• Co-creation may become a way to improve the quality of eGovernment services and thus their uptake, by involving end users as partners in the planning, design and provision of digital services.

• However, co-creation is a complex and demanding process for both sides: government units as well as citizens, and requires careful planning and evaluation.

• Co-creation consists of several phases, from the early identification of problems and needs, the conceptualisation of a service and its design to its implementation and maintenance.

• The biggest challenge is to engage a knowledgeable and motivated group of citizens whose contributions lead to improvements of a service that benefits an entire target group.

• Co-creation requires more resources than ordinary service design; it only pays off when government units meet the proposals of citizens with sufficient scope for action. This is more likely for local or regional information services than for nationwide transaction services.

• In order to identify services that justify the effort of co-creation, we recommend to plan four steps, (1) a broad consultation on the collaborative improvement of information services on different topics, (2) a formal and official selection of a specific problem focus and the allocation of resources for co-creation, (3) the service design process itself, and (4) a systematic evaluation of the co-created service.