FARCLIMATE at the Open Living Lab Days in Timisoara

October 09, 2024

The Open Living Lab Days were organised during 25-27 September 2024 in Timisoara, Romania. This annual event organised by FARCLIMATE partners from European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) is a global gathering of international Living Labs that brings together living labbers, public officials, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, and innovators from around the world. The theme of this year’s event was“ LIVING LABS FRONTIERS: Driving systemic change through Soci(et)al Engagement, for real impact” which explored how Living Labs can drive meaningful societal systemic change through active engagement and collaboration. 

24th of September

In this context, FARCLIMATE organised a Training day focusing on introducing Living Labs and stakeholder engagement on September 24th. The training was provided for European regions and communities applying the Living Lab methodology in the agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors, like FARCLIMATE itself. Seven of the case studies that are being launched this year within FARCLIMATE attended the training:

1. Municipality of Fundão
2. Green Growth Generation
3. CESEFOR,Junta de Castilla y León
4. Development Policy Foundation
5. Fundación Savia
6. GALP Ría de Arousa
7. GALP Ría de Pontevedra

🔸 The session was introduced by Pablo Cabanelas from Universidad de Vigo. During the morning Leidy Vanessa Enriquez Florez, Spela Zalokar (ENoLL), Teemu Santonen (Laurea University of Applied Sciences), Maria Konstantinidou and Josep Maria Salanova Grau (CERTH) focused the session on living labs, covering the fundamental principles, providing a clear narrative around the “what, who, why, when, and where” of Living Labs. They explained what Living Lab is, why it should be used, and when and where they can be effectively applied, sharing real-life examples to illustrate their impact. During the hands-on exercise,  working tables were organised to focus on defining key elements such as the purpose, host organization, mission, vision, and scope of a Living Lab. Participants also explored the roles of people within the lab, its internal structure, and the broader context, including relevant stakeholders and the Living Lab environment.

🔸After that, Juan Freire and Beatriz Rivela Carballal from inViable focused on stakeholder engagement. After an initial introduction aimed at fostering an understanding of what stakeholder management means in the context of FARCLIMATE, the session covered basic concepts such as the need for participation, the role of experience experts, understanding Living Labs within the innovation landscape, and the flexibility they offer. Following this, the group explored the journey and tools of FARCLIMATE, with collective work centered on the setup phase of the Living Labs. A practical exercise, “Landing in the Journey,” encouraged representatives from the case studies to reflect on their current position within the journey. The session concluded with a second exercise, where participants sketched an initial plan and outlined the next steps in their setup process.

🔸Finally, Jose Carlos Porto Rodríguez (Cesefor) explained the methodology for identifying climate change-related problems and exploring potential solutions. In both instances, he emphasized the importance of involving all stakeholders — not only to gather diverse perspectives, but also to ensure their active participation in this collaborative process. Also, Helena Clavero from IUCN, presented the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS), developed by the organisation, as well as the online Self-Assessment Tool and what is needed to apply it by the case studies of the project. During the intervention, the concept of NbS and the framework used by IUCN were developed and the criteria that are part of the Standard and what information is needed to be able to apply it by the case studies were introduced, as a support tool for the best design and implementation of the actions within the project.

26th of September

Another key highlight from the Open Living Lab Days 2024  was the presentation of FARCLIMATE by Pablo Cabanelas from Universidade de Vigo, coordinators of the project. During this session, presenters discussed the systemic approach within the EU Missions and the challenge of the assessment of the impact. The systemic approach is critical to create a coordinated efforts that go beyond traditional policy and research boundaries. Specifically, Pablo Cabanelas focused on the Mission Adaptation introducing FARCLIMATE as an initiative that is working on this approach

Organised by Sabrina Bresciani and Francesca Rizzo (Politecnico di Milano), this round table also touched on the Missions “Soil”, “Oceans” and “Cities” with the participation of Giulia Campodonico, Fedra Francocci, Laura Ribotta and Morgan Ricard.

The afternoon of the 26th, the inViable team carried out the Workshop “WILD Labs – Mapping the Innovation Frontier – A Taxonomy for Navigating Spaces and Processes” to explore interoperability, draw insights and search for synergies from various participatory innovation frameworks and infrastructures (the “labs”), reflecting on processes and tools that can be integrated into what we’ve coined as WILD Labs. Through the study and analysis of various formats, spaces, processes, and tools within different innovation frameworks, they presented a taxonomy proposal for discussion. This allowed participants to explore the symbiosis and integration of learnings, ultimately paving the way for the development of a catalogue of processes and tools that could potentially be integrated into a forward-looking vision of future applications, transcending the standardisation of Living Labs: the WILD Labs. This initiative is is related to the work done at FARCLIMTE where the Living Lab framework is applied to search, experiment and scale climate adaptation solutions in several European territories and communities where agriculture, forestry or fisheries are key economic activities.

 

The OpenLivingLab Days were a unique experience that featured a diverse array of research sessions, hands-on workshops, and interactive discussions. During the conference, attendees had the opportunity to engage in various interactive and research sessions, workshops, and site visits and explore how Living Labs can serve as platforms for addressing grand societal challenges, discuss about the vital roles of Living Labs in shaping policy-making and governance within innovation ecosystems, examine how Living Labs can become vehicles for fostering inclusive engagement across diverse groups, investigate how Living Labs serve as crucial platforms that help businesses and society adopt and adapt to emerging technologies and delve into the operational aspects of Living Labs, including their tools, services, business models, and impact.