

Tuesday Research Papers
Chairs for topic of Culture & Creativity in Times of Disruptive Change
Mr. Fran Iglesias Garcia – General manager of the Epica Foundation La Fura dels Bauls
Mr. Jokin Garatea- Director of international projects at cluster GAIA
- Culture & Creativity to improve European youth policies for the creation of new skills and jobs
- The impact of Culture & Creativity in everyday societies
- New methods and tools for enacting open innovation in Media (including Social Media)
- Transnational approaches for replicating open innovation through Living Labs
- New investment and funding models for increasing the sustainability of Cultural & Creative Industries
- Sustainable development methods for Culture & Creativity at regional, city and international level
- New models of entrepreneurship for realizing open innovation and social inclusion in CCIs
- Open access vs. intellectual property rights to make open innovation efficient for the society
- Innovative clustering for inter-sectorial dynamization of CCIs sectors
Chair for topic of Urban & Rural Resilience
Mrs. Milica Trajcovic- PMP, Head of Center of Innovation & Business Development, BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad
Mrs. Carina Veeckman- Senior Researcher imec- SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- Strategies to engage all citizens/stakeholders (via Living Labs) in the design of Smart Cities & Regions
- Urban Living Labs, smart cities and smart villages to address urban challenges
- Role and use of ICT for empowering cities and rural areas
- The role and use of Citizen Science
- Living labs for and with social vulnerable groups
- New approaches to set-up and validate Urban and Rural Living Labs
- Sustainable urban planning and development
– Shared public transport & urban mobility living labs
– Energy efficiency
– Air Quality
– Water resilience - Sustainable urban mobility and city logistics
- Addressing climate change & enhance urban city resilience
Agroecology living labs: defining characteristics and key components of their successful orchestration
by Maria Kiseleva
Track: Full Research Paper
Topic: Urban & Rural Resillence
Keywords:
- Agroecology
- Agroecology Transition
- Living Lab
- Orchestrators
- Skills
- Roles
Abstract.The increasing concerns about the health, environmental and socio-economic challenges aggravated by the COVID-19 syndemic have necessitated the radical transformation of the current agriculture and food systems in Europe. In this regard, agroecology, and more specifically, agroecology living labs (LL) approach and principles, have been gaining momentum in Europe over the last decades. Being already reflected in recent European policy frameworks and initiatives, the concept of agroecology LL, however, is still blurry and has not been commonly accepted by policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. The present study aims to contribute to filling in this knowledge gap by understanding what may make agroecology LLs different from other types of LLs with respect to their aims, goals, activities, methods, stakeholders, as well as the context and field-specific factors. Based on two agroecology LL «revelatory» case studies (Belgium, Hungary) supported by the evidence from other agriculture-related LLs (Serbia, Belgium) the paper sheds light on the roles and the associated skills that may be necessary for successful orchestration and sustainability of an agroecology LL in the long-term perspective. Through establishing a dialogue with the existing academic and grey literature this work intends not only to share the research results but also to trigger further discussion and research on agroecology living labs, orchestrators and their skills.
Speaker
Urban Living Labs and Transformative Changes
by Stefano Blezer and Nurhan Abujidi
Track: Full Research Paper
Topic: Urban & Rural Resillence
Keywords: Outcomes,
- Funding Model
- Urban Living Labs
- Trust Building
- Impact Creation
- Stakeholder Roles
- Outcomes
Abstract. Urban Living Labs have become a popular instrument to find solutions to the pressing challenge that cities face: How can they combine economic prosperity, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability? While the normalisation of Urban Living Labs in cities is well evident to date, a lack of understanding in the nature and purpose of the empirical phenomenon leaves open many challenges yet to be overcome. One particular challenge is about their potential impact to contribute to transformative changes. By combining a retrospective historical literature review with a comparative case study to three Urban Living Labs in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands, this study explores how the triadic relationship between stakeholder roles, funding options and outcomes generated influences the impact creation of Urban Living Labs. The study confirms and adds to current theoretical positions taken about how to overcome issues regarding impact creation in terms of a shared ideology and reviewing the concept of power. Also, it shows that opportunity lies within trust building among stakeholders in Urban Living Labs in order to enhance its potential via five ways: redesigning funding programs, look out for new ways to access effectiveness, political empowerment of initiators, the level of abstract as facilitator in collaboration, and a clarification of the concept itself. Consequently, further research must focus on the social adoption and ownership of ULLs for sustainability and long-term impact, especially in local contexts, and how to make them self-sustaining and less dependent on external funding streams, like municipal subsidies.
