ENoLL was present at the Smart City World Expo (SCWE) in Barcelona, Spain which was attended by more than 24,000 visitors from 146 countries. With 700+ city representatives and other visitors from the private and public sector we had an opportunity to promote the Living Lab methodology and good examples to curious visitors. With the examples drawn from two successful European Projects – Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe (iSCAPE) and Urban Nature Labs (UNaLab), we spoke about Living Labs working on two topics – the air pollution and development of Nature Based Solutions.
The visitors were particularly interested in Smart Citizen Kits – air pollution sensors developed for market launch within the iSCAPE project. These low-cost portable sensors enable enable ordinary citizens to gather information on their environment and make it available to the public on the Smart Citizen platform. We also presented newly publishes Guidebooks for cities fighting against air pollution, which was interesting particularly for city representatives.
On the other hand, UNaLab project drew interest through the Living Lab Playground Game, which was also played at the
Digital Future Society Summit that took place during the Smart City World Expo. Through the game, we were able to explain the complex functioning of an Urban Living Lab and numerous stakeholders the Living Lab interacts with. The visitors were also curious about the co-creation process and the upcoming toolkit, which will be publicly available mid-December.
We also pointed to the issues of Responsible Research and Innovation indicated by NewHorizzon Project and the role of co-creation in policy making (drawing examples from SISCODE project). The expo participants also had an opportunity to talk to Living Lab practitioners. A British Living Lab member of ENoLL – Bristol Living Lab hosted by Knowle West Media Centre presented their tips & tricks cards and spoke about the challenges of reaching out to the citizens. In addition, Finnish Living Lab from Tampere University of Applied Sciences was present at the booth.
We also used the opportunity to visit other stands at the SCWE – numerous ENoLL members and partners were present at the expo, such as Busan Network of Living Labs (picture above). At the booth of the Open and Agile Smart Cities, ENoLL Director Zsuzsanna Bodi gave a speech on the upcoming upscaling declaration to boost sustainable digital transformation in cities. ENoLL partnered with OASC, the European Commission and EuroCities for the purposes of the declaration.
The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) is the international, non-profit, independent association of benchmarked Living Labs.
The European Network of Living Labs is the international, non-profit, independent association of Living Labs.
Av. des Arts 6, 1210 Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium
[email protected]