[Wikimedia-l] Innovate in Free Knowledge | UNLOCK the power of collaboration!

Dear Movement members, The innovation program UNLOCK will soon enter its third edition. At UNLOCK [1], we support people and communities who are working on new ideas, products and services for Wikimedia and free knowledge that address gaps in knowledge equity. Participating teams will benefit from tailored coaching and mentoring, peer-to-peer exchange and collaboration, access to experts from the free knowledge community and beyond, and – where required – a scholarship. For the 2022 edition, we are proud to announce that the program will be implemented in a collaborative manner as Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia Serbia are joining forces. Besides this cross-regional and cross-affiliate collaboration, we will also partner with Impact Hub Belgrade – an organization from the innovation ecosystem [2]. We will direct our geographical focus on the German-speaking as well as on the Western Balkan region. This means that applications are open to project teams from the following countries: Germany and Switzerland (Austria tbc), as well as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Serbia. The program language is English in order to enable exchange and create synergies among the cross-regional project teams. In April 2022 we will kick-off the application phase for UNLOCK 2022 and will share more details about it soon. While Wikimedia Deutschland, Wikimedia Serbia and Impact Hub Belgrade will jointly lead the implementation of the program, Wikimedia communities in the Western Balkan region as well as social organizations outside of the movement will also be involved, which will strengthen the position of Wikimedia in the knowledge ecosystem and further increase the presence of Wikimedia in the fields of innovation. We hope to establish a collaboration from which all involved parties can mutually benefit and empower each other. Our work is driven by the Movement Strategy and there are three ways in which UNLOCK directly contributes to the implementation of it: 1. UNLOCK provides a support environment for innovations and innovators to grow, it encourages and invests in people and communities, who are exploring and building solutions that make knowledge accessible in various formats or that support diverse modes of consumption and contribution (recommendation 9 [3]); 2. UNLOCK seeks to collaborate with stakeholders from regional social innovation ecosystems, such as innovation hubs, and integrate their resources. This will help to diversify and enrich the movement as well as to strengthen local and regional capacities of Wikimedia communities and leaders through sharing experiences. Forging partnerships will also provide learning opportunities for us as a movement, on how to collaborate with people and institutions that are not from the immediate open knowledge movement (recommendation 6 [4]); 3. UNLOCK should evolve into something that ultimately becomes freely adaptable, reusable and changeable depending on the geographic, cultural and economic context. We seek to pilot it in an area with communities that are still emerging, and/or marginalized – focusing on those who ultimately should co-create and benefit from innovations. This process of adaptation, or better, contextualization – a central Movement Strategy principle [5] – is an area where we as a movement still have much to test and to learn. We are more than happy to engage in conversations about how to “innovate in free knowledge” and are eager to hear additional perspectives, insights, and feedback from across the movement related to the contextualization of programs like UNLOCK. Please also reach out to me directly to explore ways to take the conversation forward. For further questions about UNLOCK 2022, please feel free to directly contact us – Ivana (Wikimedia Serbia) and Kannika (Wikimedia Deutschland). All the best Kannika & Ivana [1] https://www.wikimedia.de/unlock/ [2] https://belgrade.impacthub.net/ [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme… [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme… [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme… -- Kannika Thaimai (she/her)*Innovation Engine - Strategy Lead*>> WMDE innovation engine strategy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Deutschland/Innovation_Engine> Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin Phone: +49 30 219 158 26-0 https://wikimedia.de Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia, Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German): https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/ Wikimedia Deutschland – Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207.