Top Papers selected by Evaluation Committee

Chair

Dr. Dimitri Schuurman

Top Rated Papers will be invited for publication on a Special Issue in a peer-reviewed journal and will also have a prime-time dedicated session at the conference.

A Creative Citizens Model for Smart Urban Planning

by Helen Manchester and Carolyn Hassan

Track: Full Research Papers

Topic: Smart Cities & Regions

Author keywords:    

  • Smart City
  • Citizen
  • Learning
  • Digital Inequalities
  • Creative

Abstract: Recent moves, led by the Living Labs movement and others, have begun to place the citizen at the centre of Smart City discussions. But questions around what theories and forms of learning are required for citizens to play a role in the development of digital, urban futures are rarely asked. This paper adopts ethnographic methods to study the assumptions about learning in a Europe-wide smart city project that included a component of work led by Bristol Living Lab (KWMC). Our paper provides important messages for Living Labs and others keen to include citizens in smart city development. It suggests that the current ‘banking’ models of learning adopted in relation to citizen participation are not fit for purpose and that new models are needed. This needs to recognise citizen learning as situated in social and material contexts and embedded in unequal relations of power, knowledge and resources. We make the case for smart city initiatives to offer city inhabitants critical, creative learning opportunities that begin to address the inequalities that constitute the contemporary smart city.

Speaker

Agile Piloting for Smarter Cities: 3 Cases of Engaging Ecosystems and Communities in Co-creation

by Kaisa Spilling, Janne Rinne and Matti Hämälainen

Track:  Innovation Papers

Topic: Open Track

Author keywords:    

  • Smart Cities
  • Living labs
  • Open Innovation
  • Experimentation
  • Startups
  • Ecosystems

Abstract: Agile Piloting Programme, a proven method that supports and facilitates smart city development and engage a wider stakeholder network to co-create new services. During 2016-2019, over 50 pilots have run on the different platforms in Helsinki. The thematic piloting rounds have ranged from climate positive and resource wise solutions to innovative local services and wellbeing. The model has been adopted in different domains of smart city and used widely in the network of six biggest cities of Finland. In this paper we briefly present the model and give examples of three cases that highlight different aspects on how co-creation and experimentation has been applied in different city platforms: Smart Kalasatama (Health & Wellbeing),Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab (mobility and transport) and Helsinki schools (education). Agile Piloting Programme, a proven method that supports and facilitates smart city development and engage a wider stakeholder network to co-create new services. During 2016-2018, Smart Kalasatama Agile Piloting Programme has run and facilitated 21 agile pilots. The thematic piloting rounds have ranged from climate positive and resource wise solutions to innovative local services and wellbeing. The model has been adopted in different domains of smart city and used widely in the network of six biggest cities of Finland. In this paper we briefly present the model and give examples of three cases that highlight different aspects on how co-creation and experimentation has been applied in different city platforms: Smart Kalasatama (Health & Wellbeing), Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab (mobility and transport) and Helsinki schools (education).

Speaker

A Mobile App Addressing Homelessness: Creating Technology for Societal Change

by Rachel Burrows, Antonette Mendoza, Sonja Pedell, Leon Sterling, Tim Miller and Alexi Lopez-Lorca

Track: Full Research Papers

Topic: Open Track

Author keywords: 

  • Thematic Analysis
  • Homelessness
  • Emotion-led Design
  • Mixed-Method
  • Technology Innovation
  • Living Lab approach
  • Socio-technical Systems

Abstract: Living Lab projects often involve the collaboration of diverse stakeholders. This is particularly true with new technology that aims to tackle the systemic and societal problem of homelessness. In this paper, we present a mixed-method approach to understand the perspectives of key stakeholders. We discuss our findings and their implications for the development of a mobile app that aims to help people who are homeless. We measure usage of the mobile app which currently attracts over 10,000 users each month. We also conduct semi-structured interviews with 30 participants who are either homeless, ex-homeless or service providers. Our study provides insights and an approach that may help others in developing similar systems. We discuss barriers and enablers of success relating to (i) organisational concerns from service providers, (ii) maintaining awareness of the system in the homeless community, and (iii) supporting user needs in software design. We propose and demonstrate our emotion-led approach to bring a novel perspective on the concerns from key actors influencing the adoption of new technologies.

