Universities as Living Labs for Climate Praxis

Cities with their innovative capacity are key places to address critical climate, environmental and health challenges. Urban experimentations, such as Living Labs, can represent a starting point to reintroduce resources into the production cycle and reduce environmental impacts, embracing the paradigm of the circular economy (CE). According to recent studies, Living Labs at a city scale could generate significant environmental benefits, improvements in quality of life and positive impacts on citizens’ health.1 This paper aims at presenting the case of the Torino Living Lab on Sharing and Circular Economy (LLSC) to point out possible future scenarios of urban sustainable policies. The case study is analysed in five sections: (1) the description of the new permanent laboratory proposed by the City of Turin; (2) the past experiences of Living Labs in Turin; (3) the birth of LLSC and the involvement strategy; (4) the introduction of the eight admitted experimentations. In the light of the results collected, the last paragraph (5) came up with the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Treaths (SWOT) analysis in the LLSC. Eventually, it deals with the research question by offering a common ground for global and local policies focused on sustainability and CE.

Download Full-text

The Defining Characteristics of Agroecosystem Living Labs

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041718 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1718

Author(s):

Chris McPhee ◽

Margaret Bancerz ◽

Muriel Mambrini-Doudet ◽

François Chrétien ◽

Christian Huyghe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Systems ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

External Factors ◽

Social Challenges ◽

Rural Living ◽

Living Lab ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Unique Nature ◽

Living Labs ◽

High Uncertainty

In response to environmental, economic, and social challenges, the living labs approach to innovation is receiving increasing attention within the agricultural sector. In this paper, we propose a set of defining characteristics for an emerging type of living lab intended to increase the sustainability and resilience of agriculture and agri-food systems: the “agroecosystem living lab”. Drawing on first-hand knowledge of case studies of large initiatives from Canada and France and supported by eight other cases from the literature, we highlight the unique nature of agroecosystem living labs and their distinct challenges with respect to their aims, activities, participants, and context. In particular, these living labs are characterized by exceptionally high levels of scientific research; long innovation cycles with high uncertainty due to external factors; and the high number and diversity of stakeholders involved. Both procedurally and conceptually, we link to earlier efforts undertaken by researchers seeking to identify urban living labs and rural living labs as distinct, new types of living labs. By highlighting what makes agroecosystem living labs unique and their commonalities with other types of living labs, we hope to encourage their further study and help practitioners better understand their implementation and operational challenges and opportunities.

Download Full-text

The role of relational governance in innovation platform growth: the context of living labs

Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing ◽

10.1108/jbim-02-2020-0114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Chiara Luisa Cantù ◽

Daniel Schepis ◽

Roberto Minunno ◽

Greg Morrison

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Sustainable Construction ◽

Relational Governance ◽

Content Type ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Platform Development ◽

Innovation Platform ◽

Collective Goals

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of relational governance in innovation platform development, specifically investigating the context of living labs. Design/methodology/approach Two longitudinal case studies are presented, derived from auto-ethnographic narratives, qualitative interviews and secondary documents, which cover the critical stages in the development of each living lab. Findings Empirical insights demonstrate the relevance of coordination activities based on joint planning and activities to support innovation platform development across different stages. The governance role of research actors as platform activators is also identified. Practical implications The paper offers a useful perspective for identifying collective goals between living lab actors and aligning joint activities across different stages of living lab development. Social implications The case provides insights into the challenges and opportunities for collaboration between academia, industry and users to support sustainable construction innovation. Originality/value A relational governance mode is identified, going beyond top down or bottom up approaches, which contributes a new understanding of how collective goals align within a relational space.

Download Full-text

Incremental and Radical Service Innovation in Living Labs

Economics ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8468-3.ch025 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 445-459 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Seppo Leminen ◽

Mika Westerlund

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Service Innovation ◽

Service Development ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Open Service ◽

Innovation Strategies ◽

Set Up ◽

Innovation Novelty

Living labs provide a new, under researched form of open innovation. Although open innovation is increasingly popular in service development, extant literature lacks knowledge of different open service innovation strategies, which companies can employ. This chapter focuses on strategies that firms can take in co-creating service innovations through living labs. The authors found nine open service innovation strategies based on an analysis of 26 living labs in four countries. Understanding of strategies and their links with incremental or radical innovation outcomes aid managers to set up an efficient innovation management. Knowledge of various strategies helps companies to succeed in service development and innovation novelty assessment based on the characteristics of the living lab.

