Agder living lab: From ideas to large-scale deployment and long-term user adoption of inclusive health solutions

Abstract

End-user involvement is a central part in the strategy of public and private organisations to generate user-driven innovative solutions to real-world problems. The Living lab concept is an instrument to create user-centered solutions, with almost 400 recognized in the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) since 2006. Living labs cover diverse topics, such as smart-cities, innovative learning and digital health. A national initiative in Southern Norway has funded the Agder Living Lab (ALL) for eHealth, a user-centered innovation environment participated by multisectorial public and private partners. ALL implements a quadruple-helix model represented by citizens, industry, academia and government, offering an experimental arena for universal design to implement welfare technology, eHealth, telemedicine and mobile health solutions. ALL aims to catalyse inclusive innovation in the health sector by creating a multidisciplinary space where end-users (citizen, patient, relative, health professional) and health services can be interlinked making technology accessible and usable to everybody.