On September 4 2024, the NEOLAiA alliance officially launched its Living Lab Hub (LLH) with an online session that brought together researchers and coordinators from across Europe. Representatives from the universities of Tours, Örebro, Bielefeld, Jaén, Ostrava, Salerno, Nicosia, and Šiauliai State College gathered to shape the future of this ambitious initiative.
The Living Lab Hub is designed to support research that tackles common regional challenges by promoting collaborative, multidisciplinary projects. A key feature is its strong focus on citizen involvement to ensure that communities, enterprises, and public authorities all play a role in co-creating knowledge and solutions.
Participants presented existing labs and projects, from Tours’ UseTechLab, which explores the social and health impacts of new technologies, to Örebro’s Social Impact Lab, which fosters innovations for social sustainability. Other contributions ranged from robotics research in Bielefeld to energy transition studies in Ostrava.
The meeting also set the stage for future activities: the Hub will meet twice a year online and host two in-person seminars. The first of these will take place on November 28 2024, in Tours, where researchers will continue building synergies and exploring ways to transform regional challenges into opportunities for innovation.
With Global Health, artificial intelligence, heritage, and regional development among its core themes, the Living Lab Hub promises to become a dynamic platform where science meets society to create real impact across Europe.
