The Concept of Living Labs as Social Infrastructures for Innovation

Abstract

The concept of living labs is presented as a framework for studying and acting in living settings such as organizations, work places, public spaces and the wider environment. Living labs have been suggested and indeed promoted as promising infrastructures for innovation. Yet, at the same time, the notion of a living lab has been criticized as being vague and superfluous. We thus ask whether the living lab concept contributes any more than the simple notion of a pilot project in a multi-stakeholder environment. This chapter presents an overview of thinking on Living Labs.