Time
09.00 – 10.30
Room
Aria
Chaired by
Evdokimos Konstantinidis
Type of Session
Research Session
Description
Following the evaluation procedure the OLLD evaluation committee has accepted the research papers. All papers reflect on the theme of the conference “LIVING LABS FOR REGENERATIVE FUTURES: Connecting Local and Global Innovation Ecosystems ” and have been classified according to its sub-tracks. These are: TRACK 1: Living Labs for Grand Societal Challenges; TRACK 2: Living Labs for Policies, Governance, collaboration and innovation ecosystems; TRACK 3: LLs for Inclusive Soci(et)al Engagement; TRACK 4: Living Labs for Business and Emerging Technology; TRACK 5: Living Labs Operation, Methods, Tools, and Impact.
Papers selected by the Evaluation Committee
- Let's grow together: Co-creating a sustainable community together with the user panel
- LEVERS: Co-creating with Brussels teenagers on climate justice
- Enhancing local food systems through the Plan'eat-kids Living Lab
- From play to policy: DataSenses for inclusive societal engagement and Living Lab culture
- What makes a Living Lab Living?
Let's grow together: Co-creating a sustainable community together with the user panel
Abstract: Citizen engagement can be facilitated by maintaining a sustainable user community or user panel. User involvement can go further in the direction of a collaborative community model, where citizens are empowered to participate in decision-making processes and help shape the long-term strategy of the living lab. This paper presents the efforts of a living lab that is redefining its panel management to foster long-term, sustainable, and meaningful citizen engagement. Through three co-creation sessions, the user journey was explored, motivators and barriers for participation were identified, and a future community structure was co-designed. Findings reveal that personal connection, accessible communication, and meaningful involvement opportunities are critical to sustainable engagement. Participants designed new engagement strategies and proposed creating an advisory group, hybrid participation formats, and a structured newcomer onboarding system. As a next step, findings will be validated through a broader panel survey and ongoing community work. This research underscores the value of collaborative participation pathways in living labs, where panel member input and team leadership can work together to foster sustainable, impactful engagement. By transforming its panel management into a collaborative community model, the living lab can strengthen its role in the innovation ecosystem and become more resilient.
Key words: Panel management, Sustainable engagement, Participatory design, Community management, Co-creation, Living lab.
Sascha Vermeylen
Panel manager & Researcher at LiCalab
Sascha Vermeylen
Panel manager & Researcher at LiCalabSascha holds a Master’s degree in social economic sciences from University of Antwerp. Since 2018, she’s a panel manager and researcher at LiCalab (living and care lab) at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Belgium. LiCalab focuses on health technology and new collaborative models in health by applying user-centric research. Sascha manages the LiCalab panel and maintains the panel database, following GDPR. This panel consists of ca 1.500 elderly and over 600 caregivers and care organizations. In addition, she is responsible for the operational side of the living lab activities, such as setting up co-creation sessions, real life testing, human factor studies and surveys.
LEVERS: Co-creating with Brussels teenagers on climate justice
Abstract:This case study presents an innovative community-based learning ecosystem by Stickydot in Brussels that engages teenagers in climate justice through co-creation. As part of the EU Horizon LEVERS project, this initiative demonstrates how Open Living Lab principles can transform climate education from passive awareness to active empowerment. The project involved two parallel groups of teenagers participating in fablab workshops at Maison des Cultures et de la Cohésion Sociale (MCCS) and Gare de l’Ouest, guided by Stickydot.
Key words: Co-creation, climate justice, lifelong learning, teenagers, city
Benjamin Valcke
Project Manager, Stickydot
Benjamin Valcke
Project Manager, StickydotBenjamin is a project manager at Stickydot, where he leads and supports European initiatives on social innovation and community engagement. He holds a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of East Anglia, with a research focus on participatory approaches to community development in the social housing context. His work is grounded in the conviction that inclusive, citizen-led processes are essential to advancing social justice, ensuring that diverse perspectives are represented in decision-making, and shaping solutions that respond to collective needs. Among other projects, Benjamin works for the Horizon Europe project LEVERS, in which Stickydot is a partner. LEVERS seeks to shape a just and sustainable Europe through inclusive learning and transformative action. Within this framework, he will present a case study from Brussels, showcasing an innovative community-based learning ecosystem that engages teenagers in climate justice through co-creation.
Enhancing local food systems through the Plan'eat-kids Living Lab
Abstract:This study explores an innovative collaborative system involving local stakeholders within the school catering ecosystem and the broader food environment of children aged 6 to 11. The project, a joint effort between researchers, local authorities, and food service providers, aims to improve the implementation of the national Egalim law, which promotes healthy, sustainable, high-quality food of local origin in school canteens. A collaborative methodology, entitled ‘2 local menus’, was developed through the European research-action project PLAN’EAT and the French living lab Plan’eat kids. The impact of this initiative is assessed across the entire stakeholder system, from children’s eating behaviors to the local economy and associated policy issues, highlighting the benefits and challenges of implementing such a programme.
