Samskapere

Samskapere is a Norwegian term that describes individuals or groups who participate in the joint creation of a product, service, policy, or cultural project. The concept emphasizes collaboration, shared ownership, and the distribution of influence throughout the development process. In practice, samskapere involves stakeholders such as residents, users, designers, policymakers, and researchers working together from early ideation to implementation and evaluation.

The word is formed from sam-, meaning together, and skapere, meaning creators, reflecting a focus on collective creativity. The term is widely used in contexts such as participatory design, co-design, open innovation, living labs, and participatory budgeting.

Typical methods include facilitated workshops, co-design sessions, pilots, testbeds, and iterative prototyping, often supported by methods from design thinking and user research. The approach aims to produce outcomes that better reflect user needs, increase legitimacy, and improve uptake and sustainability.

Challenges include ensuring inclusive representation, managing power dynamics, providing sufficient resources and time, and maintaining momentum across stakeholders with different interests. Facilitation, clear governance, and transparent decision-making are commonly required for successful samskapere projects.

Historically, concepts of co-creation and participatory design emerged from broader movements toward user-centered design and democratic governance and gained prominence in both the public and private sectors in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Samskapere is thus both a linguistic term and a practical approach to collaborative creation.