Living laboratory
According to the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) a living lab is "real-life test and experimentation environment that fosters co-creation and open innovation among the main actors of the Quadruple Helix Model, namely: Citizens, Government, Industry and Academia"
A team from MIT (William J. Mitchell, Kent Larson, and Alex (Sandy) Pentland) are credited with being the first to explore the concept of Living Laboratories. In principle it aims to be a user-centric research methodology for 'sensing, prototyping, validating and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real-life contexts'. Other definitions now more loosely define living labs as on site open innovation ecosystems, or test beds in real life situations (often urban based) involving a number of different actors, including user groups and often local government, but not always.
ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs, describes living labs as having six building blocks;
- Orchestration: Orchestrates within the ecosystem to connect and partner up with relevant stakeholders.
- Multi-stakeholder participation: Holistic involvement of quadruple helix model stakeholders.
- Active user involvement: Actively involvement of stakeholders, with implemented feedback cycles.
- Co-creation: Bottom-up co-creation approach by stakeholders, to ensure a stronger end adoption.
- Real-life settings: Infuses innovation into real life sites rather than test sites to explore innovation uptake.
- Multi method approach: Problem driven with expected outcomes and stakeholder involvement.
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