Preparation

Preparation covers participant recruitment, early contact, and workshop setup. It clarifies what participants complete before the workshop and what facilitators prepare in advance. Any ethics or consent procedures depend on the local context.  

Facilitators recruit participants, share a brief overview of the process and timeline, and introduce the overall workshop activities.

Workshop setup

• Collaborative activities are typically completed in small groups at tables and whiteboards.
• It can be run in one group or in several groups working in parallel, depending on the number of participants and the groups created after the matchmaking activity.
• Facilitators provide basic stationery and plan facilitation support depending on the number of participants.
• Planned duration of workshop: 3 hours.
• Planned number of participants: 5-6 people.

 Workshop structure

Introduction and warm-up

• Activity: Participants introduce themselves and their organisations.
• Aim: Create a comfortable atmosphere and establish initial trust.
• Expected duration: 10 mins.

Session 1: Structured matchmaking.

The expected duration of the 1st session: 60 mins.

Step 1: Describing each organisation.

• Activity: Participants describe their organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, and goals in post-its and put them on the canvas. Each participant presents their notes and makes them visible to others.
• Aim: Introduce each company and identify possible matchmaking opportunities.

Step 2. Identifying common goals and complementing areas.

• Activity: Participants discuss similarities, complementarities, and shared interests.
• Examples: skills shortages; market limitations; process automation; innovation etc.
• Aim: Define common goals or a vision for future collaboration. The facilitator helps to steer the discussion towards objectives.

BREAK FOR 10 mins between 2 sessions.

Session 2: Collaborative learning

Expected duration for 2nd session: 90 mins.

• Activity: Participants discuss proposed categories of collaborative learning and note ideas in sticky notes.
• Aim: supports structured discussion around collaborative learning processes.
• Categories: Aims. Examples: expanding markets, innovation, partnerships, etc.
• Challenges Examples: trust, lack of time, communication barriers, limited resources
• Enablers Examples: shared values, networks, complementary expertise, incubators
• Methods Examples: workshops, peer discussions, hackathons, mentoring, etc.
• Tools Examples: shared digital platforms, communication channels, etc.

Examples are visualised using ideation cards, with the front-side text and back-side questions provided for each category.

Follow-up

Expected duration: 10 mins.
A short follow-up can be added to capture feedback while the workshop experience is still fresh. Facilitators collect feedback through a short feedback loop round at the end of the workshop.