The ENoLL Living Lab Summer School was held for the second time, this time in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain) at the fantastic premises of Citilab, active ENoLL member.
It took place on last week of August 2011 and was attended by over 100 people from all over Europe as well as members from the South America, Asia and Africa.
The ENoLL Living Lab Summer School was held for the second time, this time in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain) at the fantastic premises of Citilab, active ENoLL member.
It took place on last week of August 2011 and was attended by over 100 people from all over Europe as well as members from the South America, Asia and Africa.
The Summer School was opened by the the Citilab, Director of Reseach, ENoLL Council member, Artur Serra, who gave an overview of about the week, the existing programme with case studies, workshops, coaching session and visits. This was followed by the welcome note from Mr Carles Flamerich (Generalitat de Catalunya) and Mr Antonio Martinez Flor (Cornellà CityHall).
The European Network of Living Labs held a special session at Summer School to present the ENoLL Office and services and the ENoLL participation projects and to inform about the recent activities of the network, and especially on how the ENoLL members can use the benefits and services ENoLL is offering.
ENoLL President, Chair of the ENoLL Council, Prof. Alvaro Oliveira, introduced the history of the network from its founding year 2006 up to this day including the future strategic roadmap of the network.
ENoLL Network Manager Anna Kivilehto presented the day-to-day activities of the ENoLL Office with emphasis of the service offerings to the ENoLL members. Followed by presentation by the Project Manager Ana Garcia giving an overview of ENoLL project participation and the benefits it brings to ENoLL members.
During the third day, ENoLL held a second special session on the Living Labs addressing social challenges. The interactive panel discussion and the lively discussion with the audience will feed into the preparations of the ENoLL led Public Private Partnership (with People) position paper that will address the gaps and challenges of the current funding instruments for living labs as well as the strengths, evidence base and best practices of the Living Labs and social and societal innovation. The panelists of the session included Prof. Alvaro Oliveira (Alfamicro, ENoLL President, Chair of the Council) Prof. Dr. Pieter Ballon (iLab.o/IBBT), Roberto Santoro (Esoce-Net), Jesse Marsh (Med Lab), Dr. Artur Serra (Citilab). The session was moderated by Dr. Tuija Hirvikoski (Laurea University of Applied Sciences). With the help of the fantastic team at Citilab, session also included videopresence of ENoLL members in Brazil (Habitat Living Lab) and Siaykhula Living Lab, including Rlabs (member of the LLiSA).
In addition, to our great delight delight ENoLL is proud to announce the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, that was concluded between the Asian Smart Living Summer School and the ENoLL Living Lab Summer School. The two Summer Schools will exchange information, best practise and promote each others initatives in the future. The fantastic Taiwanese delegation welcomes you all to their next Smart Living Summer School. See more here.
Closing of the Summer School was done jointly by Artur Serra, Anna Maria Darmanin, Vice-President European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Alvaro Oliveira (ENoLL President).
The Next Living Lab Summer School 2012 was announced to be held in Helsinki in Finland next August. Dr. Tuija Hirvikoski, ENoLL Vice-President and Director of the Laurea University of Applied Sciences, welcomed the participants to Espoo (Helsinki, Finland) to continue the tradition.
See the documentation, pictures and videos from the 2nd Summer School.
ENoLL President Alvaro Oliveira closed the event:
First of all, after this hard week of work, I would really like to start by thanking all the staff of Citilab for the amazing organization of this second ENoLL Living Lab Summer School, here in Cornelhà de Llobregat.
On behalf of ENoLL, it is with deep appreciation that I want to thank Artur Serra and all the members of his team for having the initiative to organize this event. I am sure that not only me, not only ENoLL, but ALL the participants of this Summer School share a feeling of gratitude for the way we were received during this week.
For all the hospitality and for all the hard work, thank you very much.
It is for me a great pleasure to see not only the faces of my good friends, with whom we have been threading this brave and exciting new path since 2006, but also the new members that have enthusiastically joined ENoLL in the 5th wave and that will soon join us in letter with the 6th wave.
This active cooperation, between persons of diverse areas and from such different backgrounds is the very drive that fuels our organization, keeping us always on the forefront of innovation: the deep roots of experience and the probing branches of endeavour, fed by new ideas and concepts: a reflexive and always-evolving organization.