Speaker
Rural Living Lab: What is that and how is it shaped?
by Abdolrasoul Habibipour, Johanna Lindberg, Mari Runardotter, Yomn Elmistikawy, Anna Stahlbrost and Diana Chroneer
Track: Full Research Paper
Topic: Urban & Rural Resillence and Digital Social Innovation
Keywords:
- Digital transformation
- Living Lab
- Rural living lab
- Components
- Rural residents
- User engagement
Abstract. Digital transformation (DT) has received increasing attention in recent years. Despite this, most of the current studies have been focused on digital transformation in more advanced societies, more particularly urban areas, and this concept within rural context has not been investigated enough. This study aims at exploring how a rural living lab (Rural LL) is shaped and how this approach is designed to support digital transformation processes in rural context. In so doing, following a design science research methodology (DSRM), we have designed an artefact (i.e., Rural LL framework) which is an “instantiation” that supports user centric digitalization of rural areas. The designed framework is developed based on the key components of “traditional” and “urban” living labs, as well as empirical data which was collected within the context of DigiBy project. The main constructs (key components) of this framework are: 1) rural context, 2) digitalization, 3) governance, control, and business mode, and 4) quintuple helix actors. We also offer an empirically derived definition of the rural living lab concept, following by avenues for future research.
Speaker
Abdolrasoul Habibipour
PhD In Information Systems

Abdolrasoul Habibipour
PhD In Information SystemsAbdolrasoul Habibipour (Ph.D.) is a postdoctoral researcher in Information Systems at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden and managing director of Botnia Living Lab, Sweden. His research focuses on participatory design and user engagement in living lab context, with a particular emphasis on users’ motivations and needs. Abdolrasoul has experience teaching and supervising students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has published several journal and conference articles in his research topic. He has been involved in different international innovation and research projects such as Privacy Flag, USEMP and U4IoT projects and is currently working on UNaLab, LiLaCC and ACCLab projects, all of which are financed by the European Commission.
Maker City
by Dot Baker
Track: Practitioners Presentations
Topic: Culture & Creativity
Keywords:
- Making
- Makerspaces
- Collaboration
- Equity
Abstract. Makerspaces can be spaces for exploration, collaboration and equity, but are often seen are white, middle class spaces for men. We look at how through a social action and creative technology programme, co-created with young people we can create a more equitable environment to make long term change in communities and beyond.
Speaker
ReThink ReMake Recycle – participatory science communication
by Lorraine Hudson, Fiona Dowling, Penny Evans, Zoe Banks Gross, Luke Sweeney and Josephine Gyasi
Track: Practitioners Presentation
Topic: Culture & Creativity and Digital Social Innovation
Keywords:
- Citizen science
- Data
- Engagement, inclusive
- Participatory
- Waste
Abstract:
Participatory approaches such as citizen science offer the potential to open up research to society, yet the majority of people participating are affluent and well educated. We present a case study from the EU funded ParCos project where Bristol Living Lab collaborated with people typically underrepresented in science – those who face social economic disadvantage and Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities. Working with families we explored issues of citizen empowerment in conducting and communicating science by collecting and using data to address issues of importance to them, using arts-based approaches. We designed an activity called ‘ReThink ReMake ReCycle’, which investigated the scale and impact of common household waste materials by unpicking the data behind what we waste. We followed a process of online social learning (workshops) and hands on making to explore sustainable solutions and alternatives and tell stories using the data collected. The lessons learnt include practical ways to increase the diversity of people involved in citizen science and to ensure participation is meaningful and adjusted to different ways of thinking, learning and living. We describe creative ways of working with communities to generate new forms of knowledge production. We also reflect on issues such as equity, power, exploitation and commitment to engagement that provide useful insights for ways in which Living Labs can develop more inclusive practices.
Speaker
Socially-oriented urban living labs in post-industrial cities: challenges and lessons learned
by Elsa Gallez, Stéphanie Van Dooselaere and Constance Uyttebrouck
Track: Practitioners Presentation
Topic: Urban & Rural Resillence and Challenges for Living Labs
- Keywords:
- Socially-oriented ULLs
- European project
- Post-industrial cities regeneration
- Citizen participation
- Model of governance
Abstract In the context of the European project A Place To Be-Come, the University of Liège has the mission to support the implementation of citizen spaces in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Seraing. The purpose of these spaces is to be led by the inhabitants and local associations in order to contribute to the urban and social regeneration of the neighbourhood. This work presents the pertinence of ULLs in post-industrial cities going through a physical and social metamorphosis, then the expected objectives of the project and finally the first observations, results and lessons learned.
Speakers