Living Labs Guiding Sustainable Cities Innovations in Europe

ENoLL secretary Pieter Ballon was interviewed on this topical issue by the US-based Smart+Connected Communities Institute.

The whole interview can be found here.

Europe is cultivating a new approach to technology research that promises profound help for developing sustainable cities. Know as living labs, it is a way to test and develop sustainable city ideas in real-life situations.

ENoLL secretary Pieter Ballon was interviewed on this topical issue by the US-based Smart+Connected Communities Institute.

The whole interview can be found here.

Europe is cultivating a new approach to technology research that promises profound help for developing sustainable cities. Know as living labs, it is a way to test and develop sustainable city ideas in real-life situations.

     The first European living lab research projects started about 10 years ago. Five years ago, the European Union founded the European Network of Living Labs with 19 members. There are now 212 living labs in the organization, some of which are outside Europe. Each living lab goes through a certification process, which ensures consistency and quality among all the research.

     “It has become a really vibrant movement,” says Pieter Ballon, the international secretary of the European Network of Living Labs. Ballon is also manager of the living lab (called iLab.o) of the Belgian Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT), and a professor of media economics at Vrije Universiteit Brussels.

     The Smart+Connected Communities Institute recently spoke with Ballon about how the living labs research concept is helping Europe find new ways to develop sustainable cities.

ENoLL secretary Pieter Ballon was interviewed on this topical issue by the US-based Smart+Connected Communities Institute.