Date & Time
1 October 2026, 15:45 – 17:15
Room
Galapagos
Chaired by
Dimitri Schuurman
Senior Research Strategist, ENoLL
Dimitri Schuurman
Senior Research Strategist, ENoLLDimitri is a university business developer at research group imec-MICT-Ghent University where he is responsible for research on inclusive design, impact via Living Labs, and futures studies, all in the context of emerging technologies. He is a visiting professor of strategic design and innovation management at Ghent University and works part-time for the European Network of Living Labs as Senior Research Strategist. His PhD on innovation management in Living Labs developed a three-layered model that is widely used in Living Lab research and practice. Finally, Dimitri is active as an independent consultant in open innovation, user innovation and strategic innovation management.
Type of Session
Research Session
Description
Following a rigorous evaluation process, the OLLD26 evaluation committee has accepted the research papers for this year’s conference. All accepted papers engage with the conference theme, “Living Labs Impacts and Values for a Changing World,” and have been classified into five sub-tracks:
- Track 1: Living Labs for Grand Societal Challenges
- Track 2: Living Labs for Policies, Governance, Collaboration, and Innovation Ecosystems
- Track 3: Living Labs for Inclusive Soci(et)al Engagement
- Track 4: Living Labs for Business and Emerging Technology
- Track 5: Living Labs Operations, Methods, Tools, and Impact
Papers selected by the Evaluation Committee
- Co-designing linguistic digital interventions for older adults within a smart Living Lab ecosystem
- Societal change in working life context through empathic and anticipatory methods in Living Labs
- Imagining socio-technical futures: Participatory foresight methods in regional innovation ecosystems
- Digital participatory tools for urban experimentation and co-design: experiences from cities and Living Labs in Switzerland
- Integrated impact assessment of Living Lab interventions
- Delphi-based validation of a Living Lab capability maturity model for sustainable service ecosystems
Co-designing linguistic digital interventions for older adults within a smart Living Lab ecosystem
Abstract:
Participatory co-creation sessions with older adults in the Living Lab (LL) space of a Smart Home located in Greece, the nZEB Smart Home Living Lab at CERTH, motivated two research activities: (a) the development of an ecologically driven model contributing to early digital biomarkers, focusing on cognitive, linguistic and speech indicators; and (b) the preparation of a framework to evaluate communication dexterity and language performance across the cognitive decline spectrum within the realistic ecosystem of LLs.
This collaborative insight drove the systematic development of a dedicated web and mobile platform to identify digital biomarkers for very early dementia intervention. Translated into Greek, Spanish, Italian and English, the platform was deployed within the nZEB Smart Home Living Lab under the pilot study “Creation of a future-proof, viable and active-testing environment for older adults,” in the EU-funded project COMFORTAGE. The digital metrics generated by the platform serve as indicators of cognitive alteration, effectively differentiating healthy older adults from individuals experiencing Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
By embedding this co-created tool into the realistic context of the Living Lab, a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, linguists and technical developers successfully evaluated communication dexterity while delivering interventions calibrated to each participant’s language proficiency and digital literacy.
Sofia Segkouli
Senior Researcher, Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Sofia Segkouli
Senior Researcher, Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology HellasSegkouli Sofia received the degree of Diploma Greek Philology from the Aristoteleio University, the department of Greek linguistics, in 1997. In 2005, she joined the Institute Informatics and Telematics as a researcher participating in numerous projects. Currently she is a member of the Visual Analytics Laboratory of CERTH/ITI and a senior researcher in the field of Healthcare for elderly, Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas. Dr Segkouli Sofia has an active role in Ethics and emerging technologies (e.g. IoT, AI) in European projects. Recently she has been assigned the role of ethics expert in the development of a European Framework for ICT Professionals in all sectors (e-competence framework).
Societal change in working life context through empathic and anticipatory methods in Living Labs
Abstract:
The role of Living Labs in addressing societal challenges and enabling social innovation has started to gain increasing attention in recent years. This paper explores how empathic and anticipatory methods can support societal change in working life context. The paper examines two ongoing living lab projects as exploratory cases: 1) the Career 55+ project focuses on extending working careers and supporting competence development among people over 55, and 2) the TESSA project promotes sustainable commuting practices.
