Concrete steps towards Africa – EU Cooperation on Living Labs

The Living Lab approach for the development of innovative Information and Communication technology (ICT) services is proving an effective way to bring true and sustainable innovation to the broader dynamics of development at the local, national and regional levels. The principle of collaboration and co-creation by a broad parthership of all relevant stakeholders not only produces innovative technologies but equally promotes the emergence of new forms of collaboration as well as the behavioural transformation required to make the shift towards sustainable forms of human activity.

The Living Lab approach for the development of innovative Information and Communication technology (ICT) services is proving an effective way to bring true and sustainable innovation to the broader dynamics of development at the local, national and regional levels. The principle of collaboration and co-creation by a broad parthership of all relevant stakeholders not only produces innovative technologies but equally promotes the emergence of new forms of collaboration as well as the behavioural transformation required to make the shift towards sustainable forms of human activity.

The linkage has become evident in European experiences over the last five years, particularly in areas such as rural development, environmental monitoring and regional innovation policies, and this is now spreading to Africa, Latin America and Asia. The ENoLL Living Lab pre-conference workshop on May 10th organized jointly together with IST Africa and LLiSA in Gaborone (Botswana) aimed to bring together key stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing in relation to what is involved in setting up Living Labs in Africa as well as focusing on experiences and lessons learned.

Prof. Alvaro Duarte de Oliveira (ENoLL President, Chair of ENoLL Council) and Paul Cunningham (IST-Africa Initiative/IIMC) opened the conference. Speakers at the first session included Thierry Devars (European Comission, DG Infso) , Dr. Ahmed Hamdy (HRST, African Union Commission), Prof. Luis Magalhaes (UMIC, Minstry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal), Ilari Lindy (World Bank).

Mr. Ilari Lindy, Senior ICT Specialist, ICT Unit, World Bank on InfoDev programme

Prof. Dr. Alvaro Oliveira, Chair of the ENoLL Council, on ENoLL Globalization.

During the first working session on the Living Lab experiences, best practises, Living Lab methodologies and tools were presented by the panelists. ENoLL President, Alvaro Oliveira shared more information on ENoLL International Cooperation and Brazil as an example, Daan Velthausz (ENoLL Council member, Amsterdam Innnovation Motor, AIM, Meraka Institute) on Energy Efficiency example in the City of Amsterdam and examples of Living Lab projects from Trento by Aaron Ciaghi (Fondazione Bruno Kessler). In addition, lessons learned and recent activities from the Southern African Network of Living Labs (LLiSA) were given by Prof. Marlien Herselman (Meraka Insitute).

Prof. Marlien Herselman, LLiSA, on the recent developments of Souther African Living Lab Network

Dr. Daan Velthausz, Amsterdam Innovation Motor (AIM), Meraka Institute, ENoLL Council Member on Energy Efficiency initiatives in Amsterdam

The aim of the second working session was to further develop user-oriented methodologies in on-going initiatives and identify the past and current Living Labs and identify the past and current Living Lab developments in Living Labs in Southern Africa (LLiSA), chaired by Marlien Herselman. Panel included speakers such as Prof. Effat El Shooky form the Egyptian ICT Ministry, Sibuleke Gumbo from Siyakhula Living Lab, ENoLL Member from South Africa, Hendri Coetzee, North West Living Lab in South Africa and Constantine Sotomane, ENoLL Member Maputo Living Lab in Mozambique.

The last session will address Public and Private Cooperation and Financing for African Living labs, with speakers from the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Aki Enkenberg and Dr. Ernerst Ngassam from SAP (South Africa).

The pre-conference workshop will be  followed by a panel discussion and Living Lab Clinque on May 11th on the official IST Africa programme agenda. All the presentations will be made available on the IST Africa Conference website.

See also LLiSA portal for more information.