Operationalisation of Living Labs in agriculture and forestry: A Meta-analysis of H2020 and Horizon Europe projects

Abstract

In the last few years, the European Commission, through EIP-AGRI, has been calling for the establishment of multi-actor partnerships in H2020 and Horizon Europe Programs. This has given rise to a diversity of multi-actor approaches and platforms; Living Labs (LLs) being one of the most popular. LLs can be considered a transdisciplinary approach to enable and foster the integration of a diversity of knowledge and experiences coming from multiple actors and disciplines. This approach is increasingly used to address complex issues at different levels - from local to regional/ national. Within the agriculture and forestry sectors, LLs have gained traction to foster the development of innovation by bringing farmers, scientists, businesses, policymakers, and other agri-food system actors together to co-develop, test, and evaluate new practices and technologies. Although there is no single definition for LLs, there are certain key features recognised both in science and policy discourses that characterise them: i) multi-actor partnerships; ii) user-centred innovation; iii) and real-life environments. One of the most distinctive differences between LLs and other science-policy-practice collaborations lies in its experimental nature (on-field) and the fact that end users play a central role in the co-creation of innovations. However, the lack of clarity on how the LL approach should be implemented in practice, and the lack of a clear definition in the context of EU-funded research is leading to different interpretations and applications of the term, which could have repercussions on the expectations and impacts that these projects are set to achieve. With this work we aim to systematise how LLs are being conceptualized and operationalized within the context of European research and innovation projects in the fields of agriculture and forestry. To do so, we will perform a meta-analysis of all the projects that have been using LLs within H2020 and Horizon Europe programmes (N∼ 100). Our overall goal is to contribute to a ∗Speaker 368 clearer definition that will help to evaluate LLs more accurately in future calls, as well as to serve as reference to help build proposals with sharper expectations in terms of potential impacts