Social Franchises and Energy
Social franchises: opportunities for Living Labs in the energy sector?
BACKGROUND/HISTORY AND CONTEXT OF THE WORKSHOP
The Energy Living Lab, an effective member of ENoLL, has developed successful methods in the energy sector, described in a recent phd thesis from Mastelic (2019). Different actors are interested to launch LLs in the energy field such as the co-organisers, Yves Zieba Business Coach for EIC (Horizon 2020, SME Instruments) and entrepreneur in Geneva (private actor), Stefano Tarantola from JRC (public research center), Giorgio Maric from the city of Lugano (public authority).
How to share the existing learning in order not to reinvent the wheel? How to develop international partnerships? How to scale a Lab from local to global? A potential answer could be the “social franchise”: “[…] a process by which the developer of a successfully tested social concept, the franchisor, in order to scale up the coverage of target group and the quality of product (service) enables others, the franchisees, to replicate the model, using the tested system, using the brand name in return for social results, system development” (Fleich, 2008).
MAIN AIM / OBJECTIVE
The main aim of the workshop is to gather the community of LLs working in the energy sector, to share best practices in the energy field and to co-design a social franchise together. The aim is also to stimulate a closer international cooperation in this sector and to accelerate the scaling of Labs from local to global.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
BRIEF OUTLINE / METHODOLOGY
The method of the entire workshop will be based on co-design (Sanders & Stappers, 2008) and collective intelligence (Malone, Bernstein, 2015).
First, examples of LLs in the energy field will be presented such as Energy Living Lab, using the elevator pitches format for the attendants to present their labs (3 minutes per lab).
Then, a world cafe will explore the opportunity of developing a social franchise to scale the impact of this type of initiatives from local to global. The methodology is based on business model design from Osterwalder & Pigneur (2011) and on the workshop “Business Model Crash Test” for the deployment of the social franchise.
The participants will then present the result of the different tables, feedback will be given on the different presentations. The participants will have the opportunity to declare their interest in participating in the development of the social franchise in energy. A time for networking will be proposed at the end of the workshop.
Workshop Facilitators
Joëlle Mastelic
Full professor, HES-SO, Switzerland
Joëlle Mastelic
Full professor, HES-SO, SwitzerlandDr Joëlle Mastelic has been working as a professor at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO) since 2008. Her research focuses on using Living Lab methods in the energy field. In 2014, she founded the Energy Living Lab, which offers applied research projects and consulting services based on social marketing and open innovation. The Energy Living Lab association was founded in 2020 with the aim of replicating the Lab in different regions and increasing its social, economic and environmental impact. She is a board member of ENoLL, an evaluator of international projects in the field of Living Labs, expert for the international advisory board of UAS Laurea in Helsinki. Joëlle has a degree in management from the University of Lausanne, is a visiting researcher at the University of Barcelona, and holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences. As president of ELLA, she is responsible for the Swiss national network "Living Labs for Decarbonisation".
Stefano Tarantola
Scientific Officer at the Joint Research Centre
Stefano Tarantola
Scientific Officer at the Joint Research CentreStefano Tarantola is a Scientific Officer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He graduated in Nuclear Engineering in 1992 and received his PhD in Science and Technologies for Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan in 1996. He works at the Directorate for Energy, Transport and Climate conducting methodological work and pre-normative research in the field interoperability of smart electricity grids and electric vehicles. He currently runs the project for developing a living lab at the JRC Ispra for testing digital energy solutions in the context of the Ispra site modernization program.