DATE & TIME
2 October 2025, 14:00 – 15:15
TRACKS
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
ROOM
La Consortia 1
TARGET AUDIENCE
Policymakers and city representatives, research and academics, Living Lab representatives and practitioners, especially from emerging economies
TYPE OF SESSION
Topic debate
Description
This session explores how Living Labs can empower local communities to drive their own digital and social transformation. Focusing on concrete experiences from Senegal and South Africa experience, it shows how these Living Labs can be platform for inclusive innovation, fostering locally-driven solutions that can address both community needs and digital challenges. These two countries act as precursors of scalable, context-sensitive models that can inform wider strategies for equitable and sustainable development across Africa and beyond. The discussion aims also at reflecting on how Living Labs can support long-term cooperation between AU and EU, ensuring that the digital transformation is not only technologically sound but also socially grounded and locally owned.
Agenda
Timeslot |
Item |
Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 – 14:05 | Introduction & objectives |
|
| 14:05 – 14:25 | Programmes supporting Living Labs in Africa: – Presentation of the Living Labs cooperation model developed by i2CAT and the Catalan Cooperation Agency – Presentation of the Living Lab Pilot Programme in South Africa – Presentation of co-creation policies in Africa, with a focus on the promotion of Living Labs to tackle urbanisation issue |
|
| 14:25 – 14:35 | Case Study: Senegal Living Labs Deep dive into the methodology, key challenges, main achievements, and future prospects of the Living Labs established in Senegal. Highlighting how community empowerment and digital innovation were combined to create lasting impact. |
|
| 14:35 – 15:05 | Panel Discussion and Interactive Input |
|
| 15:05 – 15:15 | Synthesis and Shared Insights – Conclusions and Call to Action |
|
Speakers
Viviana Pérez Clausen
Sociologist & International Project Leader
Viviana Pérez Clausen
Sociologist & International Project LeaderViviana Pérez Clausen is a sociologist and international project leader specializing in social and digital innovation. Currently leading European and international projects at the i2CAT Foundation's Digital Society Technology area, she focuses on creating inclusive, sustainable, and collaborative innovation ecosystems. Viviana drives the development of Living Lab methodologies and Quadruple Helix collaborations to bridge social and digital divides. Her work includes managing the Living Lab Senegal initiative, a pioneering project that promotes social innovation and digital transformation in Africa through community-led experimentation and open innovation. This project reflects her broader commitment to inclusive digital policies and public sector transformation. With over 20 years of experience in public administration, European project management, and international cooperation, Viviana has designed and implemented strategies fostering sustainable economic development and digital inclusion. She also serves as a European expert for the SOCIEUX+ program, advising third countries on employment and social protection policies. Her dynamic approach combines strategic vision with practical methodologies, fostering partnerships between governments, academia, civil society, and industry. She effectively navigates multicultural and multidisciplinary environments to promote innovative, citizen-centric solutions.
Marta Martorell Camps
Director of Digital Society Technologies Research Group
Marta Martorell Camps
Director of Digital Society Technologies Research GroupMarta Martorell Camps is an expert in digital social innovation, inclusive technologies, and participatory governance. She directs the Digital Society Technologies area at i2CAT, leading projects on ethical and inclusive digital transformation. With over 20 years of experience, including a term as Mayor of Tiana, she has led key EU projects such as INTEGER (completed) and FORGING. Her work promotes 4-helix innovation ecosystems, digital rights, and gender equity in tech. She holds an Executive master’s in public administration (ESADE) and is a PhD candidate in Sustainability at UPC. Marta is a frequent speaker in international conferences and active in networks like ENoLL and ESSI.
Gerard Graells del Bas
Director, Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation
Gerard Graells del Bas
Director, Catalan Agency for Development CooperationGerard Graells del Bas was born in Sabadell in 1981, he is the Director of the Catalan Agency for Cooperation Development in the Catalan Government. He has an extensive experience in cooperation development policies, peace and human rights, both from the field and headquarters. He has a degree in Political Science and Administration from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He also has been specialized in Strategies, Agents and Policies of Cooperation for Development by the HEGOA Institute (University of the Basque Country) and a master's degree in Renewable Energies from the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid.
Busisiwe Ntuli
Director: Innovation for Local Economic Development National Department of Science, Technology and Innovation – South Africa
Busisiwe Ntuli
Director: Innovation for Local Economic Development National Department of Science, Technology and Innovation – South AfricaMs Busisiwe Ntuli is a South African development strategist, policymaker and public administrator with a focus on Innovation for Development. She started her higher education with a junior degree from the University of Cape Town and proceeded to obtain an honour’s degree in Development Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She also holds a master’s degree in Public Policy Management from Wits. She is currently reading for her PhD in Public Management and Governance with specialisation in innovation at the University of Johannesburg, where she also completed a diploma in Advanced Business Management. As a scholar of corporate governance, she trained at the Institute of Directors of South Africa. Her research interests include innovation and local economic development; participatory local economic governance; intersectionality of innovation, poverty and inequalities. Her career spans private, public and non-governmental organisations. Currently, in the National Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), she is the Director responsible for policy, strategy and programmes in Innovation for Local Economic Development. Some of her notable achievements in national government include pioneering and advancing the Innovation for Local Economic Development agenda of South Africa (SA) and crafting programmes to democratise innovation and support innovation-driven local economies. She in one of the co-authors of South Africa’s Framework for Local Economic Development of 2018-2028, which foregrounds science, technology and innovation as enablers of inclusive development for the first time in the history of LED policy in SA.
Sue Wairimu
Associate Product Manager, PATH Living Labs Initiative
Sue Wairimu
Associate Product Manager, PATH Living Labs InitiativeSue works at the intersection of health systems, product development, and human-centered design — helping teams and organizations build solutions that actually work for the people they’re meant to serve. At PATH’s Living Labs, she leads design and innovation efforts across Africa to improve health equity through co-creation, usability evaluation, and systems-level thinking. She has facilitated collaborations between developers, nurses, policymakers, and even hospital cleaners — because she believes inclusive innovation starts with lived experience. Her superpower lies in asking the questions no one else is asking, then building momentum around what matters. She trains teams, coach startups, and help organizations integrate human-centered design into everyday decision-making — not as a buzzword, but as a practice. Whether it’s influencing donor strategy, designing with communities, or mentoring the next wave of changemakers, she brings curiosity, clarity, and care to everything she does. Currently pursuing her Master’s in Inclusive Innovation at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.
Emma Tilquin
Food Security Programs Coordinator and Policy Officer Inequality, Inclusion, and Social Cohesion, Enabel
Emma Tilquin
Food Security Programs Coordinator and Policy Officer Inequality, Inclusion, and Social Cohesion, Enabel
Aissata Cheikh Ly
Head of Projects, FDSUT Senegal
Aissata Cheikh Ly
Head of Projects, FDSUT SenegalAissata Cheikh Ly is Head of Projects at FDSUT Senegal.