Developing innovation ecosystems
TIME
Thursday, 9th September, 10:00-11:15 CEST
Description of the session
The Session Developing innovation ecosystems will be centered on how Ecosystems can face the recovery towards the post-COVID digital society. We will focus a relevant part of our debate on one of the main pillars of the DLLD21: Co-creation as a relevant component of ecosystem development. Particularly, we will focus on how SMEs and other stakeholders can make use of current instruments for boosting innovation in their respective ecosystems, how to co-create with SMEs, to offer them both lab structures and real-life environments to innovate in regional and larger ecosystems. European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) represent a good example and an excellent opportunity for that. We will identify how the Community of living labs can contribute to this ecosystem development, with specific examples for digital innovation hubs. Although citizens as end users are not present in the equation yet, pathways for citizen engagement can, of course, be found, and pointers to that will be discussed.
Anne-Marie Sassen (Deputy and Acting Head of Unit, of DG CONNECT, Unit A4, Digital Transformation of Industrial Ecosystems) will present a general approach to the specific instrument of EDIH, and she will develop on the points already presented last year at our DLLD2020. Indeed, EDIHs provide the test-before-invest approach and this brought to real life-settings is the initial path to living lab approach, but they appear as a relevant tool for regional ecosystems to advance in innovative solutions.
Fernando Vilariño (CVC Associate Director, ENoLL Chairperson) will participate in the session by providing an ENoLL’s view on how living labs could contribute on different topics, including capacity building. The specific opportunities arising for AI will be also discussed
Petri Pohjola (Tampere University of Applied Sciences, and ENoLL member) will showcase their case study as a living lab working in B2B for the manufacturing industry. Indeed, SMEs are the core, and the approach to use the actual real-life environments as boosters of innovation in local ecosystems is fully aligned with this strategy. Although the full approach is not yet including a strategy for direct involvement of the citizens in the process, the case study allows for the identification of specific pathways.
Sandra Planes Satorra (Policy Analyst, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation at OECD) will present the latest work developed by OECD, explicitly focusing in co-creation as a tool for ecosystem development, also commenting on living labs as relevant instruments for that to happen.
From a more general perspective, we would also like to approach the idea to the audience that a community of ENoLL members and other institutions are developing different pathways with diverse approaches within the different Action-oriented Task Forces. Co-creation for Innovation in public administration will be tackled from this point of view.
SPEAKERS
Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at the Computer Vision Center and Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science UAB

Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at the Computer Vision Center and Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science UABI give lectures about Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Multimedia Systems. My research has been linked to different areas Artificial Intelligence, particularly in Computer Vision, with a special attention to Medical Imaging, fieldwork in which I have developed different projects together with paramount hospitals and companies. My work has been published in the main Journals and Conferences of the area and I have also contributed to a number of patents in the field. During the last years, I have participated in the design of different initiatives, both at local and international level, with the aim of developing novel paradigms of digital social innovation. I have led the implementation of a model of Living Lab that transforms Libraries into actual innovation arenas, by exploring how technology transforms the cultural experience of people. Through this initiative I have had the chance to participate in different events and invited talks related to the use of ICT in the context of Culture. My main expertise is centered around: - Models of Governance of Living Labs and 4-helix instruments. - Innovation in Libraries, Museums and the cultural field in general. - Artificial Intelligence and ICT tools. I have been awarded with the Spanish Government Ramon y Cajal Grant (2010), Google Academy Award for my research (2014), and the Barcelona Mobile Week Award for the @BrossaInedit project (2017). I coordinate the ENoLL Action-oriented Task Force on Social Impact of AI and Living Labs as Regulatory Learning Tools.