As a rather young and recent phenomenon, Living Labs create numerous challenges and issues to be tackled by both scholars and practitioners. It is necessary to add to both the theoretical and practical knowledge on Living Labs in order to advance the learning in this field. Within the OpenLivingLab Days a call for papers was launched to address both conceptual and empirical challenges and stimulate discussion on a number of Living Lab related topics.

34 papers were submitted by researchers coming from all over the world. An  international review panel led by Prof. Pieter Ballon (VUB Brussels) assessed the articles and finally accepted 17 papers. These were presented during the Research Day of the OpenLivingLab Days on the 25th of August 2015 and included into conference proceedings (online version is now available).

The paper presented by Dimitri Schuurman from iMinds in Belgium and entitled “Living Labs: a systematic literature review” won the Veli-Pekka Niitamo Prize for best academic contribution. The prize, awarded during the Worldwide Living Lab Conference on August 26th, was given based upon the initial reviewers marks but also the votes of all the participants collected in a co-creation manner during the event.