RRI Tools

François Millet for Relais d'Sciences, Caen, France

Malvina Artheau for Science Animation, Toulouse, France

Laurence Battais for Universcience, Paris, France

Didier Laval for Cap Science, Paris, France

Ludovic Maggioni for La Casemate, Grenoble, France

The Living Lab Inmédiats handbook summarizes the essentials to understand and start implementing the Living Lab methodology in a Science Center and elsewhere.

As a phenomenon which started life in the late 1990s at M.I.T. Media Lab and
which later expanded in Europe, Living Labs are “life-size open innovation
environments in which users participate in the creation of new services,
products and societal infrastructure”1. There are today more than 321 Living
Labs in more than 40 countries worldwide2. This document builds directly
on the book published by Montréal In vivo in March 2014 3.
Numerous references are made to it in this document and you are advised to
read it to develop a greater and more detailed understanding of the Living Lab
concept.

Indeed, with ample pre-existing literature concerning Living Labs, the purpose
of this document is not to restate what Living Labs are but rather to explain
their specific characteristics and the adaptations required to make them
ambitious cultural mediation tools.

Three years of experimentation with the Living Lab concept in science centres,
in varying forms and with numerous participant types, have made it possible
to confirm that this model offers an exciting new dynamic for collaboration
between the sciences, technology and society. In a society in crisis, it highlights
the value of an innovation culture on the one hand and the importance of
reinforcing links between citizens and the world of research on the other.

The Living Lab approach also lays the foundations for an activity which is
essential in the development of science centres. It encourages new forms
of collaboration and partnerships with various activity sectors (particularly
economic ones) which discover the new opportunities ahead of them in the
field of social and cultural action.

Contents of the Handbook:

• Why this handbook?
• What is a user-sponsored project?
• What are the different stages of a Living Lab project?
• Why deploy a Living Lab approach in a science centre?
• What does participation in a Living Lab project involve?
• Which factors encourage public participation?
• What sort of value is created by Living Labs in a science centre?
• What sort of things are Inmédiats Living Labs asked to do?
• What sort of physical infrastructure do the Inmédiats Living Labs possess?
• What sort of technical infrastructure do Inmédiats Living Labs possess?
• Who organises and runs the Inmédiats Living Labs?
• Which services are proposed by Inmédiats Living Labs?
• Different options for getting participants to contribute
• How can you benefit from the Inmédiats centres’Living Lab services?
• Which cooperation rules apply?