On 28.04.2023, a conference was held at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences as part of the TRAWOS project BePart - "Participation and partnerships in structural change. Penetrating social innovations in Lusatia in the real world and strengthening them in practice" a workshop with the cooperation partners Kulturbüro Sachsen e.V. and Volkshochschule Görlitz e.V. took place.

The BePart project uses two contrasting case studies in Lusatia to research the conditions that promote and hinder social innovation in structurally weak regions. Following an initial ethnographic research phase, social innovation formats are to be developed and tested together with local practice partners under the guiding principle of "shaping change", in which the ability to shape structural change is made tangible. The workshop served as an initial exchange between science and practice and focused on the question of how participation formats in change can be successfully designed and "fake participation" can be avoided.

BePart is a joint project of the Zittau-Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (TRAWOS), the University of Siegen and the research association neo.NET e.V. It has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since October 2022 for a period of 3 years as part of the funding line "REGION.innovativ. Researching regional factors for innovation and change - strengthening society's capacity for innovation".