Danubius International Conferences, 15th International Conference on European Integration - Realities and Perspectives
Can Living Labs Support and Stimulate Innovation in Peripheral and Less Developed Regions?
Last modified: 2020-04-11
Abstract
At European level, there is an increasingly present orientation of involving end users in generating and designing innovative solutions in various fields such as health and well-being, smart cities, culture and creativity, energy, mobility, social inclusion, social innovation, education, etc. These initiatives have taken the form a Living Labs movement, present throughout the world and supported by an European organization: the ENoLL community. The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to review the main findings on the success and challenges in organizing Living Labs as a means to stimulate user-driven innovation and b) to offer an analysis of the contextual facilitators and inhibitors for the creating of Living Labs in regions peripheral to the European Union, such as the region of Galaţi, Romania. For this purpose, we will combine literature review methods with case studies analysis. In conclusion we highlight several recommendations for the creation and functioning of Living Labs with the aim to support user-generated innovation in less developed regions.
