EIT Urban Mobility living labs and test beds
EIT Urban Mobility living labs and test beds
Living labs enable structuring user interaction by keeping users continuously involved in making better products and services while their expectations are continuously monitored and reflected upon in a systematic process. At EIT Urban Mobility living labs are also instrumental for the purpose of testing, demonstrating, and piloting new user-centred solutions.
What are living labs?
Living labs have become a well-known concept used mainly in the context of collaborative innovation to solve complex societal challenges. Since its inception back in the 1980s, living labs have spread over Europe in various waves, first focusing on new ICT tools but later also extending to other fields, such as sustainable energy, healthcare, safety, and urban mobility. Living labs are defined as “user-centred, open innovation ecosystems based on systematic user co-creation approach, integrating research and innovation processes in real life communities and settings” (ENoLL, 2013). Living labs put together citizens, academia, companies, cities and regions for joint value co-creation, rapid prototyping, and/or validation to scale-up innovation.
The Living Labs report – EIT Urban Mobility Knowledge base of innovative solutions in urban mobility and living labs- aims to provide the wider transport community with an understanding of the potential of successfully ran living labs, and their essential contribution to the transformation of the current urban mobility system.
This report will help the urban mobility innovation community to better understand the scope of the mobility living labs movement in Europe, the shapes and forms of these labs, their added value for the mobility transition an the barriers and opportunities they are facing.
You can download the report here.
European Urban Mobility living labs and test beds
The selection of urban mobility living labs shown in the interactive map is the result of the classification and mapping process conducted by LuxMobility and Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) on behalf of the EIT Urban Mobility in 2020.
The identification methodology included the direct consultation of the EIT Urban Mobility community, followed by a public consultation and interviews with relevant stakeholders in the urban mobility European arena.
The mapping exercise has resulted in the identification of over 50 mobility-oriented living labs and innovation eco-systems across Europe, which have been categorized by their main focus area and fields of interest (i.e., public transport, freight transport, connected and automated vehicles, etc.) following and applying the methodology based on four of the key elements of a living lab as defined by ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs): (1) real-life environment to run experiments; (2) triple or quadruple helix stakeholder’s involvement; (3) co-creation; and (4) end-users’ engagement.
The information shown on the map might not be exhaustive, and it is a first step towards a more comprehensive mapping and inventory of mobility living labs and innovation eco-systems. The living labs database will be updated by the EIT Urban Mobility on a regular basis.
Living labs knowledge base platform
The Living labs knowledge base platform is a collection of both living lab learning practices and living lab management tools. The learning practices are initiatives that can function as an inspiration for other living labs. The living lab management tools are a collection of best practices, recommendations on how to set up and operate a mobility living lab, how to upscale, allow for citizens engagement, co-create with the end user, and evaluate impacts.
The living lab toolbox is a catalogue of diverse tools and best practices which aims to assist cities and other relevant stakeholders to create and/or enhance their own urban mobility living lab. Links to relevant sites and tools are included.
The platform is continuously updated with new success stories, lessons learnt, and best practices identified in projects and initiatives carried out in living lab environments within the EIT Urban Mobility community.
The five key elements of a living lab are:
Real-life environment:
Experiments in living labs usually take place in an uncontrolled real-life setting, in the daily environment of their end-users, which can have a scale of a house, a street, a neighbourhood, but also a city or a travel corridor.
Triple/quadruple helix stakeholder participation:
A living lab requires the active engagement of representatives from public authorities (e.g., local/ regional/ national governments), industry (e.g., startups, SMEs, etc.), academia (e.g., universities and research institutes) and civil society (e.g. citizens) within one innovation ecosystem. In a quadruple helix cooperation model, the focus is shifted from expert-driven innovation towards user-centric innovation.
Co-creation:
Co-creation aims at aligning the objectives of the parties involved enhancing the participation of the end-users in the development of the final products and services. In this cooperative process the involved stakeholders, and particularly the end-users, can influence the experimentation from its ideation phase, increasing their acceptance of the developed innovation and, thus, the chances of their uptake.
Active end-user involvement:
In a living lab environment, end-users meet in real life contexts and share experiences, while envisioning their own future. Living Labs consider citizens not only as users or consumers in a narrow sense, but as direct contributors to or co-creators of new products and services. Involving end-users in different stages of the innovation process and fostering sustained exchanges between different stakeholders have proved to be a differentiating factor in an increasingly competitive world.
Multi-method approach:
A living lab enhances the involvement of multidisciplinary competences, encouraging an unprecedented combination of skills, people, equipment, companies, settings, etc.
At local level, living labs can offer cities the opportunity to address their challenges in close cooperation with a diverse range of stakeholders and actors from within their local mobility ecosystem thus increasing the uptake of innovative solutions and services.
The term living lab is often used interchangeably with other similar approaches with some kind of participatory nature such as:
- Test Beds offer access to physical facilities, capabilities and services required for the development, testing and upscaling of newproducts and services (usually in controlled environments).
- The risks associated with real-life experimentation environments are controlled by designing test bed settings which bear a resemblance to science laboratories.
- Pilots carried out in a demonstration site follow a linear and predetermined development, focusing mainly in testing a new product or service in an operational environment.
- Pilots are designed by experts and are usually focused on validation and/or evaluation of new products and services.
- Living labs are distinguished by the extent of end-user involvement and activities performed.
- Living labs focus on ideation, co-creation, and validation activities with the end-users.
- Multi-stakeholders are involved and the activities in a living lab have a medium to long term orientation.
However, a living lab approach differs in its nature because it not only focuses on the technical aspects of innovation, but rather on the end-user (needs, requirements, acceptance, etc.), business models, and policy issues.
Connect with us to learn more about how we work with local authorities, public agencies, research institutes,
business, and innovators to address socially impactful issues facing our cities by testing and implementing
innovative technologies and ideas.
Contact details
City Club and Living Labs
EIT Urban Mobility Living Labs
eitumlivinglabs@eiturbanmobility.eu
