Veli-Pekka Niitamo Awards

This year, the OpenLivingLab Days Conference had the honor of receiving a total of 34 papers from a diverse range of topics and categories contributing to the overarching theme of “Living Labs and the Sustainable Development Goals: From Theories to Practice”. Researchers and practitioners from a wide variety of fields across the globe joined us in Geneva to present their most recent results on Living Lab research.

Two papers earned their place for the Veli-Pekka Niitamo Award: for the Innovation Paper category ‘International Innovation Sprint Bridging the Sustainability Gap between Metropolitan Core and Peripheries’ by Tuija Hirvikoski, Kaisla Saastamoinen and Mikael Uitto, and for the research category ‘Innovation Management in Living Lab projects: the Innovatrix Framework’ by Dimitri Schuurman, Aron-Levi Herregodts, Annabel Georges, Olivier Rits.

The prizes were awarded based upon the initial Evaluation Committee marks but we opened the vote, in a co-creation manner, for all the participants of the summit to decide and vote for what they consider to be the best papers.

For more information on all the papers presented at the OpenLivingLab Days please consult the Conference Proceedings 2018.

BEST INNOVATION PAPER  

International Innovation Sprint Bridging the Sustainability Gap between Metropolitan Core and Peripheries by Tuija Hirvikoski, Kaisla Saastamoinen and Mikael Uitto

Abstract

Generally, RDI work takes place at the core of Metropolitan areas where the best innovation resources, Universities, and Research Institutions normally situate. At the same time, the periphery of Metropolitan that provides the core area with many vital resources can itself suffer from migration loss, brain drain, loss of jobs, and the many challenges related to ageing population and long distances or poor logistics. In this paper we aim to contribute to the discussions on the role of science, technology and innovation in society and particularly in making cities and communities inclusive, resilient and sustainable (UN SDG 11). We adopt perspectives and concepts from innovation literature and policy documents to introduce Innovation Sprint as an innovation intermediary tool. We explain how the sprints were designed and experimented first in Taiwan and then in Finland. In both cases, multidisciplinary and international Sprints were taken to a remote community to observe, understand, and then to co-create innovative solutions with and for the local stakeholders. We also discuss the ways the Sprint might bridge the sustainable development gaps between the urban, peri-urban and rural areas where the intensity of knowledge, technology, and monetary resources can vary substantially.

BEST RESEARCH PAPER

Innovation Management in Living Lab projects: the Innovatrix Framework by Dimitri Schuurman, Aron-Levi Herregodts, Annabel Georges, Olivier Rits

Abstract

Despite being described as ‘orchestrators’ and innovation intermediaries, the Living Labs literature on concrete guidelines and tools for innovation project-related innovation management is scant. Within this paper, we propose the Innovatrix, an innovation management framework built upon existing business model and innovation management tools and frameworks and iterated based on practical experience in Living Lab projects. We illustrate its added value within three practical case studies that lead to three propositions regarding innovation management in Living Lab projects. First, Innovatrix helps to scope the user involvement activities,

which leads to a more efficient use of resources. Second, Innovatrix forces the project owner to focus on a limited number of customer segments, which increases the efficient spending of the scarce entrepreneurial resources. Third, Innovatrix allows to capture the iterations and pivots that were made during an innovation project, which helps to link outcomes with certain Living Lab activities.