Green Light for New European Living Lab Hub
HUB 23 event gives green light to set up a new European Living Lab Hub to strengthen European co-operation between Living Lab initiatives of European Universities Alliances, recognising their importance for Europe's strategy for universities and the New European Innovation Agenda.
The EC HUB 23 event encouraged members of the European Universities Alliances, to cooperate with each other as well as with startups, private sector innovators and members of the Coalition of the Willing, to further the co-implementation of relevant innovation actions of the European strategy for universities and the New European Innovation Agenda. A bottom-up and voluntary co-operative action resulted in the creation of 7 Hubs o, one of which is a new European Living Lab Hub.
Dr. Martin Galvin of University College Cork (UCC) and Dr. Marko Joas of Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU), representing respectively the UNIC and Charm-EU university alliances, have been tasked with forming and Co-Chairing the new Euroepan Living Lab Hub.
This co-implementation hopes to promote:
- Innovation in Higher Education: by promoting innovative pedagogies, such as Living Labs, and interdisciplinary challenged-based and student-centred teaching and learning.
- Higher Education for Innovation: by boosting Higher Education institutions as engines of innovation and promotors of skills and knowledge.
The goal of the ELLH is to further Living Labs as main drivers of innovation in Higher Education by promoting forms of Engaged Research, including Citizen Science and innovation with society, industry and start-ups. Furthermore, the Hub wants to build the capacity of Higher Education to develop user-centred open innovation ecosystems and promote field building activities through Communities of Practice and a governance structure which can connect as many HE Living Labs initiatives as possible.
The European Living Lab Hub ambition, as mandated by the EC, are:
- Foster cooperation between Members and build on each other’s strengths.
- Build-up skills and competences between Members.
- Promote Living Labs as main drivers in innovation in HE.
- Promote field building activities that connect HE Living Labs initiatives.
- Encourage each Living Lab to explore and develop its own ways of conducting its work while at the same time identifying, promoting and sharing good practices between Members to improve interoperability and efficiency.
- Identify and facilitate career and professional development education for HE institutions to grow Living Lab expertise.
- Identify or create opportunities in the research and innovation ecosystem where Living Labs can thrive as main drivers.
- Identify or create opportunities in the private and/or public sectors which can promote Living Labs as sources of innovation and improve each Living Lab’s and Member’s reputation and recognition in the innovation ecosystem by leveraging each Member’s, and the Hub’s, information transfer capacity with existing and potential stakeholders.
- Promote innovation for the twin green and digital transition, in line with the objectives of the European strategy for universities, accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems, in line with the objectives of the New European Innovation Agenda.
- Facilitate engagement with Quadruple Helix stakeholders and promote understanding of the Quintuple Helix.