I see faces that have come from all over the world, from distant places such as Taiwan or South Africa, and with a little help of technology, even our friends in Brazil and China could take part in our activities.
As we have learned from each other in this most valuable week, so can Europe learn from the other continents, address new issues, unravel novel terrain, for this is the nature of the innovation eco-systems and the basic matrix of the living lab: a synergic, living community that can re-invent itself by innovation, and through innovation itself, be able to draw its own course.
The unique environment that we have all experienced here, in this wonderful site that is Citilab – a structure that was in itself restored though innovation for a new life in the XXIst century – is a proof of this: through the workshops and sessions we have participated, the creativity and togetherness that has arisen from these most productive days of work and cooperation, almost as magic, like those moments of co-creation when the whole clearly becomes far greater than the sum of its constituent parts.
The work of everyone here at Citilab, particularly of Artur Serra, is the material example on how can a Living Lab help shape and empower the lives of those connected to it. Along the days I have stayed here, it has become clear to me that the co-creative environment that Citilab has managed to create had the power to reach all of us with the right spirit of collaboration by sharing new visions, ideas and projects.
What never cease to amaze me are the unique characteristics that each and every Living Lab has. No two are alike: whether business-oriented; for product or service creation, experimentation and testing, the individual solutions that have been found and developed by the users are just one more aspect of the resilience and adaptability of the Living Lab, two aspects that are crucial in order to face the great challenges of our times.
Our visits to the different initiatives here in Catalonia, like22@, the FabLab, and especially the wonderful and hospitable community of Colonia Guell, underlined the energy, enthusiasm, and innovative capacity of the people here.
As far as the workshops and specific activities are concerned, a wonderful range of application domains have been discussed here: from the methodologies to the more concrete implementation cases in areas such as learning, tourism, health, smart cities, and energy efficiency. Participation has been attentive and active, with very interesting contributions coming from people with such a broad range of experiences, backgrounds and cultures.
But of course I can only speak of my direct experiences and those of my colleagues, briefly touching on a few of the sessions. As you may know, one of my particular interests is in the link between Living Labs and Energy Efficiency. Our workshop on this subject was small but extremely constructive, allowing us the chance to confront the outcomes of our Apollon and Save Energy projects with high-level experts.
Also the workshop on Smart Cities and Regions was, I am told, very interesting and with a large attendance. There the work on different Smart Cities projects old and new was compared and the common issues discussed, especially as regards Open Data and privacy and security and the role of Future Internet enabling a new concept of the Sustainable Smart City.
From these discussions, what seemed to emerge was on the one hand the ability of Living Labs to drive the convergence between those more focused on the opportunities technologies bring us and those more interested in the way social innovation happens because of technologies.
And the key issue here is therefore governance: how can we ensure that people’s needs are really at the centre throughout the process, how can we be sure that the general interest of all is being served?
These questions are of course particularly crucial in the international context, a perspective brought to us by the many participants coming from far away. In this context, where different histories and culture promise and exceptional opportunity to come together but also need to be defended, fairness is essential as we work together to co-design the rules of the game.
Also during this week, we had the opportunity to discuss and Co-Design the Living Lab Public Private Partnership that ENoLL is going to present to the European Commission by November.
And in what regards this matter, I would like to thank Tuija for the great job she did involving everybody in the discussion of the PPP and engaging us in the co-creation of this strategic initiative for the future of the Living Lab movement on a global scale.
The very good reception we had from the European Commission constitutes an unprecedented opportunity and this is a point I would like to underline that we must keep up the pace!
Your involvement is fundamental to the success of this initiative.
The Living Labs are more than ever one of the pillars of the European RDI system. Our community cannot afford to lose the opportunity of being synchronized with the European Commission policy orientations and to contribute to a society where innovation meets sustainable development and where new ideas and markets promote social innovation.
After this second ENoLL Summer School here in Citilab, I must admit that the stakes are very high.
I am sure that the Laurea Living Lab will be able to fulfil the expectations that are now created. Good luck and good work for the next year!
To all of you, a warm thank you for sharing this extraordinary week with all of us and thank you for sharing our believe in the power of innovation to change and for having this passion to make it happen, and most of all for dedicating your lives contributing to a better and happier society.
See you next year in Finland!
Álvaro de Oliveira
For the full program for the 2011 Summer school or to download the presentations, case studies or the videos from the workshop, visit the Summer School home page.