Areas of expertise:

The focus of research interest is on social innovation in rural areas combined with practical work as a leader in several projects that creates a supportive ecosystem for co-creation. An experienced advisor with a demonstrated history of working in the public policy industry. Skilled in social innovation, innovation development, rural community development, health & welfare, and health economics with ability to lead diverse teams and development activities. She is a PhD student researching the hackathon as a tool of co-creation of innovative solutions in the public arena. Kadri is currently a visiting PhD-student at the University of Eastern Finland.

Previous and ongoing projects:

1. The goal of the international project "Co-creation of service innovation in Europe" was to improve citizens' involvement in the creation of public services and create opportunities for co-creation with the help of innovative practices. As part of the pilot project in Estonia, opportunities were sought to create practices for co-creating services in sparsely populated rural areas. For this purpose, the hackathon concept used in the private sector was adapted to the needs of the community and local level. Four social hackathons “Vunki mano!" were implemented in Võru county. The concept of the social hackathon and guidelines were created. https://cosie.turkuamk.fi/

www.vunkimano.ee

2. The goal of the project "Social Hackathon - community-based development of the most disadvantaged microregions" was to strengthen the development of disadvantaged rural areas and methodically advance the development of Hungarian and Romanian communities by adapting the Estonian community hackathon as an innovative approach. During the project, educational material was created for communities on how to adapt the social hackathon concept to local conditions and needs.

3. The aim of the project "Cities as Arenas of Political Innovation in the Strengthening of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy" is to update the methods of citizen involvement and the knowledge about these methods so that they better correspond to today's needs, expectations and opportunities. In the course of the project, the current situation and challenges of deliberative and inclusive governance in various local governments in Europe will be analyzed and new methods will be tested to create and maintain a dialogue with citizens in order to jointly design policies that better meet the needs of society. https://www.euarenas.eu/

4. The goal of the project "Creating a Social Innovation Competence Center" is to plan an Estonian Social Innovation Competence Center in order to reduce the fragmentation of the field and improve the cooperation between the parties and the exchange of information. During the project, the current situation of social innovation is mapped and the concept and action plan of the competence center is created. The project is part of the trend of the European Commission to create institutions and activities promoting social innovation in the member states and connect them into a pan-European network. https://www.kysk.ee/sikk

5. The goal of the URBACT action network "Social impact bond development for improved public service delivery (SIBdev)" aimed at European local governments was to analyze the challenges related to social impact bonds and to prepare an action plan for the implementation of social impact bonds by means of knowledge exchange and learning at the international and local level. In Estonia, the project was implemented in Võru county. https://urbact.eu/sibdev