Science and Technology Parks and LivingLabs – a perfect combination to foster the economy of the regions!

The Science and Technology Park (STP) industry, as part of the Global Innovation Ecosystem, needs to evolve towards new citizen-centred innovation scenarios based on knowledge economy, where cities become a more active agent in the process of socio-economic wealth generation within a given region and LivingLabs are a powerful mechanism to make that happen.

The Science and Technology Park (STP) industry, as part of the Global Innovation Ecosystem, needs to evolve towards new citizen-centred innovation scenarios based on knowledge economy, where cities become a more active agent in the process of socio-economic wealth generation within a given region and LivingLabs are a powerful mechanism to make that happen. The binomial STP + LivingLabs is a perfect combination to foster the economy of the regions: the figure of Living Labs emerges as a keystone for a highly value-added joint venture with STPs that will enrich the capacity of a STP to act as an Innovation Engine for creating smart regions and will be the cornerstone of the competitiveness strengthening in the regions. 

This approach is the one that Juan Antonio Bertolin, Chief Innovation & Project Officer of espaitec (Science and Technology park of Castellon and Council member of ENoLL with its e’LivingLab framework) aimed to show during the last XXIX World Conference of Science and Technology Parks organized by IASP (International Association of Science Parks) in Tallinn (Estonia) from 17th to 21st of June.  The reaction of the audience was very positive and prone to incorporate these frameworks into their strategies. Above all, , there is an interesting movement in Africa to incorporate LivingLabs into Science Parks as well.

Read the whole article or watch the Prezi presentation e’Living Lab: STP – LL binomial as innoconnector for the creation of SmartRegions.

e’Living Lab: STP – LL binomial as innoconnector for the creation of Smart Regions