Time
09.00 – 16.30
Room
ARIA
Agenda
Time | Session title | Speaker |
9.00 – 9.30 | Welcome & Introduction | |
9.30 – 10.30 | Lesson 1: Living Lab Basics, Long-term Vision & Openness of Innovation Processes | Marta De Los Rios White & Elina Makousiari (ENoLL) |
10.30 – 10.45 | Brew & Build (connections) | |
10.45 – 12.15 | Lesson 1: Living Lab Basics, Long-term Vision & Openness of Innovation Processes (continuation) | Marta De Los Rios White & Elina Makousiari (ENoLL) |
12.15 – 13.00 | Lunch & Talk | |
13.00 – 14.30 | Lesson 2: Co-creating Impact and Strategies for Value Creation in Living Labs | Dr Toñi Caro & Francisco Albalá (EOh-for-Good) |
14.30 – 14.45 | Brew & Build (connections) | |
14.45 – 16.15 | Lesson 3: Evolving meaningful participation – co-creation and experimentation across the Living Labs lifecycle | Sam Rye (Monash University) |
16.15 – 16.30 | Closing | |
Basic Track Lessons Description
Living Lab Basics, Long-term Vision & Openness of Innovation Processes
Beginning with a deep dive into the fundamentals of Living Labs, this module provides participants with a clear understanding of their essential components, operational dynamics, and the key roles and responsibilities of those involved. It highlights common pitfalls and structural challenges while emphasising the importance of long-term thinking to establish and maintain robust multi-stakeholder collaborations. Special attention is given to different governance models and how they influence sustainability, decision-making, and stakeholder alignment. The role of the host organisation is also unpacked, including its influence on structure, neutrality, and resource allocation. This sets the stage for strategic thinking around Living Lab positioning and long-term value creation. Finally, participants will be guided in identifying strategies to promote openness in innovation processes, foster trust, and cultivate meaningful collaboration.
Co-creating Impact and Strategies for Value Creation in Living Labs
This interactive session dives into value creation and strategic positioning, combining expert insights with real-life cases and participatory exercises. Through hands-on tools and collaborative reflection, participants will strengthen their ability to design and implement positive impact-driven Living Lab strategies tailored to multi-actor ecosystems.
Living Lab Basics, Long-term Vision & Openness of Innovation Processes
This session will focus on building your familiarity with participatory methods from across disciplines, to support meaningful engagement across the Living Lab spectrum – from exploring lived experience, to surfacing collective visions, through to designing and activating experiments in real world settings. Sam brings experience from facilitating co-creation and experimentation in a range of contexts – from youth mental health to climate action, and from a range of cultural contexts including Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
Trainers
Marta De Los Rios White
Head of Capacity Building & Research, ENoLL
Marta De Los Rios White
Head of Capacity Building & Research, ENoLLMarta De Los Rios White is the Head of Capacity Building and Research at ENoLL. She is a Process Engineer with a Master in Sustainable Cities with international project management experience (South and North America, Africa, Europe). She has great experience in sustainable and participative process improvement and co-creation of solutions with a systemic and strategic thinking approach. She has a very good understanding of various thematic areas such as climate change, climate adaptation, sustainability, sustainable production, circular economy, process improvement, urban sustainability, life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking. She is familiar with Urban Living Labs and co-creation in the urban environment. She is an experienced project manager with 10 years of experience supporting the implementation of international cooperation projects for different donors and specially for the European Commission in a variety of technical areas.
Elina Makousiari
Project Manager and Capacity Building Trainer, ENoLL
Elina Makousiari
Project Manager and Capacity Building Trainer, ENoLLElina Makousiari is a Project Manager and Capacity Building Trainer at the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). She holds an MEng in Urban Resilience and an MSc in Urban Environmental Management, bringing together a strong academic foundation with practical expertise. Elina has international experience across academia, advisory, and research, with a solid background in sustainable urban development, policy-making, and strategic planning. At ENoLL, Elina plays a central role in implementing EU-funded projects, focusing on knowledge sharing, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination. She is one of the head trainers of this edition’s ENoLL Virtual Learning Lab, contributing to the strengthening of capacity-building activities supporting Lfor Living Labbers, practitioners, and stakeholders alike.
Dr Toñi Caro
CEO, EOh-for-Good
Dr Toñi Caro
CEO, EOh-for-GoodDr. Toñi Caro is a seasoned capacity builder with over 25 years of experience in European R&I strategy, institutional innovation and international project leadership. She has led or contributed to more than 100 EU-funded initiatives and serves as an expert evaluator for Horizon 2020, COSME and Horizon Europe. As founder of Eoh-for-Good Ltd, she supports systemic transformations for the common good. Her expertise lies in enabling multi-actor co-creation and implementing next generation living labs through tested, participatory methodologies. She is a member of the Board of Directors of ESSI, active in the ENoLL Research community and regularly engaged by the European Commission in high-level expert groups on innovation ecosystems and digital transformation. Dr. Caro empowers institutions to turn complexity into actionable, inclusive solutions with high societal impact.
Francisco Albalá
Co-founder, EOh-for-Good
Francisco Albalá
Co-founder, EOh-for-GoodFrancisco Albalá brings over 25 years of experience in leadership roles across education, cultural and creative industries (CCIs), and coaching. He is known for his ability to create collaborative and forward-thinking environments. His career highlights include serving as Director of the Encartaciones Museum in the Basque Country (1999–2002), Head of Studies at St George English School in Bilbao (2002–2011), and coach specializing in intergenerational collaboration with families (2011–present), where he has consistently demonstrated innovative leadership. Currently, he coordinates international projects at EDIW (Education for an Interdependent World), expanding his impact on global cooperation and transformative learning. As co-founder of Eoh-for-Good Ltd, he is responsible of participatory training and capacity building programmes. His expertise in fostering growth and connection makes him a key contributor to organisational development across sectors.
Sam Rye
Senior Research Officer, Monash University
Sam Rye
Senior Research Officer, Monash UniversitySam leads Monash University's Living Lab Infrastructure. Working with Living Labs across the university, he works with academics to integrate education, research, campus operations, industry and community engagement. With a background in strategic and systemic design, participatory processes, knowledge translation and with 15+ years supporting cross-sectoral collective action through the likes of social innovation labs, Sam aims to further grow Monash University's capability and supporting structures to tackle the Grand Challenges of our age.