WP 4 : case study Living Labs

This report elaborates on living labs by zooming in on the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and the living labs in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and Manchester (UK), which are connected to ENoLL. The living labs are studied within the TRANSIT research project which is on transformative social innovation (www.transitsocialinnovation.eu ) and hence they are studied from the perspective of them being an example of (transformative) social innovation. In transit social innovations are new ways of doing, framing, knowing and organising and they are transformative if they alter, challenge or replace dominant structures. This report outlines the results of a study on the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and two Living Labs that are linked to ENoLL, which are Living Labs in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and Manchester, UK. This report starts with explaining the methodology that was used in this research. In this part it is explained how data has been collected and what kind of data has been collected and how this was then analysed. It also elaborates on the role of the type of relation that the researchers had with the cases. It then continues with an elaboration of:

• 1. The emergence, dynamics and agency aspects of the European Network of Living Labs;
• 2. The emergence, dynamics and agency aspects of the Eindhoven Living Lab and
• 3. The emergence, dynamics and agency aspects of the Manchester Living Lab.

The emergence mainly describes the process of how the network organisation and the two living labs came into being. What triggered their formation and how did they develop over time? The dynamics part of the research addresses in more detail how the network organisation and the two living labs have interacted with their context. Then the cases conclude with an elaboration on the agency of the network organisation and the two living labs. Agency deals among others with motivation and the ideologies and ideas that the people within the living labs have when it comes to bringing about change in society. The report concludes with a synthesis of the three case studies, this part presents short summaries and some conclusions based on the analysis of all three cases that are described in this report.

Citation

Ruijsink, S. and Smith, A. (2016) WP 4 : case study Living Labs, TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169.