Download Full-text

Processos de estudo e avaliação da aprendizagem no desenvolvimento da expertise

Estudos em Avaliação Educacional ◽

10.18222/eae.v29i71.4265 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (71) ◽

pp. 386

Author(s):

Gustavo Danicki Aureliano Rosa ◽

Afonso Celso Tanus Galvão

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Development ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Educational Assessment ◽

Learning Processes ◽

Learning Assessment ◽

Verbal Protocols ◽

Expertise Development ◽

Educational Objectives ◽

Assessment Of Learning ◽

Palabras Clave

Desenvolve-se uma análise de protocolos verbais de processos de estudo, tendo como inspiração a taxonomia de objetivos educacionais de Bloom et al. (1977), para a geração de subsídios para a avaliação educacional. Os protocolos foram gerados a partir da entrevista com seis indivíduos que realizaram o estudo com materiais de domínio e não domínio inferido. Os resultados da pesquisa sugerem que: i) informações importantes para o realinhamento das ações em uma situação de ensino e aprendizagem podem ser obtidas, tais como termos-chave que tenham significado para os indivíduos e que estejam inseridos em materiais de não domínio; e ii) uma categorização como a proposta neste estudo para a tomada de decisão pode contribuir para o trabalho efetivo do estudante em situações adequadas ao seu nível de desenvolvimento rumo ao domínio completo de determinado material de estudo.Palavras-chave: Avaliação da Educação, Taxonomia, Resolução de Problemas, Desenvolvimento Cognitivo. Procesos de estudio y evaluación del aprendizaje en el desarrollo de la expertiseSe desarrolla un análisis de protocolos verbales de procesos de estudio, cuya inspiración es la taxonomía de objetivos educacionales de Bloom et al. (1977), a fin de generar subsidios para la evaluación educacional. Los protocolos se originaron a partir de la entrevista con seis individuos que realizaron el estudio con materiales de dominio y no dominio inferido. Los resultados de la investigación sugieren que: i) se pueden obtener informaciones importantes para la realineación de las acciones en una situación de enseñanza y aprendizaje, tales como términos clave que tengan significado para los individuos y que estén insertos en materiales de no dominio; y ii) una categorización como la propuesta en este estudio para la toma de decisión puede contribuir para el trabajo efectivo del estudiante en situaciones adecuadas a su nivel de desarrollo rumbo al dominio completo de un determinado material de estudio.Palabras clave: Evaluación de la Educación, Taxonomía, Resolución de Problemas, Desarrollo Cognitivo. Learning processes and learning assessment for expertise developmentAn analysis of verbal protocols of learning processes, and their categorization based on Bloom’s et al. (1977) taxonomy of educational objectives, is developed to generate subsidies for an educational assessment of learning processes. The participants were six academics who were observed while solving problems involving domain and non-domain material. Results suggest that: i) knowledge that is relevant for the realignment of actions in situations of teaching, such as keywords that are meaningful for individuals that can be obtained even when inserted into nondomain materials; and ii) categorizations such as the ones proposed for this study can contribute to the effectiveness of students’ learning processes in situations that are appropriate for their level of development and towards the mastery of study content.Keywords: Educational Assessment, Taxonomy, Problem Solving, Cognitive Development.

Download Full-text

Digital Biomarkers for supporting transitional care decisions: Protocol for a transnational feasibility study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.34573 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Despoina Petsani ◽

Sara Ahmed ◽

Vasileia Petronikolou ◽

Eva Kehayia ◽

Mika Alastalo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Large Scale ◽

Transitional Care ◽

Care Process ◽

Local Context ◽

Pilot Phase ◽

Living Lab ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Living Labs ◽

Digital Biomarkers

BACKGROUND VITALISE is a H2020 project that aims to harmonize Living Lab procedures and facilitate the access to European Health and Wellbeing research infrastructures. In this context, this study presents a joint research activity (JRA) that will be conducted within VITALISE, in transitional care domain, in order to test and validate the harmonized Living Lab procedures and infrastructures. The collection of data from various sources (ICT, clinical and patient reported outcome measures) demonstrated capacity to assess risk and support decision during care transitions but there is no harmonized way of combining this information. OBJECTIVE This study primarily aims to evaluate the feasibility and benefit of collecting multichannel data across Living Labs on the topic of transitional care and to harmonize the data processes and collection. Secondly, we aim to investigate the collection and use of digital biomarkers and explore initial patterns in the data that demonstrate the potential to predict transition outcomes such as readmissions and adverse events. METHODS The current research protocol presents a multi-center, prospective, observational cohort study that will consist of three phases, running consecutively in multiple sites: a co-creation phase, a testing and simulation phase and a transnational pilot phase. The co-creation phase aims to build a common understanding among different sites, investigate the differences of hospitalization discharge management among countries and the willingness of different stakeholders to use technological solutions in the transitional care process. The testing and simulation phase aims to explore ways of integrating observation of a patient’s clinical condition, patient involvement and discharge education in transitional care. The objective of the simulation phase is to evaluate the feasibility and the barriers that are faced by a healthcare professional in assessing transition readiness. The transnational pilot phase takes input from co-creation and testing and stimulation phase. The aim is to pilot the already designed activities from previous phases and collect data to conduct a first predictive analysis. RESULTS The co-creation phase will be completed by April 2022. The testing and simulation phase will begin in September 2022 and will partially overlap with the deployment of the transnational pilot phase that will start the same month. The data collection of the transnational pilots will be finalized by the end of June 2023. Data processing is expected to be completed by March 2024. The results will consist of guidelines and implementation pathway for large scale study and the analysis for identifying initial patterns in the acquired data. CONCLUSIONS The knowledge acquired though this research will lead to harmonized procedures and data collection for Living Labs that support transitions in care. In addition, this research contributes to the increase in capacity to perform Big Data analytics while accounting for each local context and across Living Labs.