The paper investigates how empathic and anticipatory methods can be integrated with these Living Lab projects to facilitate stakeholder engagement and co-creation, and to change working life attitudes, practices, and behaviour. The early findings show that e.g. facilitated stakeholder dialogue, empathy mapping workshops, and collective futures visioning and reflection may be particularly helpful in identifying underlying assumptions and hidden biases that can hinder societal change and social innovation. Also, the paper raises discussion about tensions between social sustainability and productivity goals, and the difficulties of measuring and justifying the long-term societal impacts versus short-term profits.
The paper makes two main contributions. First, it contributes to the discussions on Living Labs for social innovation by providing empirical and methodological insights from two Finnish research and development projects. Secondly, it increases understanding on how empathic and anticipatory methods may be applied within living lab processes in order to support more inclusive and sustainable societal transformation.
Mari Mehtälä
RDI Expert and Project Manager, Centria University of Applied Sciences
Mari Mehtälä
RDI Expert and Project Manager, Centria University of Applied SciencesMari Mehtälä (MBA, PhD) is an RDI Expert and Project Manager at Centria University of Applied Sciences, Finland. She works in multidisciplinary research and innovation projects focusing on user-centred innovation, health technologies and the future of working life. With extensive industry experience in the medical device sector, she has always worked at the interface of technology, customer needs and business development. Her research interests include sustainable and social innovations, innovation commercialisation, and market shaping in emerging technology markets.
Johanna Hautamäki
RDI Expert and Service designer, Centria University of Applied Sciences
Johanna Hautamäki
RDI Expert and Service designer, Centria University of Applied SciencesJohanna Hautamäki (MA) works as an RDI expert, service designer and teacher at Centria UAS Entrepreneurship and business team and part of the Future working life research group. Developing continuous learning, entrepreneurial skills and future skills are a central part of her work. Her work as RDI expert includes doing multidisciplinary human centered development work with companies on services, strategies, continuous learning, business operations and organizational culture. Her research focus is especially on empathy methods, participatory methods, development through trial and combining service design with future studies and multidisciplinary applied simulation pedagogy. She has been developing and running a service prototyping environment at Centria since 2014 and Makerspace since 2023. Hautamäki is working in both international and national projects.
Imagining socio-technical futures: Participatory foresight methods in regional innovation ecosystems
Abstract:
This paper investigates how participatory foresight methods can be embedded within Living Lab environments to explore socio-technical futures and support regional innovation ecosystems.
Drawing on futures studies and Living Lab literature, the study examines three participatory foresight workshops conducted in Emilia-Romagna with firms, public institutions, intermediary organisations, and regional innovation actors. Rather than offering a general assessment of societal perceptions, the paper focuses on the imaginaries produced by stakeholders directly involved in shaping innovation processes, including Clust-ER Innovate members, ART-ER, Regione Emilia-Romagna, and actors connected to the regional Data Valley (our region is a “Regional Innovation Valley” according to EU classification). The workshops highlight how perceptions of the future vary depending on whether AI is viewed as an enabler of enhanced experiences, a substitute for humans in intellectual tasks, or a substitute for humans in dangerous physical tasks. Empirically, the paper applies a Gioia qualitative coding strategy to the first workshop, using autonomous mobility as an illustrative case.
The analysis identifies five aggregate dimensions and examines their orientation across optimistic, pessimistic, ambivalent, and present-anchored framings. The contribution is to show how foresight broadens a Living Lab’s temporal scope, while the Living Lab grounds future imaginaries in the capabilities, constraints, and governance responsibilities of a regional innovation ecosystem.
Elisabetta Bracci
Director, Clust-ER Innovate of Emilia-Romagna Region and Living Lab O2I
Elisabetta Bracci
Director, Clust-ER Innovate of Emilia-Romagna Region and Living Lab O2ICan we cultivate innovation ecosystems in which progress and social well-being are truly synonymous?" This question has driven Elisabetta to develop national and international projects characterized by an ethical, sustainable, and competitive digital transformation. As a manager, keynote speaker and author, she collaborates with institutions, public sector bodies, and enterprises to elevate digital capabilities across services, driving both local impact and business performance. An engineer by training and a digital humanist by calling, she has published two books and co-developed a framework with Six Seconds Europe to integrate artificial intelligence into public and private organizations by fostering emotional intelligence.