Speakers

Living Lab Activities for Social Problem-Solving R&D Projects in Korea

by Ji Eun Seong and Ji In Park

Topic: Theoretical & Methodological Challenges

Track: Full Research Paper

Author keywords: 

  • Korean Living Lab
  • R&D Innovation Model
  • Social Problem-Solving R&D project
  • R&SD (Research & Solution Development)
  • Case Studies
  • Achievements and Challenges

Abstract: Korea has pursued science and technology innovation activities focusing on economic growth and industrial development. For the rapid growth, Korea has taken a strategy to develop capable subjects and areas that can grow fast first. In recent years, inclusive innovation has been emphasized in Korea to reduce social disparities and strengthen social integration. To this end, it is emphasized that the paradigm shift from Research and Development (R&D)-oriented technology supply policy to consumer-oriented problem-solving innovation policy. There is an attempt to integrate the subjects, fields, and areas that have been excluded in the process of science and technology innovation. The emergence of new R&D categories in 2010, such as ‘Social Problem-Solving R&D Project’ reflects the situation of Korea nowadays. Taking some time for self-examination of science and technology activities and asking questions such as “what is science and technology?”. In particular, those projects introduced living-lab method as a propulsion system and tried to promote open innovation activities in which end users and researchers jointly develop, demonstrate and evaluate products in real life space. The Living Lab is an infrastructure that enables professionals and end users to continuously improve their products, services, and demonstrations with customer interactions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the living lab activities in the social problem-solving R&D projects conducted in Korea and to derive its achievements and tasks. This study analyzed the representative cases in which living lab activities are prominent among the social problem-solving technology development projects in Korea. Through this study, we have identified the contents of the living lab activities of the social problem-solving R&D projects and present policy issues. The characteristics derived from the analysis are as follows: 1) Living Lab is being introduced as a methodology for user and demand-oriented research innovation in Korea’s R&D projects. 2) New policy experiments to overcome the limitations of Korean innovation system such as top-down approached in policy making led by central government, R&D planning focused on technology providers’ convenience, and industrial innovation stressed on economic growth are being conducted through this project. 

Speakers

Living Labs and Circular Economy. The case of Turin

by Federico Cuomo, Nadia Lambiase and Antonio Castagna

Track:  Innovation Papers

Topic: Smart Cities & Regions

Keywords: 

  • Living Lab
  • Circular Economy
  • Environmental policies
  • Regeneration
  • Turin

Abstract: This paper aims to present the case of the Torino Living Lab on Sharing and Circular Economy in an attempt to highlight possible future scenarios for policies to stimulate urban innovation in the environmental and social fields. The case study is analysed in three phases. First of all, it is described the approach of the local public administration to the tool of the Living Lab as a stimulus to innovation. In the second part, the Turin Living Lab on Sharing and Circular Economy is deepened and potentialities and weaknesses are highlighted. In the last section we focus on understanding how the selected case can open possible fields of comparison between Turin and other cities in order to improve globally by sharing their local experiences.

Speaker

To Get Things Right for Children. Implementation of a Public Social Living Lab Model for Coordinated Support for Children in Need

by Angelika Thelin, Torbjörn Forkby and Mats Anderberg

Track:  Full Research Papers

Topic: Health and Wellbeing

Author keywords:    

  • Coordinated Social Interventions
  • Children
  • Well-being
  • Implementation
  • Social Living Labs
  • On-going Evaluation

Abstract:There is a large need in Sweden and internationally for the development of knowledge-based approaches to improve children’s well-being, promote learning, school attachment and self-efficacy early in life. This includes both the articulation of comprehensive policy frameworks and the implementation of targeted interventions. One response to this is presented by the Scottish model Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). Central pillars are to improve children’s well-being and learning through early intervention, universal service provision, and multi-agency coordination. The model has gained substantial interest in Sweden, where the most challenging implementation is taking place in the county of Kronoberg, including eight municipalities and several health service organizations. This research paper is based on material from the ongoing evaluation that aimed to establish an interactive research in support of the implementation process. The paper describes the early process that followed the implementation decision and discuss how it might be understood as a public collaborative social living lab and what this demands from the researchers. Emphasis is put on the researcher’s role to balance between partaking in the innovative work and standing aside and giving critical reflections.

Speaker