DATE & TIME
1 October 2025, 15:45 – 17:00
TRACKS
TRACK 1: Living Labs for Grand Societal Challenges
ROOM
Sala d’Actes
TARGET AUDIENCE
Policymakers and city representatives, companies and entrepreneurs, research and academics, Living Lab representatives and practitioners
TYPE OF SESSION
Topic debate
Description
This session explores how Living Labs can support interdisciplinary research on the environmental determinants of human health, aligning with One Health principles and regenerative futures. As recognised Research Infrastructures in Health & Wellbeing, LLs offer real-life settings, co-creation methodologies, and stakeholder engagement frameworks that can be extended to environmental and social sciences. Participants will discover how LLs facilitate cross-sector collaboration, enable experimentation in areas like urban mobility, energy, soil and climate resilience, and generate policy-relevant evidence. Case studies will showcase how LLs bridge research, innovation, and policy by supporting integrated risk assessments and actionable insights for local and European decision-making. The session emphasises the potential of LLs as open platforms for SMEs, academic teams, and public authorities to tackle complex health-environment challenges and drive systems-based transitions towards more sustainable and resilient societies.
Agenda
Timeslot | Item | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 15:45 – 15:50 | Introduction: The role of Living Labs as interdisciplinary infrastructures connecting health and environment |
|
| 15:50 – 16:40 | Presentations |
|
| 16:40 – 17:00 | Panel Discussion: Opportunities and challenges for Living Labs in fostering innovation, co-creation and policy support |
|
| 17:00 – 17:05 | Conclusions & future perspectives |
|
Speakers
Despoina Petsani
Research Associate, Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, AUTH
Despoina Petsani
Research Associate, Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, AUTHDespoina Petsani received her MSc in Medical Informatics and diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She is Research Associate in the Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, School of Medicine of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and serves as Chief Innovation Officer at Xeeti. Her expertise lies in decision support systems, AI-driven digital health solutions and Living Labs. She has worked extensively with SMEs, academia, and international consortia, excelling in proposal writing, project management, and user-centered research and innovation. Since 2017, she has led and contributed to numerous EU-funded projects, including VITALISE (H2020), where she coordinated Living Lab harmonization process and the EVOLVE2CARE Horizon Europe project where she is Mission Coordinator. She is co-chairing the ENoLL Living Lab Harmonization Working Group and the ENoLL Health & Wellbeing Working Group. She was also member of the Organizing Committee of the Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Symposium 2024 and 2025.
Anton Sentic
Living Lab and Transitions Researcher, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)
Anton Sentic
Living Lab and Transitions Researcher, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)Anton Sentic is a Living Lab and Transitions researcher working at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Currently leading/co-leading LL methodology work packages in the SWEET SWICE and SWEET Lantern energy research consortia, he is also acting as scientific co-lead of the WinLab LL in Winterthur and advisor to several Swiss Living Labs. In parallel with his current work with Living Labs, Anton is also an active member of the Sustainable Transitions Research community, having co-founded the NEST early career Transitons Researcher Network and serving as a member of the STRN Steering Group since 2019. Holding a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Environmental System Sciences with a focus on sustainable business management, as well as a PhD in Innovation Studies from the University of Greenwich, Anton’s main research interests lie in the intersection between Living Lab research and (sustainable) system transition processes, focusing on the role of LL in large-scale transitions and, on the practical side, the development and utilization of management tools and concepts in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of innovation processes in LL.
Evdokimos Konstantinidis
Assistant Professor, Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Evdokimos Konstantinidis
Assistant Professor, Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation at Aristotle University of ThessalonikiEvdokimos Konstantinidis is an Assistant Professor in Digital, Technological and Open Innovation in Health at the Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is Vice-Chair of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and served as Chair from 2021 to 2024. He is coordinator of the ENoLL Health and Wellbeing Living Labs Working Group and his research interests lie predominately in Living Lab methodologies combined with agile aspects in the Health and Wellbeing domain, Open Science and Data Management as well as technological interventions in the field of healthcare. He is currently coordinating Horizon Europe projects on services for the European Open Science Cloud and on innovation experimentation frameworks through Living Labs. He has successfully coordinated the VITALISE project, aiming to harmonize the procedures and ICT tools of the Health and Wellbeing Living Labs, towards creating an open ecosystem for the European researchers.
Josep Maria Salanova Grau
Principal Researcher, CERTH/HIT
Josep Maria Salanova Grau
Principal Researcher, CERTH/HITDr. Josep Maria Salanova Grau is a Principal Researcher at the Hellenic Institute of Transport/Center for Research and Technology Hellas where he leads the operations research and data analysis laboratory supporting the Thessaloniki Smart Mobility Living Lab. He is a former member of the Board of Directors at the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), where he currently leads the mobility working group. His expertise includes transport modelling, ITS and cooperative ITS, Operations Research for optimizing passenger and freight transport and Data Science. He accounts for more than 60 journal publications, 18 book chapters, more than 200 conference papers and more than 2000 citations in google scholar.
Giulia Campodonico
Head of Projects, ENoLL & Coordinator of the SOILL-Startup Project
Giulia Campodonico
Head of Projects, ENoLL & Coordinator of the SOILL-Startup ProjectGiulia Campodonico has over 15 years of work experience in EU policies and projects in the Research and Innovation field. Her passion for technology, co-creation, and innovation led her to join ENoLL in 2022 as Head of Projects. In this role, Giulia focuses on coordinating the association work on proposal preparation and project management, while also supporting ENoLL’s services to members and advocacy efforts. In this context, Giulia is the coordinator of the SOILL Framework Partnership and the SOILL-Startup project. Funded by the European Commission’s Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, these actions aim to support the network of 100 Soil Health Living Labs and Lighthouses across Europe. Before joining ENoLL, Giulia led the EU proposals team at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), where she worked on 150+ proposals and projects connecting research with real-world applications. Her background in political sciences, journalism, European studies, and project management brought her to Brussels, where she has worked for different European non-profit organizations, including EUROCITIES, as an EU project manager, focusing in particular on green and digital innovation.