Living Labs in University-Industry Cooperation as a Part of Innovation Ecosystem: Case Study of South Korea

Abstract

Living labs are an extremely attractive opportunity for Korean companies to enhance collaborative research and transform development activities targeting the complexity of today’s economic changes. However, although there is plenty of technological support for collaboration, Korean companies still lack clear understanding how to improve business processes in the living lab ecosystem. The main problem is that the development of living labs in Korea is in the early stages due to the significant market regulation system and the gap between the innovation system and market regulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of living labs on the innovation ecosystem of South Korea, therefore the research is focused on the innovation process within university–industry cooperation. The focus is on the structures, objectives, and drivers of the collaborative innovation ecosystem and elements of living labs. The expert method was applied and the interviews were arranged with 30 executives of high-tech start-up domestic projects; the main hypothesis was that different elements of living labs have direct and positive impacts on the development of the innovation ecosystem; additionally. A case study of the local university–industry environment was conducted, and the evaluation showed that there is a positive correlation innovation networks and living lab structures.