Living Labs come in many shapes and forms. This post aims to tease out some of the different forms to better understand their strengths and focuses to advance how we build and sustain Labs over time.
About a decade ago, I heard the term "Trojan Mouse" as a way to speak about small experiments or safe-to-fail tests. Ever since I've been thinking about what their role is in systems change.
Living Labs are evolving over time, geography and in response to the challenges and opportunities for collective action. This post introduces Three Generations of evolution.
In October, I was fortunate enough to join forces with leading lights in the University Living Labs space at the Open Living Lab Days 2025 conference in Andorra.
University Living Labs are a relational infrastructure to orchestrate and catalyse portfolios of impact-oriented initiatives in collaboration with societal partners.
Open Living Lab Days 2025, a conference for Living Lab practitioners from around the world is upon us, and I'm in Andorra to explore three lines of enquiry.
Can we really be Place-based if we only pay attention to the People who live there?
The lichen-ous current state of my work and community life, and what's coming for the rest of the year.
What value does an innovation orchestrator create, and what are the future aspects we need to address to increase their effectiveness?
Regional innovation doesn't just happen. Exploring the role of orchestration in regional innovation ecosystems - beyond the Lab.
Funding and frameworks for a world in transition - session recording, reflections and exploration
Join us for a timely exploration of difference types of finance, funding and investment suitable for tackling complex challenges faced by communities in Australia and Canada.
Social Labs
Most people have never experienced a social innovation lab, so how do we talk to these people about what they do and why they're useful?
Social Innovation
The Future of Labs 2024 Gathering Report is out! Find out more about what happened and the recommendations for social (innovation) labs from 65+ practitioners who gathered in Canada to explore the future of lab practice.
systemic investing
Systemic investing is a promising complement to impact investing - moving from single point impact funding to a coherent portfolio logic to fund connected systems change initiatives and ecosystems.
Complexity
Ecotone organising offers a promising approach for fostering collective action on complex challenges. By creating spaces that are independent of existing organizational structures, we can cultivate hybrid cultures, shared capabilities, and flexible governance.
Complexity
We need to address the complexity gap in climate responses.
Regeneration
When you imagine the future of your Street does it feel like a thriving place to live?
Social Innovation
As our understanding of complex challenges advances and there is global exploration of the ways of seeing, being, doing which enable us to respond effectively - is there still a role for the Lab in the landscape of change approaches?
Regeneration
Introducing a playbook to support place-based regeneration through a rich participatory experience on country.
Social Innovation
What is the role of the "Lab" in the current landscape of approaches to change? What are the core practices and structures to make Labs effective? Where are the potential overlaps, differences and opportunities of connecting to other approaches which are evolving around the world?
Social Innovation
Exploring the beating heart of social innovation in Canada in 2024, and exploring the Future of Labs.
Experimentation
Let's talk about Experimentation Portfolios. Visualising an array of experiments to see active and latent potential to shift systems through living labs, mission-oriented innovation and challenge precincts.
Living Labs
Inspiration from the EU Horizon Fund showing us what's possible when you mainstream applied, trans-disciplinary, ambitious research projects.