What are we trying to achieve? (The long-term impact) 
  • How will we get there? (The sequence of activities and outcomes) 
  • Why do we believe this will work? (The assumptions and evidence behind the strategy) 

https://www.designkit.org/methods/explore-your-theory-of-change.html  

 

Evaluation of your impact 

Through interviews, concept testing, and reflection, you interact with stakeholders. You can evaluate the broader impact of your work by finding and defing indcators for impact during your project. Defining clear these indicators helps measure progress and ensures their solutions are meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable. Consider using qualitative (numbers of visitors etc) and quantitative indcators (stories, feedback). 

An alternative way of evaluating your impact is by keeping a reflective logbook of your process to collect key moments, insights and valuable feedback. In the process you frequently look back to find patterns and new pathways for your research, but also to define an track the impact you had in small interactions. 

 

Possible exercises and tools to start with 

  • Frequently evaluate and reflect on your interactions with stakeholders and ask feedback on the impact of your encounters and tests.  
  • Find and define indicators of the impact. Use quantative and qualitative indicators.  
  • Keep a logbook of your process to frequently reflect on you insights and to collect data of the impact of small interactions.
  • Define a Theory of Change for your design/solution/advice. 

 

Key skills for multiple value creation

Developing key skills is essential for turning theory into practice and growing as a professional. By actively engaging with models and theory, applying what you learn in practice and reflecting on your learning, you build the competence needed to succeed in real-world challenges. In this learning outcome you will develop in and reflect on the following key skills:

    • Creative thinking

      Generating original, meaningful ideas that connect insights in novel ways.

    • Experimentation

      Testing ideas through small-scale interventions, iteration, and learning from failure

    • Evaluation

      The ability to assess the value, impact, and feasibility of ideas or actions using evidence and criteria.  

 

 

Used sources for this learning outcome 
  • Den Ouden, E. (2011). Innovation Design: Creating Value for People, Organizations and Society. Springer. 
  • Meadows, D. H. (2009). Thinking in systems: A Primer. Earthscan Publications.