Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE) promotes Free Knowledge in various ways. Since 2019 WMDE has been working on the strategy Innovation Engine which is one of the seven long-term strategies of the organisation and belongs to the field of actions Technology.
The Innovation Engine strategy aims to promote innovative ideas and solutions as well as to strengthen the innovative power and capacity of the Wikimedia movement. With this strategy, WMDE contributes to the implementation of the global Movement Strategy: on the one hand to increase the sustainability of the movement (recommendation #1) by investing in the people in the communities that work on new free knowledge projects, new knowledge forms and formats to address gaps in knowledge equity. On the other hand, this investment will strengthen the movement's capacity for innovation (recommendation #9).
Building upon recommendation 9, our team has taken a closer look at the topic of “Innovation for Free Knowledge” and examined where we – as a social movement – are at in this respect. The analysis highlights the structures, programs and resources already available in our Wikimedia movement to support innovation and those that would be necessary in order to foster innovation in a sustainable way. Learn more about it here: Building an ecosystem to innovate in free knowledge.
Technical and social innovations can develop only in an innovation culture that promotes creativity. We want to create an inclusive environment in which potential innovations and synergies within the international movement are taken up and promoted, in which innovation and innovators can grow, and experimentation with new products and services for free knowledge is facilitated. Our focus for 2023 lies on the exploration and co-creation of new innovation-driving formats, processes and structures in order to become an innovation engine for the international movement.
To implement the Innovation Engine strategy, WMDE designed and launched an innovation-driving program – UNLOCK Accelerator – with the goal of promoting new ideas and activating new target groups so that new products and services for Wikimedia and free knowledge can be developed that address gaps in knowledge equity.
With UNLOCK, we could cater to and tap into new communities that are not yet part of the Wikimedia movement, but whose projects and ideas contribute to our vision (e.g. tech4good startups, social entrepreneurs, etc.). Besides, the program should gradually become an integral part in the global Wikimedia movement, while leveraging on existing structures for exchange and collaboration to boost innovation potentials and synergies within the movement.
UNLOCK supported participating teams for a limited period of time in validating, testing and developing their project ideas in a structured way by means of coaching, events for exchange and collaboration, a network of experts and, if required, a scholarship. Teams could apply with project ideas related to our thematic areas, which was defined at each edition. The program is open to volunteers from existing Wikimedia projects as well as to those who are not yet part of the Wikimedia movement. The UNLOCK Accelerator ran for three consecutive editions.
