Living Labs in South Africa. Contextual, organisational and institutional opportunities and challenges

Since the late 1990’s the concept of Living Labs has emerged in North America, first formulated by William Mitchell of MIT, and spread to Europe and beyond where it has shaped Research & Development environments ever since. Living Labs operate strongly user oriented, in real-life settings and with a multi- stakeholder approach. Their central goal is to integrate a systematic user co-creation approach within research and innovation processes. The concept is often operationalized in a territorial context such as a city, a campus, or a region.Since the creation of the Living Lab methodology, its ideology has extended from urban to rural areas and is applicable to numerous research fields, although often related to ICT development. At the European level the concept of living labs has spread considerably. The European Network of Living Labs represents 274 Living Labs. In recent years the concept has caught on in other areas of the world, also on the African continent. In 2009 the Living Labs in South Africa (LLiSA) network was established representing 11 Living Labs in South Africa and neighboring countries.This paper focuses on the concept of living labs and its application in a Southern African context. The main research questions are: 1) how is the concept of living labs translated into a developmental context, 2) what are the contextual, organizational and institutional opportunities and challenges of implementing living labs in a developmental context, 3) what are the best practices and way forward. The paper comprises 3 main parts:1. It starts by reviewing the scant literature on the subject. It critically questions and contextualizes the concept by integrating theoretical insights on related initiatives such as telecentres and ICT adoption in developing countries.2. It lists and analysis the existing initiatives in Southern Africa. It looks at the goals and achievements of initiatives and critically looks at problems and shortcomings.3. It formulates joint experiences, problems and best practices as experiencedby the current initiatives.Methodologically the paper is based on desk research reviewing existing literature and documents. More in depth insights are generated on the basis of interviews with several of the Living Lab staff and managers. The analysis is complemented and finalized at a three day workshop at the University of the Western Cape comprising several brainstorms about the experience and way forward for Living Labs in a Southern African context. At this workshop multiple representatives of Living Lab initiatives in the region are present.