Sustaining Social Innovation in Smart Public Security: From Evidence to Long-Term Impact

Security challenges in public spaces have increasingly been addressed through co-creation and social innovation approaches, aiming for smart cities and technologically supported solutions. However, despite their growing adoption, many co-created security initiatives struggle to endure beyond pilot phases, as funding ends or stakeholder engagement declines. If sustainability is not addressed, co-creation risks becoming an end rather than a pathway to long-term security and societal resilience. This challenge raises a broader and timely question about the sustainability of participatory and evidence-based approaches to smart security of public spaces. Building on the CO-SECUR project, which combines analytical research, capacity-building and interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of Social Innovation in Security (SIS), this workshop uses the Societal Development Plan (SDP) as a concrete example to explore wider sustainability challenges by addressing a fundamental question: what happens after co-creation ends?

Rather than focusing exclusively on SDPs, the workshop opens a broader discussion on how co-created strategies, tools and policies in smart security can achieve long-term and systemic impact. The workshop brings together researchers, policymakers, practitioners and civil society actors to reflect on governance arrangements, evidence use, stakeholder ownership and capacity-building mechanisms that support continuity and scalability. Through short contributions and interactive sessions, participants will co-develop transferable insights and actionable recommendations to strengthen the sustainability of co-created security initiatives beyond individual projects or contexts.

The workshop takes place in the realm of the GoodTech Conference  12th EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good. 16 - 17 April 2026 in Croation. 

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Submission Deadline: 20 February 2026

Notification Deadline: 1 March 2026