Next Generation Living Lab (NGLL)

Research Project, 2017

Project aim: Living Labs recently emerged and have been identified as being key to innovate in the Built Environment through Open Innovation (OI) processes and are by nature open innovation environments. However, often the Innovation Ecosystems surrounding Living Labs, as well as the organizations in those ecosystems have not developed to a degree for true implementation of OI processes. Next Generation Living Labs are Living Labs that are embedded in strong OI ecosystems where all the respective organizations have systematically transitioned and reshaped their structure and culture to be able to foster OI. These could be larger more permanent infrastructures embedded in existing ecosystems such as those found at universities, but also smaller more mobile infrastructures such as a pop-up Living Labs.

Living Lab infrastructures should allow product and service development and testing in a real world testbed with users and other partners at eye level. Common interests and curiosity drive the assembly of Living Lab consortia and lead to defining processes for the Living Lab infrastructure orientation. The planning in this system starts with budgeting, a clarification of roles and responsibilities as well as setting up rules for enhanced cooperation between partners, who have not worked together so closely ever before. This is key for OI, but it is also a challenge to create a Living Lab 8The Innovation Challenge On a global scale, buildings emit 36% of CO2 emissions, and energy consumption has been increasing in recent decades. At the same time, the building industry accounts for approximately 8% of jobs and roughly 10% of global GDP. Thus, the building stock is often identified as one of the largest and most untapped potentials for energy efficiency improvement, greenhouse gas mitigation and economic development opportunities. Technical options to decrease energy demand are readily available, well understood and, in many cases, economically viable, still, further innovation is needed to unwrap their full potential, including greater health, social and economic features. Given that the building sector is one of the slowest in the adoption of innovation, further initiatives, tools and platforms are needed in order to enhance innovation. Living Labs provide Open-innovation environments, which in combination with established open innovation ecosystems and respective stakeholder organizations can serve as an effective platform to foster the development and uptake of innovation in the building sector.infrastructure that includes all stakeholders involved to the highest possible level. To reach this, the main features are modularity, adaptability, co- creation, openness and societal integration. A comprehensive analysis and subsequent method for creating such Next Generation Living Lab infrastructures and supporting organizations are missing.
The ‘Next Generation Living Lab’ project (NGLL) complements the work done around ENoLL Harmonization Cube. The Harmonization Cube is a technique that enables a shared reference of methods and tools of Living Labs, includes their most important elements, and provides a tool for exchange of best practices. The NGLL project focuses on the organizations and ecosystems that are involved in Living Lab infrastructures and how these organizations need to embrace and practice OI in order to be able to use the Harmonization Cube and effectively engage in Living Lab environments.