The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) has published a key position paper on integrating Living Labs into FP10. The paper highlights the vital role of Living Labs in tackling Europe’s societal challenges and driving innovation. Furthermore, it also emphasises their importance in boosting Europe’s competitiveness.
Key Recommendations
- Prioritizing Living Labs as Essential Actors in Co-Creation and User-Centric Innovation. FP10 should recognize Living Labs as integral partners in EU-funded projects, enabling inclusive, agile, and efficient pathways for tackling societal challenges.
- Integrating Living Labs into the EU’s Green and Digital Transition Goals. Living Labs can act as key intermediaries to test, localize, and scale innovations, translating EU-wide objectives into sustainable, community-level impacts.
- Promoting Living Labs as Facilitators of Regional Innovation and Social Inclusion. By mobilizing local stakeholders, Living Labs can foster inclusive processes and address disparities in underserved regions, driving social equity and innovation.
- Leverage Living Labs to Bridge Europe’s Innovation Gap and Boost Competitiveness. As highlighted in the Draghi Report, Europe faces a significant innovation gap. Living Labs provide collaborative environments for co-creating, testing, and scaling innovations in real-world settings, effectively bridging the divide between early research and market deployment. By de-risking innovation and ensuring solutions meet societal and market needs, Living Labs can help Europe enhance its global competitiveness and close the innovation gap.
- Enhancing Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem by Supporting Living Labs as Research and Technology Infrastructures. Living Labs have proven their double role as Research and Technology Infrastructures, ensuring the smooth transition from low to high TRL, facilitating innovators’ and researchers’ journey from early-stage research to market deployment. Recognizing this dual function will strengthen the innovation process across all Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
- Introducing Dedicated Funding Streams and Innovation Vouchers for Living Labs. A voucher-based funding mechanism will empower startups, universities, and regions to leverage Living Labs for experimentation, prototyping, and scaling of innovative solutions.
Impact on FP10
Embedding Living Labs into FP10 will strengthen Europe’s ability to address global challenges, drive innovation, and involve citizens. The position paper highlights the need to include Living Labs in the EU’s research and innovation agenda. This ensures FP10 supports inclusive, user-focused innovation and promotes regional development.
Prioritizing Living Labs can create a more flexible and responsive innovation system to tackle Europe’s urgent challenges. Moreover, it will also boost Europe’s global competitiveness. The position paper outlines recommendations for policymakers to effectively integrate Living Labs into the next framework programme.