Enhancing Industrial Inspiration and Resilience
Creative trainings for innovation in the Kosice region
Strengthening transversal soft skills and cross-sectoral inspiration through creative trainings
Overview
What has been done
Pilot focused on strengthening transversal soft skills through a series of creative training activities tailored to regional needs. Based on a co-creation workshop with key stakeholders, a structured program was designed to develop skills such as communication, collaboration and strategic thinking. Each of 8 workshops either applied a creative format or directly focused on developing creative competences.The trainings emphasized hands-on learning, peer exchange and real-life application, engaging participants from public administration, business support organisations and the innovation ecosystem stakeholder. A train-the-trainer approach supported the transfer and scaling of creative skills within organisations introducing creative competences into technical and administrative environments.
Why was it needed locally
Pilot responded to a clear gap in the Košice region, where strong technical expertise is not complemented by transversal and creative soft skills. Regional analysis highlighted limited capacity for cross-sectoral collaboration and a lack of practical training formats focused on communication, strategic thinking and creativity. There is also untapped potential in connecting actors from public administration, business and the creative sector to strengthen innovation and knowledge transfer.
Target Groups: How were they activated and their benefits
Economic development agency – Innovation centre, business supporting organizations, industry cluster organisations
Activation: They were engaged through existing networks and invited as key multipliers, with a potential in transferring knowledge further. The train-the-trainer approach and hands-on methods encouraged active participation and ownership of the process.
Benefit: Strengthening their capacity to support innovation through creative methods and improved collaboration skills. Gaining practical tools that can be applied in their programmes to better engage SMEs and foster cross-sector cooperation.
Regional authority – Self-governing region
Activation: Involving representatives from the beginning of the project, offering participation in the local advisory board and continuous direct communication.
Benefit: Strengthening the capacity to integrate transversal and creative skills into regional policy and innovation measures. Gaining practical insights for designing more collaborative and user-oriented public services and initiatives.
Economic development agency – Regional offices of Chambers of commerce, creative cluster
Activation: Involving representatives from the beginning of the project and in local advisory gorup based on the previous collaboration. Activation through direct communication, identifying and engaging then as key intermediaries supporting SMEs and innovation. Offering them practical, ready-to-use tools and formats applicable in their services.
Benefit: Strengthening the ability to support SMEs through creative approaches and improved communication and facilitation skills. Gaining practical tools to design and deliver more engaging, innovation-oriented services and training activities.
Other SME – SMEs with different sizes and scopes, HR representatives or middle-management
Activation: Activated through direct communication, via partner networks and by offering trainings addressing real organisational and team challenges, providing relevant data on soft skills importance. Their engagement was strengthened by practical, experience-based formats that provided immediately applicable tools.
Benefit: Improving their communication, collaboration and strategic thinking skills through practical, hands-on training. Gained applicable tools to strengthen team performance, manage people more effectively and support innovation in their organisations. Representing skills needs it their sectors.
Resources Required
Staff
Coordination of cross-sectoral group of stakeholders, communication with relevant tone to different stakeholders, facitilators with co-creation skills
Space
Kasarne/Kulturpark - Workshop and seminar room provided by facilitator with an option of outdoor work
Equipment
Flipcharts, white board, office amenities, beamer, Lego serious play, specific cards related to teaching methodology
Budget
Large: above 10,000 €
budget of ~10000 € covering the fees for expert lecturers, budget of ~1000 € for preparation and co-creation workshop
Methods & Steps
Core Mechanism
Formats applied
Training:
A series of 8 interconnected training sessions was implemented as a structured learning journey focused on developing transversal and creative skills. The trainings used experiential creative methods such as design thinking, gamification, LEGO Serious Play, and train-the-trainer, ensuring practical application and enabling participants to transfer knowledge further within their organisations.
Methods used: Peer-to-Peer Drilling: A high-intensity practice method where ambassadors role-play critical conversations or technical tasks and receive immediate, structured feedback from their peers. This builds the "muscle memory" needed to perform effectively in high-pressure.High Performance Learning Journey (HPLJ): The training was designed as a High Performance Learning Journey (HPLJ), using a Design Thinking framework to ensure a human-centered and practice-oriented approach. Experiential methods such as LEGO Serious Play were applied to support collective learning, visualization of complex challenges and anchoring outcomes in real organisational contexts (“moments that matter”).
Workshop:
Interactive, experience-based sessions designed to actively engage participants in developing transversal and creative skills. Workshops combined methods such as design thinking, gamification and facilitated group work, focusing on real-life challenges and peer learning. This format directly supported the pilot aim by enabling participants to experience and apply creative approaches in practice, strengthening their capacity for cross-sectoral collaboration and innovation
Methods used: Lego Serious Play: LEGO Serious Play is a facilitated method that uses building with LEGO bricks to support reflection and discussion of organisational challenges through metaphorical 3D models. The approach promotes active participation, inclusive engagement and helps participants visualise complex issues, explore different perspectives and develop shared understanding in a structured and creative environment.Design Sprint : Design Sprint (ideation phase) is a structured, multi-step process used to address specific organisational challenges through idea generation, prototyping and testing. It enables participants to move efficiently from problem identification to developing tangible solutions that can be further tested and applied in their organisations.
