Partnerships for innovation: The case of Urban living lab in Turin

Abstract

Cities are experiencing complex problem such as rapid urbanization, ageing, increased social inequalities, pollution and climate change. Local policymakers are called to handle those challenges with limited resources, increased economic constraints and without the appropriate policy tools. Urban Living Labs can be a useful strategy to deal with multidimensional problems because they engage local actors in experimenting innovative solutions. Urban Living Labs are, in fact, local spaces where municipalities, citizens, and stakeholders define, develop and test innovative products or services, using an open and collaborative approach to innovation, aimed at eliciting knowledge from participants. This chapter investigates how partnerships for ULL are created and managed at the local level, and for the benefit of whom. It analyses the case of the Turin Living Lab created by the Municipality of Turin in 2016 and transformed into Turin City Lab in 2019.