Co-Creating the Tools for Change: Key Highlights from Day 2 of our Porto Meeting
Following an inspiring and productive opening session, the DIAMOND consortium reconvened at the Porto Innovation Hub for Day 2 of our 4th in-person Consortium Meeting. If Day 1 was a celebration of our foundational research progress and initial software prototypes, Day 2 was where the rubber met the road.
We shifted our focus entirely into hands-on co-creation. The day was structured around intensive, collaborative workshops designed to translate our data models and AI capabilities into practical, localized training frameworks that will directly empower job seekers across Europe.
Designing Local Testing Groundworks: Living Labs and Data Acquisition
The morning commenced with Workshop 1.1: Living Lab and Data Acquisition. This interactive session brought together a diverse group of research partners and grassroots organization representatives, divided into specialized working groups.
The primary objective was to align our existing educational offerings with real-world community needs. Together, the teams:
- Evaluated currently available training courses across partner networks.
- Mapped out student and participant access protocols to ensure inclusive engagement.
- Examined structural flexibility to allow for seamless testing of entirely new learning formats.
- Identified target cohorts for upcoming social innovation experiments.
By the end of the workshop, the consortium successfully established a comprehensive inventory of targeted courses and cohorts. This layout includes precise parameters regarding course content, delivery timing, learning formats, and specific target groups.
Refining the System Logic: Platform & AI Model Integration
Simultaneously, a dedicated technical track convened for Workshop 1.2: Platform & AI Model. This session brought together technical leads and platform architects to review the operational architecture of the current DIAMOND platform and its AI recommender engine.
To ensure the technology remains truly user-centric and accessible, the team scrutinized the platform’s functionalities from three critical viewpoints: the learner, the teacher, and the system administrator. Key points of the alignment included:
- Fine-tuning the backend integration of our signature ᴱGROW Index.
- Optimizing the course and data upload pipelines for educational providers.
- Streamlining the onboarding workflows to make it seamless for civil society organizations to adopt the platform.
This technical deep-dive achieved a unified, shared understanding of the recommender model’s logic, ensuring that our AI tool acts as an intuitive, supportive career guide.
Validating Credentialing & Mapping the Research Roadmaps
Following a midday lunch and a refreshing “Walk and Talk” session through the streets of Porto, the afternoon split into two crucial forward-looking work streams:
1. Microcredentials & Course Development (Workshop 2.1)
Education experts and grassroots teams gathered to review how traditional training can be modernized. The group evaluated existing curricula that are prime candidates for conversion into formalized microcredentials. By consolidating feedback on current course drafts and brainstorming flexible, co-created learning paths, the team established a solid list of bite-sized modules designed to offer learners official, dignified recognition for their evolving skill sets.
2. Research and Living Lab Facilitation (Workshop 2.2)
Simultaneously, research partners and local organization leads utilized the raw outputs from the morning’s data acquisition workshop to secure our scientific timeline. The team collaborated to draft concrete, localized research designs and strict execution schedules tailored to the upcoming reporting period for each distinct grassroots community.
Looking Ahead
Day 2 concluded with a comprehensive summary of our workshop achievements, followed by the General Assembly to formalize our next strategic milestones.
Leaving Porto, the DIAMOND consortium carries more than just theoretical data, we leave with concrete, validated action plans, verified software logic, and localized educational frameworks. By bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI technology and compassionate, grassroots community care, we are officially ready to bring the next phase of DIAMOND to life.
Funding Agency: European Research Executive Agency (REA)