Steps taken
Identification of key stakeholders
November 2024 - May 2025
- Focus group work: - Local advisory board creation
- Qualitative research on the needs/gaps/offer - Analysis of the regional conditions: - socio-economic potential
- existing strategies analyses
- services provided
- stakeholder mapping
- existing soft skills offer
Key stakeholders engagement
June 2025 - October 2025
- Key stakeholders : - identifying relevant stakeholders from: SMEs, business support organisations, clusters, regional/local authorities, educational and research organisations
- selection of participants as ambassadors with potential to transfer knowledge
- prepare targeted communication plan
- adapt the vocabulary if needes (not soft skills but human skills, etc.) - Co-creation workshop: - Co-creation workshop with selected stakeholders
- building on previous phases (needs analysis and focus groups)
- narrow identified needs
- jointly design the structure and content of the training programme - Selection of relevant facilitators: - based on the results from co-creation workshop decide on the number of workshops
- search for expert facilitators working with creative formats
Training implementation
November 2025 - April 2026
- Education workshops: - deciding on the order of the workshops
- scheduling properly
- starting from the broadest topics
- continuos targeted communication to selected participants - Train-the-trainer: - focus on ambassadors with potential to transfer knowledge
- foster their facilitation and training skills
- provision of practical tools and formats for internal knowledge sharing
- support for application of skills within organisations
- enabling scaling of impact through a “snowball effect”
Reflection, evaluation and follow-up
April 2026 - May 2026
- Feedback collection: - Assessment of skill improvement through real-life pilot activities
- Use of the Success Case Method (SCM) to collect evidence
- Documentation of concrete examples of performance improvements
- Imidiate qualitative feedback collection - Follow-up: - continuous communication with ambassador group
- provide tools and documents
- suggesting activities for upcoming months - Report on the pilot: - summarizing the whole process
- identifying strong and week points
Results
Measurable and Direct Outcomes
The local action brought about the following concrete results:
- Improved transversal skills: 20 participants from 12 organisations took part in at least 1 workshop, forming a cross-sector learning community. Improvement of transversal skills was assessed using the Success Case Method (SCM) through pilot activities addressing real organisational challenges, with all participants reporting improved soft skills following the learning journey.
- New / enhanced cooperation: The pilot created opportunities for peer exchange, trust-building and the development of new cross-sectoral relationships. The base for ambassador group was set, with drafted agenda for next 6 months.
- Stakeholder awareness / network extensions: Stakeholder awareness was increased by building understanding of soft skills, their relevance for innovation and their practical potential in organisational contexts. The pilot also addressed challenges such as the lack of appropriate Slovak terminology and existing biases or misconceptions around soft skills.
Indirect Impacts
The pilot strengthened cross-sectoral connections between administration, business support organisations and innovation actors, supporting a more collaborative ecosystem. The awareness of the value of transversal and creative skills was increased and integrated into practice. An indirect impact is the establishment of the base for ambassador network for knowledge sharing and skills transfer. The train-the-trainer approach further supports long-term impact beyond the pilot.
Local Outlook / Follow-up
- Internal knowledge transfers: Will be ensured through the ambassador (train-the-trainer) approach, where participants deliver trainings within their own organisations. This approach is designed to create a snowball effect, gradually spreading transversal and creative skills across teams and departements.
- Network of ambassadors: A network bringing together trained participants across sectors to share experiences, tools and practices. This network serves as an enduring structure for continued collaboration, peer learning and creation of new exchange formats.
Evaluation
Satisfaction - Overview
Participant satisfaction is exceptionally high due to the pragmatic and gamified nature of the program, specifically the transition from abstract slides to tactile building with Lego. Ambassadors report feeling more "empowered" because the program doesn't just give them information, but provides a Design Thinking toolkit to solve real problems. The focus on pilot projects makes the learning feel "worth the time," as they see immediate improvements in their team's daily operations.
Satisfaction - Details
- High appreciation of methodologies (LEGO Serious Play, Personality typology): Participants expressed high appreciation for the applied methodologies, particularly LEGO Serious Play and personality typology tools, valuing their practical and engaging nature. These approaches supported deeper self-reflection, improved understanding of team dynamics and facilitated more effect.
- Level of participation: Participation levels were consistently high across the training sessions, including engagement of key stakeholders despite their tight schedules. The relevance of the content and interactive format contributed to sustained involvement throughout the learning journey.
Transfer Hints
- Do initial research of the needs/gaps: Research on what is relevant for the region, sectors, active communities.
- Stay local: Focus on the needs relevant in the regional context and verify with focus group.
- Various stakeholders: Ensure that participants are representing different sectors, types and sizes of organisations to enhance the ecosystem/network creation.
- Facilitators consistency: Make sure all workshops are fully in line and topics follow each other do the participants can build on the skills already gained.
- Create ownership: Involve participants in framing and structuring the training, setting goals and defining space to improve for themselves.
- The schedule: Consult the schedule for the workshops of the training in advance and consider availability of the partcipants
- Size of the group: Mind that different sizes of the participant would need different approaches.
- Different settings: Each workshop can be in different location, consider having it outdoors.
- Focus on trends : Don't follow the trends on soft skills, double check with local needs.
- Tight scheduling: Reserve enough time for the whole training and try to be flexible in changing the schedule.
Participant Testimonials & Impressions
Impressions
Replicate This Application?
Access the complete implementation guide and connect with the team
Contact: Alexandra Matiova
Email: alexandra.matiova@cike.sk
Need more information?
Project manager:
Franziska Görmar
IfL - Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany
Email
This project is supported by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund.
Find more information about the x-Inno Radar project on the Interreg CE projectwebsite.
x-Inno Radar is a project of: 
Creative Region Linz & Upper Austria Gmbh, 
The Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Karlovy Vary Region, 
Padova Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture, 
Creative Industry Košice, n. o., 
BSC, Business support centre, ltd., Kranj, 
Regional Development Agency in Bielsko-Biała, 
Stebo Competence Centre Community Developmentm, 
Association of Cultural and Creative Industries Chemnitz and Region (Creative Chemnitz), Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography – Germany, Otelo Cooperative