ENoLL Chair visit in South Korea

During the five day visit to South Korea in October 2019, ENoLL Chairperson of the Executive Board Fernando Vilariño (representing ENoLL Effective member Library Living Lab) met with numerous local stakeholders to share the vision of ENoLL for citizen-driven innovation. Global outreach of the European-based association was expanded also formally with a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with its twelfth strategic partner.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed with a South Korean, World Smart Sustainable Cities Organisation (WeGO), during a conference organised by the organisation. In addition to signing the MoU, Vilariño addressed the audience in his keynote speech and moderated a panel discussion on how cities can be transformed into innovation hubs.

Apart from forming new connections, relationship with with existing ENoLL members was also strengthened. Vilariño participated in a workshop by Busan Living Lab on “Sustainable Smart Cities Based on Citizen’s Engagement” which took placed in South Korea’s second most-populous city. The workshop was organised in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA), Busan Development Institute (BDI) and Busan Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (BCCEI) which is a Host institution of ENoLL member Busan Living Lab. At the workshop ENoLL Chair presented EnoLL’s vision for living labs.

Busan Living Labs has evolved into a network with 10 thematic living labs, under the name of BNoLL (Busan Network of Living Labs). One of the features of these living labs is that they are partially integrated within the Universities and students develop their projects in the living labs.

At the end of the visit, ENoLL Chair met the Institute of Information and Communications, Technology and Planning (IITP) representatives at their premises in Seoul in the context of “KOR-EU Cooperation for Social Issue ICT R&D”. The funding agency, working under the Ministry of Science, makes the Living Lab approach compulsory for researchers to apply in their work.