CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation. Special Issue on 'Co-Creation'

Across science, industry, culture and civil society, urgent and complex problems increasingly demand approaches that move beyond disciplinary silos, top-down management, or one-size-fits-all solutions. Co-creation offers a way of working that brings together diverse perspectives, distributes agency, and produces outcomes that are richer, more equitable and potentially more sustainable. Yet the language of co-creation is too often applied loosely, without the careful study and experimental rigour required to advance it as a field. Practices labelled as co-creation may conceal asymmetries of power, overlook questions of authorship and ownership, or reproduce inequities rather than challenge them. At the same time, new technologies such as artificial intelligence, novel infrastructures, and collaborative platforms raise questions about what it means to create together in the twenty-first century.