Sustainability Transitions and the Contribution of Living Labs: A Framework to Assess Collective Capabilities and Contextual Performance

Abstract

Living labs are understood as collaborative platforms in which actors from research, government and business, and citizens, work together to address complex societal challenges. They are increasingly seen as an instrument to support sustainability transitions, such as transitions to a circular bio-based climate smart society. Living labs can create spaces for joint experimenting and learning by exploring the barriers and possibilities for transition and co-creating appropriate and viable solutions. These high expectations for and increased interest in living labs has sparked a keen interest in methods for assessing the performance of living labs. However, there is not yet an evaluation method or framework that is generally accepted and used. The few existing methods and frameworks mostly focus on the functioning of the living lab itself, and not on its wider impacts. Building on existing approaches and informed by the experiences in three living labs, we developed an assessment framework that enables the capturing of the dynamic role and contribution of living labs. This paper describes the framework and how it was developed. The paper contributes to the development of appropriate ways of assessing the functioning of living labs and the ways in which they contribute to sustainability transitions.