Key words: Local food systems, Living Labs, Ferrandaise beef, sustainability, school canteens, collaborative governance
Claire Planchat
Researcher INRAE – UMR UNH & Territoires
Claire Planchat
Researcher INRAE – UMR UNH & TerritoiresClaire Planchat is a research fellow at INRAE, an associate researcher at UMR Territoires, and founder of the agency Vous Êtes D’Ici. For over 20 years, she has been developing expertise in engineering and action research for adaptive land management through the use of participatory, artistic, and educational tools. Her professional career has focused heavily on the development of facilitation tools (Art and Nature Project for the resident management of the Nazinga Ranch in Burkina Faso, 2000), dialogue and evaluation (2003-2004, geomatics specialist at the Auvergne Regional Council, 2019-2022 co-editor of the participatory master plan for the ENS Ecopôle du Val d'Allier), with a view to studying and proposing territorial management of natural and agricultural resources and intangible heritage (2004-2006, evaluation of landscape charters and environmental policies for the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park, 2018-2023 pilot project Villages of the Future for the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region). Since 2008, Claire Planchat has contributed to various training modules at the National Schools of Architecture in Clermont-Ferrand, St-Etienne and Lyon, at AgroParistech, Clermont Auvergne University and CYCU University, College of Design (Taiwan) on the use of participatory tools to promote user expertise in the collaborative development of a territorial project.
From play to policy: DataSenses for inclusive societal engagement and Living Lab culture
Abstract: DataSenses is a Living Lab tool and card-based serious game – a replicable, adaptive, and empowering system that fosters co-creation, open innovation, and collaborative learning. AI-enhanced and rooted in Living Lab principles, DataSenses activates data and digital literacy, critical thinking, and collaboration for real world problem-solving.
Each deck is co-created with facilitators or educators, tailored to their audience’s level and objectives, while maintaining a shared framework for measurement and benchmarking. Participants engage in problem-solving and prototyping activities ranging from personal data exploration to ecosystem-level challenges. The result is deeper analytical and critical capabilities, a shift in mindset toward shared responsibility, evidence-informed action, and inclusive understanding.
The toolkit has been deployed with university students in public governance and digital media, with managers and entrepreneurs across industries, and we plan piloting DataSenses Kids in five schools (grades 0–1) with varied cultural and pedagogical models for a period of 35 weeks and measuring the impact.
Key words: Data literacy, AI in education, Living Labs, Co-creation, Adaptive learning, Serious games
Silvia Fierăscu
Lecturer Faculty of Governance and Communication Sciences, West University of Timisoara & Founder and Leader of Social Fabrics Research Lab
Silvia Fierăscu
Lecturer Faculty of Governance and Communication Sciences, West University of Timisoara & Founder and Leader of Social Fabrics Research LabSilvia Fierăscu, PhD, is a passionate professor, a global trainer, an interdisciplinary researcher, and an RDI consultant in Applied Network Science in Social and Communication Sciences, Organizational Development and Change Management. Her work reflects entirely who she is as a professional – a purpose-driven educator and changemaker. Her diverse experience working in all sectors - business, government, academia, and civil society – feeds into her vision of a global movement towards more data-driven, evidence-informed decision making, human-centric work cultures, sustainable ecosystems of wellbeing, value creation, and innovation. At West University of Timișoara, Silvia is a lecturer in data analysis at the Faculty of Governance and Communication Sciences, where she founded and leads Social Fabrics Research Lab - a research, development and innovation lab in social sciences and digital media.
What makes a Living Lab Living?
Abstract: Living Labs (LLs) have become an increasingly salient mode of experimentation and innovation, including in food policy and governance circles, and more generally the broader field of food systems transformation. A diversity of practices and concepts inform the LL model, but common features are real-world environments, multiple stakeholders and co-creation. Drawing from our experience of setting up the Living Good Food Nation Lab in Scotland, we show that a seldomly explicit dimension of LL is what keeps Labs living, e.g., the social work that goes into creating and nurturing relationships between people, communities and ideas. By applying a feminist lens to the livingness of LLs, we aim to resist this subordination of the relational dimension, and by extension encourage debate around the peripheralization of care and socially reproductive work. In turn, we hope these discussions will contribute to challenging the current paradigms and mindsets that have been impeding food systems and broader social transformation.
Key words: Global Challenges, Food Systems Transformation, Living Lab, Relationships, Invisible Work
Tilly Robinson-Miles
Lead Partner & Stakeholder engagement Living Good Food Nation Lab
Tilly Robinson-Miles
Lead Partner & Stakeholder engagement Living Good Food Nation LabTilly Robinson-Miles leads all partner and stakeholder engagement for the interdisciplinary, Welcome funded Living Good Food Nation Lab, working across sectors and parts of the food system to ensure partnership work is central to the Living Lab, the implementation of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act and wider food systems transformation. She is a Geographer with a BA in Human Geography and MA in Food Security and Food Justice from the University of Sheffield. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and has over a decade of practical experience navigating the intersections between scale to practically achieve the Good Food Nation vision for all, including working within a council, in collaboration with Local Authorities and Health Boards, as a funder, trustee, researcher and leading a significant Covid-19 food access response.