Interactive value production through Living Labs

Abstract

Interactive, co-creative relations and collaboration of consumers, users and producers are quickly developing recently. Living Labs [LL] integrate users in the development process of new technologies as co-creators themselves. They have a special bridging role between market pull and technology push innovation and they realise some sort of concurrent innovation. LLs are an interactive search for new products/services in real life milieus together with users/consumers, without the mediation of marketing experts. They receive a different role. Our article highlights LLs first as providers of a collaborative working environment for users. This paper emphasises that LLs have a strong methodology and describes and assesses the "LL Harmonization cube". Further, it puts emphasis on the difference between a prospective notion of a LL and the recent reality of the LL practice. Recent LLs mostly work at the end phase of the innovation 'chain'. The article secondly outlines what advantages LLs can bring for SMEs. The main added value of LLs for SMEs is that they provide for innovation services by integrating SMEs as users in a collaborative working environment that would otherwise not be available for them.