Asia Guerreschi
Data Analyst, Clust-ER Innovate, Postdoctoral Researcher University of Ferrara
Asia Guerreschi
Data Analyst, Clust-ER Innovate, Postdoctoral Researcher University of FerraraPost Doctorate at the University of Ferrara studying eco-innovation and circular economy strategies in alternative socioeconomic standards and Data Analyst for the Clust-ER Innovate working specifically on the Living Lab Open2Innovate. With a background in communication and environmental media, she completed a Master of Science in Physical and Applied Geography with a focus on Climate Science at King’s College London, with final research on observing cloud cover effect on in-canopy and ambient temperature through Arduino-based sensors and remote sensing. In 2020 she founded a youth-led organization called Rethinking Climate aimed to revolutionize environmental communication towards effective climate action, she has worked as a circular economy consultant and at the European Parliament before completing her PhD from the University of Ferrara in circular economy application by cooperative and alternative enterprises.
Digital participatory tools for urban experimentation and co-design: experiences from cities and Living Labs in Switzerland
Abstract:
Urban areas are expanding, yet many cities operate with limited citizen involvement, leading to misalignment between public needs and local projects. Participatory approaches offer ways to engage residents meaningfully, but their success depends on and under‑investigated factors. Municipalities and Living Labs play a role in democracy, although digital participatory platforms remain implemented and explored.
The paper examines how Swiss municipalities adapt digital tools and identifies key enablers and barriers to their effective use. It investigates the role of local authorities in fostering community life, collaboration and co‑creation. The study employs a mixed‑methods approach – analysis of existing technologies, semi‑structured interviews and comparative case studies.
Current findings show that the effectiveness of digital participatory tools depends primarily on institutional contexts, governance cultures and available resources rather than on the technologies themselves. Interviews reveal disparities in how participation is defined and implemented, limited knowledge transfer, persistent barriers such as administrative silos and unequal digital access. The research contributes to understanding digital participation and citizen‑led innovation, compares existing tools, and supports their further dissemination. Overall, the results highlight the need to view digital participatory tools as components of broader socio‑institutional ecosystems rather than stand‑alone solutions.
Fiona Zimmermann
Senior Research Associate & Panel Manager, Energy Living Lab
Fiona Zimmermann
Senior Research Associate & Panel Manager, Energy Living LabFiona Zimmermann is a senior research associate working as a panel manager at the Energy Living Lab at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO) since 2019. Fiona is currently chair of the ENoLL Working Group on Energy and Environment. Prior to working in research, Fiona worked as an energy and environmental management professional for 20 years internationally with energy services companies, governments and utilities on developing sustainability projects. With a diploma in Business & Energy Management and a Masters in Environmental Management for Business, Fiona is now developing her academic career through a PhD in sustainable transitions at the DRIFT Institute. Fiona is originally Irish but relocated to Switzerland in 2016 where she lives with her two daughters. She is passionate about biodiversity and enjoys open water swimming in her free time.
Integrated impact assessment of Living Lab interventions
Abstract:
Living Labs function as open innovation ecosystems that utilize systematic co-creation to address complex real-world sustainability challenges. Their evaluation is crucial for legitimizing social value and improving internal processes, yet existing literature reveals significant need for further improvement in assessment methodologies. Specifically, while formative evaluation aspects are well-covered, summative assessments regarding tangible contributions to sustainability transitions remain under-researched. Furthermore, there is a lack of generalizable approaches and frameworks for evaluating the impact of living labs
To address these gaps, our research aims to develop and apply a conceptual framework guiding impact assessments. The study focuses on a transdisciplinary project co-designing interventions for decarbonized energy consumption across multiple urban Living Labs in Switzerland.
Preliminary results demonstrate the framework’s utility in distinguishing three distinct impact levels: the intervention level, the Living Lab level, and system level. By co-developing specific Theory of Change models for each intervention, researchers and practitioners map causal relationships between activities and desired outcomes. Although empirical data collection proved challenging due to the lack of standardized protocols, the proposed approach is promising for the successful integration of different data collection and analysis methods and for the comparison of results across varying territorial scales and domains.
