What Are Living Labs?
A Living Lab (LL) provides a collaborative framework for researchers, students, operations staff and external partners to leverage the campus to explore, develop and test new ideas, and to share the knowledge gained from these experiences. The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) defines Living Labs as ‘open innovation ecosystems in real-life environments based on a systematic user co-creation approach’ which integrate research and innovation processes in real life communities and settings. A Living Lab framework can be applied to any discipline across campus and for this purpose, seeks to address a current challenge related to the area of sustainability.
These LL projects and activities can be organised into three main categories across the university:
1. Formal (for-credit research projects) - usually academic-led
2. Informal (extra-curricular projects) - usually student or operational staff-led
3. Paid opportunities
