CANSECO-LOPEZ, FATIMA (Barcelona (ES) i2CAT Foundation)
Living Labs as a Bridge Between Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policies and Actual Social and Environmental Impact
Authors: Fatima Canseco-Lopez, Marta Martorell i Camps, Dimitri Schuurman
Keywords: STI policies; Living Labs; Co-creation; Open Innovation; User Innovation; Responsible Innovation; Innovation Ecosystems
Abstract
Science, technology and innovation (STI) policies play a key role in building scientific and technological capacity and fostering innovation. These policies are essential for economic, social and environmental development (the basis for sustainability) (UNESCO, 2024) and influence technologies and their impacts. To enhance this development, traditional STI policies should be reassessed to identify regulatory bottlenecks and non-technological barriers that have a negative impact on innovation (Business at OECD, 2024). For example, Business at OECD (2024) has provided some recommendations to the OECD and its members such as “reinforcing best practices and policies for international collaboration, co-creation and knowledge sharing to achieve the green transition among governments, businesses and other key stakeholders”; “STI co-creation”; “developing new approaches for public engagement with STI that are inclusive, evidence-based, and accessible”; etc. Therefore, one of the conclusions provided by Business at OECD (2024) is that “Governments should engage with industry experts, academia, and civil society to create flexible regulations that foster innovation while safeguarding public interests”.
In this context, Living Labs are gaining more and more attention lately. According to the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) (2024), “Living labs are open innovation ecosystems in real-life environments based on a systematic user co-creation approach that integrates research and innovation activities in communities and/or multi-stakeholder environments, placing citizens and/or end-users at the centre of the innovation process”. Living Labs are stable multi-stakeholder organisations that implement multiple Living Lab projects utilising user-centric and co-creative methods and tools (Schuurman, 2015). Since its inception in 2006, the ENoLL has grown from a European initiative to a worldwide network of Living Labs working on in a wide diversity of topics and themes, more than 150 active members and more than 400 historically certified members, all following the key Living Lab principles of co-creation, real-life experimentation, and multi-stakeholder orchestration (Leminen and Westerlund, 2019). The European Union (EU) proposes to adopt this approach to develop a competitive knowledge-based society, for example through the Missions (European Commission, 2024). In fact, EU missions involve researchers as well as governments, businesses and citizens, giving a new role to research and innovation, along with new forms of governance and collaboration. The challenges proposed by the missions are ambitious, concrete and measurable within a well-defined timeframe to achieve tangible results for all Europeans.
Social and environmental challenges are becoming more prominent in STI policy, with social innovations being crucial for sustainable development (Howaldt et al., 2024). Social innovation (SI) is a solution or improvement to respond to social (and environmental) problems (Lettice and Parekh, 2010). In addition, digital social innovation (DSI) uses Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to solve (or try to solve) these social/environmental needs (Parth et al., 2021). Recent research has shown the strong ties and significant impact Living Labs can have on local innovation ecosystems, and proposed Living Labs as the missing link between Responsible Innovation ambitions and actual implementation (Fauth et al., 2024). Considering the need to involve all actors of the Quadruple Helix (Carayannis and Campbell, 2009) in order to define the challenge of adjusting STI policies and to co-design and co-create them collaboratively as recommended by Business at OECD (2024) and as other bodies such as the EU are already doing, the following question arises: how and to what extent Living Labs can contribute to strengthening the link between STI (and other) policies to better address major societal and environmental challenges?
This track is open to researchers and practitioners from academia, government, business and civil society who want to share their experiences on the dynamics and impact of Living Labs, specifically in the context of STI policies. The aim of this track is to seek contributions that explore the benefits and implications, barriers and limitations of Living Labs in the co-creation of STI policies. This track also is open to contributions that explore:
• How the Living Lab methodology is and can be applied to specific thematic policies,
• How Living Labs organisations adapt to the different policies,
• The differences in using Living Labs according to the context (geographical, regulatory, etc.) when talking about STI policies, etc.
• Which methodologies are the most appropriate
• How the impact of the Living Labs in the co-creation of these new STI policies can be measured, etc.