Sustainability Transitions and the Contribution of Living Labs: A Framework to Assess Collective Capabilities and Contextual Performance

Abstract

Living labs are understood as collaborative platforms in which actors from research, government and business, and citizens, work together to address complex societal challenges. They are increasingly seen as an instrument to support sustainability transitions, such as transitions to a circular bio-based climate smart society. Living labs can create spaces for joint experimenting and learning by exploring the barriers and possibilities for transition and co-creating appropriate and viable solutions. These high expectations for and increased interest in living labs has sparked a keen interest in methods for assessing the performance of living labs. However, there is not yet an evaluation method or framework that is generally accepted and used. The few existing methods and frameworks mostly focus on the functioning of the living lab itself, and not on its wider impacts. Building on existing approaches and informed by the experiences in three living labs, we developed an assessment framework that enables the capturing of the dynamic role and contribution of living labs. This paper describes the framework and how it was developed. The paper contributes to the development of appropriate ways of assessing the functioning of living labs and the ways in which they contribute to sustainability transitions.

European agricultural soil management: Towards climate‐smart and sustainability, knowledge needs and research approaches

“…The so‐called local champions, leaders in the regions can play an important role. For this, approaches are needed to stimulate social learning (Bouwma et al, 2022), as well as an evaluation method that is generally accepted by the involved stakeholders.…”

SAMSax—An Innovative Living Lab for the Advancement of a Circular Economy through Additive Manufacturing Technologies

“…In recent years, Living Labs have gained increasing importance as an innovative research methodology [9,11,45]. These interdisciplinary experimental spaces enable the practical exploration of complex societal challenges and the development of solutions in real-world environments [11,46].…”

“…In recent years, Living Labs have gained increasing importance as an innovative research methodology [9,11,45]. These interdisciplinary experimental spaces enable the practical exploration of complex societal challenges and the development of solutions in real-world environments [11,46]. Living Labs are particularly well-suited for addressing and understanding challenges in innovation development by directly involving stakeholders in experimentation [18].…”

“…These approaches emphasize the need for disseminating new knowledge through real-world laboratories (Living Labs), to create a substantial impact [7,8]. Living labs serve as open and collaborative innovation networks, providing diverse research opportunities for stakeholders in research, government, business, and society [9,10] by including novel approaches to sustainable development [11].…”

Collective Intelligence to Co-Create the Cities of the Future: Proposal of an Evaluation Tool for Citizen Initiatives

“…Social innovation is one of the pillars of sustainability that is becoming increasingly important as one of the dimensions that merit a multidisciplinary and transversal approach [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], where the active participation of citizens is required not only as recipients [10] but also as co-creators of their reality. In this sense, a series of mechanisms and strategies have emerged that seek to involve citizens in decision-making processes in the city, such as participatory budgets, urban centres, living labs [11,12], and innovation centres, in which synergies are created between civil society, public administration, academia, and companies [13] to seek solutions to social challenges; these strategies and platforms are usually guided by public administration. On the other hand, another type of participation and appropriation of space mechanism called Citizens' Initiatives (CIs) are born in a spontaneous but conscientious way.…”