Quality of life, social innovation and living lab methodologies

Fostering quality of life through social innovation: a living lab methodology study case

Mónica E. Edwards-Schachter, Cristian Matti, Enrique Alcántara

Review of Policy Research

Participative processes and citizens’ empowerment are crucial aspects of social innovation (SI), involving collaborative activities between the private, public, and third sectors. This article discusses the principal trends in the literature on SI, its aims and differential characteristics related to identifying people’s needs, citizen participation processes, and improved quality of life. We present an exploratory case study of SI focusing on the gap between elderly people’s needs and the generation of business opportunities, using a living lab (LL) methodology for collaborative placed-based innovation. Our results suggest that LLs are a helpful instrument to detect community needs, improve local development, and support and integrate technological and social innovations in policies and local governance processes

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2012.00588.x/abstract