Download Full-text

Incremental and Radical Service Innovation in Living Labs

Transcultural Marketing for Incremental and Radical Innovation - Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-4749-7.ch013 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 281-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Seppo Leminen ◽

Mika Westerlund

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Service Innovation ◽

Service Development ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Open Service ◽

Innovation Strategies ◽

Set Up ◽

Innovation Novelty

Living labs provide a new, under researched form of open innovation. Although open innovation is increasingly popular in service development, extant literature lacks knowledge of different open service innovation strategies, which companies can employ. This chapter focuses on strategies that firms can take in co-creating service innovations through living labs. The authors found nine open service innovation strategies based on an analysis of 26 living labs in four countries. Understanding of strategies and their links with incremental or radical innovation outcomes aid managers to set up an efficient innovation management. Knowledge of various strategies helps companies to succeed in service development and innovation novelty assessment based on the characteristics of the living lab.

Download Full-text

Living Labs and Urban Smartness

Handbook of Research on Social, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability in the Development of Smart Cities - Advances in Environmental Engineering and Green Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8282-5.ch006 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 98-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Grazia Concilio ◽

Francesco Molinari

Keyword(s):

Local Governments ◽

Urban Governance ◽

Urban Living ◽

City Life ◽

Life Conditions ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs ◽

Governance Models ◽

Stakeholder Partnerships ◽

Multi Stakeholder

Urban Living Labs are socio-digital innovation environments in realistic city life conditions based on multi-stakeholder partnerships that effectively involve citizens in the co-creation and co-production of new or reformed public services and infrastructures. This chapter explores the growing phenomenon of Urban Living Labs and analyses the nature of related innovations in the perspective of ‘City Smartness' – a mantra for local governments worldwide which are having to address increasingly complex problems with fast diminishing financial resources. It goes on to briefly overview the urban governance models emerging in such environments and finally focuses on the challenges posed by these models as result of integration between the ‘technology push' Smart City vision and the ‘human pull' Urban Living Lab concept and approach.

Download Full-text

Technology Roadmap for Living Labs

Handbook of Research on Social Dimensions of Semantic Technologies and Web Services ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-650-1.ch041 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 838-864 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jens Schumacher ◽

Karin Feurstein ◽

Manfred Gschweidl

Keyword(s):

Web Technology ◽

Skeletal Structure ◽

Future Trends ◽

Modular Architecture ◽

Client Server ◽

Clear View ◽

Technology Roadmap ◽

Living Lab ◽

Triple Play ◽

Living Labs

The concept of “Living Labs” in general is not completely new in R&D. Available publications focused on local requirements and targeted on business specific needs. In this chapter available ICT for use in a Living Lab are assessed and an implementation roadmap on behalf of ICT is presented. Besides buzzwords like Web 2.0 and Triple Play, ICT enables fast and substantial advancements. To bring a clear view into the range of solutions the authors orient on an ICT layering-architecture and the client/server nature of today’s Web-technology. The roadmap takes into account currently applicable technologies and likely future trends. Technological maturity, social compliance, consumer acceptance and politics & marketregulation are considered in the critique. The breakdown shows that a few core technologies are not only sufficient for the skeletal structure, but also from the main bulk of a Living Lab infrastructure. Thus the technology for most of the desirable features of a Living Lab is on-hand, future functional extensions can be provided by open interfaces and a modular architecture of the system.

Download Full-text

The Italian Case of Lecco Innovation Living Lab: Stakeholders’ Needs and Activities to Contribute to the Technological Innovation Process in Healthcare

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su122410266 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (24) ◽

pp. 10266

Author(s):

Laura Marone ◽

Rossella Onofrio ◽

Cristina Masella

Keyword(s):

Technological Innovation ◽

Single Case ◽

Innovation Process ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Italian Case ◽

Complex Process ◽

Living Lab ◽

Domain Specific Knowledge ◽

Living Labs

Healthcare technological innovation is a very complex process in which different actors interact with each other, creating a large number of interconnections and synergies in the design of technological innovations. Despite the increasing number of living labs (LLs) in healthcare, building and maintaining LLs for technological innovation in healthcare is challenging. Collaboration with stakeholders remains an issue of major concern in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to identify stakeholders’ needs in building an LL in healthcare and to plan activities to foster the innovation process. The paper is based on an exploratory single case study investigating an Italian LL. Eight stakeholders’ needs were identified and validated. Specific activities were identified as improving the innovation process in terms of the stakeholders’ needs. The study contributes to the development of domain-specific knowledge and, as such, to the fostering of studies on and the implementation of LLs in healthcare.

Download Full-text