Earlier in May, Finnish Innovation & Living Labs experts Dr. Lauri Tuomi, (Treasuror of ENoLL) and Sakariina Heikkanen both from Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science visited Hong Kong & Macau. During their visit they discussed and presented the concept of Living Labs and possibilities for collaboration between Europe and Asia including covering how Living Labs can help to address societal issues in Hong Kong & Macau?

The workshops were organized in coordination with the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (FinnCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong both local focal point of business networking, knowledge sharing and market visibility in Hong Kong.

The first seminar, “Living Labs: Creating Innovative Ideas through Collaborative Learning,”  discussed the concept of living labs, the experiences gained and possibilities for collaboration between Europe and Asia. Tuomi & Heikkanen addressed how Living Labs can help to address societal issues in Hong Kong and what Living Labs can bring to businesses and the public sector.

The second seminar, “Envisioning Hong Kong’s Future as Smart and Green City,” the concept of end-users involvement was presented as a part of the innovation process, challenging conventional research procedures.  Tuomi shared examples with Hong Kong and advised that in the development of smart cities, end-users and companies should be in a kind of a networked collaborative development process allowing citizens to actively participate in the planning, development and the operation processes.

After this sucessful first visit ENoLL looks forward to developing further collaborations between Europe and Asia in the domain of open innovation.