Roger Bär
Senior Research Scientist, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern
Roger Bär
Senior Research Scientist, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of BernDr. Roger Bär is a Senior Research Scientist at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Switzerland. His work centers on sustainable development, with a particular focus on the management of protected areas, monitoring and evaluation, energy, and sustainable well-being. He is actively involved in transdisciplinary research, contributing to projects such as the SWEET Lantern initiative and the sustainability monitoring of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage Site bridging academic research with practical applications in living labs and protected areas. He is a member of the SCNAT Forum Landscape, Alps, Parks (FoLAP) and the Scientific Monitoring Group Swiss Park Research.
Delphi-based validation of a Living Lab capability maturity model for sustainable service ecosystems
Abstract:
This article presents a first-round Delphi-based validation of the Living Lab Capability Maturity Model for Sustainable Service Ecosystems (LL-CMM), based on Fachinelli et al. (2025), a capability-based framework for assessing how Living Labs develop, combine and institutionalize the capabilities required to support sustainable service ecosystems. Building on a previous theoretical proposition, the study moves from conceptual design to exploratory empirical validation through seven Delphi-based expert case-responses grounded in Living Lab practice.
The analysis examines convergence around five capability pillars: institutional embedding and polycentric governance; multi-stakeholder co-creation engagement; enabling infrastructures for emergent experimentation; participatory and reflexive sustainable innovation methods; and transformative learning for systemic transitions. Descriptive statistics, convergence indicators, non-parametric procedures and quadratic-weighted Cohen’s kappa are used to test the coherence of the architecture and the alignment between declared maturity stages and capability-index-derived stages.
The findings support the retention of the five-pillar model. Stronger convergence was observed for co-creation engagement, participatory and reflexive methods, and transformative learning, while governance and infrastructure require clearer operational boundaries. Agreement between declared and inferred maturity stages was substantial, with exact agreement in five of seven cases and only adjacent-stage differences in the remaining cases. The article therefore proposes a refined LL-CMM in which maturity is understood as a configuration of capabilities rather than as a fixed linear progression. The model is positioned as a diagnostic and developmental tool for Living Labs seeking to evolve from isolated experimentation towards enabling, hub-based and transformative roles in sustainable service ecosystems.
Ana Cristina Fachinelli Bertolini
Professor and Researcher, University of Caxias do Sul, and Head of CityLivingLab
Ana Cristina Fachinelli Bertolini
Professor and Researcher, University of Caxias do Sul, and Head of CityLivingLabAna Cristina Fachinelli is a Professor and Researcher at the University of Caxias do Sul in Brazil, where she founded and leads CityLivingLab, an ENoLL Member Living Lab dedicated to knowledge-based urban development and citizen-centred innovation. She holds a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences from the University of Poitiers in France and a postdoctoral degree in Innovation and Knowledge-Based Development from the University of Deusto in Spain. Her research focuses on knowledge-based development, citizen science, urban resilience, sustainability and the use of artificial intelligence to support evidence-based decision-making in cities. Ana Cristina is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development. She collaborates frequently with universities, governments and innovation ecosystems to advance participatory approaches for more sustainable, resilient and knowledge-driven cities.
Mateus Panizzon
Professor and Researcher in Anticipatory Governance, University of Caxias do Sul
Mateus Panizzon
Professor and Researcher in Anticipatory Governance, University of Caxias do Sul
Dr Mateus Panizzon is a professor and researcher at the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), Brazil, specialising in anticipatory governance systems. He is a faculty member of the doctoral Graduate Programme in Business Administration, contributes to the Innovation and Competitiveness research line, and conducts research with CityLivingLab.
His projects include GaIA, GeoAI, Cities+I, Living Labs Maturity, and Anticipatory Knowledge Transfer and Exchange. He holds a PhD in Innovation Management from PUCRS and completed a doctoral research period at the École de technologie supérieure, Université du Québec.
His research focuses on anticipatory governance, artificial intelligence, knowledge management, resilience and capabilities for innovation, with publications in journals including Futures, Technology in Society, the Journal of Knowledge Management and AI and Ethics. He is a member of the Futures4Europe community and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development.