Skip to main content
  • 44 Accesses

Synonyms

Design methodology; Innovation labs; Living laboratories

Definition

Living labs are a research and design methodology applied by research institutes in cooperation with public and private partners for developing and testing innovations in co-creation with users in real-life settings.

Introduction

Living lab refers to both a methodology to experimentation and innovation and the physical spaces in which this is situated. The methodology helps tackling problems at hand by designing and testing of new solutions. “Living labs” or “living laboratories” were originally developed for technological innovation in the 1990s. Since the 2000s, living labs have been an emerging practice in the social sciences, focusing on social innovation. Surprisingly, public administration research has paid scant attention to living labs to date.

An obvious obstacle to application of a living lab approach in public administration research is the lack of conceptual and methodological clarity (cf....

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Almirall E, Wareham J (2011) Living labs: arbiters of mid- and ground-level innovation. Tech Anal Strat Manag 23:87–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bason C (2016) Design for policy. Routledge, Oxon

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bergvall-Kåreborn B, Ståhlbröst A (2009) Living Lab: an open and citizen-centric approach for innovation. Int J Innov Reg Dev 1(4):356–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker R, Franco Contreras JS, Meijer AJ (2019) The living lab as a methodology for public administration research: a systematic literature review of its applications in the social sciences. Int J Public Adm, early view online

    Google Scholar 

  • Følstad A (2008) Living labs for innovation and development of communication technology: A literature review. Electron J Virtual Organ Netw 10:99–131

    Google Scholar 

  • McGann M, Blomkamp E, Lewis JM (2018) The rise of public sector innovation labs: experiments in design thinking for policy. Policy Sci 51(3):249–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry JL (2012) How can we improve our science to generate more usable knowledge for public professionals? Public Adm Rev 72(4):479–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt C (2017) Public administration research since 1980: slipping away from the real world? Int J Public Sect Manag 30(6–7):555–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabel CF, Zeitlin J (2012) Experimentalist governance. In: Levi-Faur D (ed) The Oxford handbook of governance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 169–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Tõnurist P, Kattel R, Lember V (2017) Innovation labs in the public sector: what they are and what they do? Public Manag Rev 19(10):1455–1479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Geenhuizen M (2013) From ivory tower to living lab: accelerating the use of university knowledge. Environ Plann C Gov Policy 31(6):1115–1132

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rianne Dekker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Dekker, R., Meijer, A. (2020). Living Lab. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3981-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3981-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics