PACO DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

Their core work

PACO Design Collaborative is a Milan-based design practice specialising in co-creation methodologies, service design, and the use of creative disciplines as tools for social change. Their work sits at the intersection of design research and social innovation — developing participatory processes that engage communities, particularly young people facing unemployment and marginalisation. In EU research contexts, they contribute design expertise and facilitation capacity to interdisciplinary teams tackling social challenges. Their recent work extends into artistic research and the role of arts-based practices in driving civic and community transformation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earlier work (2015-2019), PACO Design Collaborative was focused on applied service design as a practical tool for social outcomes — specifically youth unemployment and employability within creative industries. By 2020-2023, their emphasis shifted toward the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of design: visual art, artistic research, and the concept of arts as social transformation. The core commitment to co-creation persisted across both phases, but the framing moved from instrumental problem-solving toward a more cultural and research-driven artistic practice.

PACO appears to be deepening their engagement with artistic research and cultural practice, positioning themselves at the boundary between design, contemporary art, and social science — a profile well suited to future calls in culture, creative industries, or arts-based community development.

How they like to work

PACO Design Collaborative has participated exclusively as a partner — never as project coordinator — across both H2020 engagements, suggesting they operate as a specialist contributor within larger consortia rather than as a lead organisation. With 11 unique partners across 10 countries from just two projects, they engage in broad, diverse consortia rather than recurring bilateral partnerships. This points to an organisation that brings a defined methodological contribution (design, co-creation facilitation) and integrates readily into multi-disciplinary European teams.

Despite only two projects, PACO has built a surprisingly wide network of 11 partners spanning 10 countries — indicating that both consortia were geographically diverse European collaborations. There is no evidence of geographic concentration, suggesting openness to pan-European partnerships rather than a regional cluster focus.

What sets them apart

PACO Design Collaborative occupies a rare niche: a design practice with demonstrated EU research credentials, capable of bridging the gap between academic research methodologies and applied creative practice. Unlike pure academic institutions, they bring practitioner-level design and facilitation skills; unlike typical creative agencies, they operate within rigorous research frameworks validated by MSCA and RIA funding. For consortia building projects in social innovation, cultural heritage, or creative industries, they offer a credible design research partner with on-the-ground experience in participatory processes.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PARTY
  Their first EU project, running four years under MSCA-RISE, applied service design and co-creation tools directly to youth unemployment — an unusually practical and socially grounded application of design research methodology.
• AMASS
  A large RIA project (Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture) that reframed the organisation's design practice within a broader cultural and artistic research agenda, signalling a strategic evolution toward arts-based social transformation.