Living Labs Global

Tallinn Region – ”the European e-region”

Tallinn has been the European lead region in reorganising the public sector through the use of new e-technologies for collaboration between the public sector and private enterprises, thereby enhancing the offerings for citizens in the Tallinn region and in Estonia as a whole. The first IT strategy was implemented in 1994 on the basis of a very positive attitude of both the population and the government to implement new e-technologies and this attitude is unchanged and has allowed to convert Estonia in the leading e-technology country in Europe.

Hannes Astok, member of the Estonian parliament and former program director of the Estonian e-governance academy, and Vaino Olev, Tallinn City IT director, underlined the importance  of the e-governance program to facilitate the communication between citizens and the Estonian administration. Several initiatives have been conducted during the last years to enable electronic transactions in all areas of public life.

e-Governance Academy

The Estonoan government has early on realised the importance of an e-Governance Academy (eGA) to develop the strategy for the country’s IT infrastructure. The eGA is a non-profit organisation for the creation and transfer of knowledge concerning e-governance, with a special emphasis on tools for developing democracy and civil society. The main activities consist of research & analysis, training and consultancy and many of the Estonian successes have had their roots in the e-governance academy activities.

Success Factors for the Estonian “e-Hype”

According to Hannes Astok the following five success factors were key to the successful transformation of the region into an e-technologies region and thus serving as a best practice to other European regions:

• good level of education and research
• relatively young ICT systems
• Finnish, Swedish and German influence
• good telecom infrastructures and high level of eBanking
• flexibility of a small country

e-Estonia Facts and Figures

• 62 % of population are Internet users.
• 42 % of the households have a computer, 82 % of home computers are connected to the Internet.
• over 700 Public Internet Access Points in Estonia, 51 per 100 000 people
• more than 1 079 000 smart-card type ID-cards issued (all populaton 1.34m)
• 86% of tax  declarations were e-declarations (2006), increased by 12% compared to 2005
• 1st place in Internet Banking – (next are  Norway, Nederlands, New Zealand….)

The digital infrastructure is part of a wider strategy to transform Estonia into the leading “digital society” in Europe, focusing the resources in the country on how to develop applications and use the existing infrastructure to create a leading environment of high-technology companies to prosper in an area with a high engagement of the public sector and citizens as lead-markets.

e-Voting and e-Payments with the National Identity Card

Now the goals of the ongoing e-government strategy are based on a
customer- centric orientation (bottom up) to achieve an efficient and transparent public sector. The government wants to foster the integration of the Estonian population in democratic participation and therefore has been a European pioneer for e-voting based on a functioning model for protection of personal data.

E-voting is based on the introduction of a smart national identity card introduced already in 2002 and now equipped with a RSA crypto chip to allow for two private keys – enabling authentification and digital signatures. Over 1 million smard ID cards  have been issued by January 2007 (~ 90% of 15 to 74-year-old persons) including 230.000 ID-cards for foreigners.
A certification centre has been created at national level as a private limited company entity to contract with the government for the certification of the national ID-card and to develop the required electronic infrastructure and software. The company is held by a consortium of banking institutes and telecom operators.

Now e-voting has first been used by a public opinion poll in Tallinn in March 2005, thereafter in the local elections in October 2005 with about 2% uptake (9317 persons using e-voting). In March 2007 the Estonian parliament elections received a usage uptake of 5,5% (32 275 citizens) and it is planned to expand on e-voting for both the EU parliament elections in June 2009 and the next local elections in 2009.

Central Register and Data Exchange between Registers – X-Road

For 2008 and 2009 the Estonian government plans to complete the introduction of a central information repository to avoid citizen data redundancy and incorrect or not updated information. The aim is to conduct a vertical (state – local) and horizontal in-house IT systems integration, the project being named x-road. The Estonian citizens will no longer be required to deliver personal information to various administrations, but will only communicate relevant information once. All administration entities will  then be able and required (legal obligation) to retrieve relevant personal data from the central registry. The citizens can refuse to communicate personal information already delivered one time to an Estonian administration authority.

Tallinn e- or m-Technology Projects

Tallin has implemented several innovative projects that are running successfully based on the introduction of free Wireless Internet access: Tallinn has introduced more than 49 wireless Internet Connection HotSpots (WiFi) in the city’s most popular parks, squares and beaches (summer time only) entirely free of charge.

This infrastructure has enabled projects such as:

• M-parking (more than 60% of parking revenues in Tallinn come from mobile parking payments)
• ID-ticket in public transport  (virtual ticket, its users prove that hey have a pre-paid ticket with their mational identification cards, 100 000 ID-ticket daily users, 72,0 % of all passengers are ID-ticket users)
• e-School (communication of examination results via SMS, online lesson planning and communication etc.)

Further, more detailed information can be obtained upon request.
Implementation of  technology parks in Tallinn

The Tallinn-based Technopol park is an example of a successful PPP project to concentrate relevant know-how in a technology park development.

Tecnopol is located in the area of the former academy of sciences and is now aiming to  grow to challenge other European tecnoparks. Currently the park is hosting 135 companies (mostly innovative SME’s) on 10 acres of land. The industry sectors are divided between ICT, Biotec and materials sectors and the entire park is located next to the Tallinn technical university and IT college with approximately 12.500 persons (students and researchers). Tecnopol is also the home of the Skype research & development center and companies such as Cybernetica, concentrating on data security and mobile data transmission.

This is even more relevant as the Tallinn region (and Estonia) can be considered an excellent testbed to develop and test new innovative e- and m-solutions with an enthusiastic attitude of the local population and the Estonian government.

European clusters should start to consider Estonia as the key region for testing new applications as there are very few legal or attitude barriers in place, unlike in other European technology clusters.

Together with Euroland Projektierungen, Interlace-Invent is implementing the Competence Center Konstanz, a Third Generation Innovation Environment. As a waterfront development along the shores of the Seerhein in the centre of Konstanz the CCK will form the hub for innovative activities in the Bodenseeland, one of the most dynamic and innovative regions in Europe bordering Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. For additional information please visit www.bodenseeland.info.

Overall, this new concept for an integrated innovation development, will include major investments into an urban regeneration to house innovative companies, as well as the Living Lab Bodensee and a Bodensee Venture Lab asa high profile programme to international talent.

The project, which began as an investors competition in 2005 which was won in 2006 by the EUROLAND / Interlace-Invent team, has followed a fully integrated process of investment and innovation planning. Today, the project stakeholders have a joint innovation strategy building on increasing the place attractiveness, service innovation, internaionalisation and entrepreneurship. Located in Konstanz, this project is anchored in strong regional support including the network of Bodensee Ambassadors, representing 150 leading businesses and institutions in the region.

Visit www.livinglabs-europe.com/bodensee for updates in the coming weeks outlining the project details and contact persons.

What currently attracts multi-nationals to invest in research in a particular location? What can regional actors do to make their regions more attractive? A two-day conference addressing these topics will take place in Hamburg 5-6 June 2007. This conference builds on extensive interviews with more than 40 global R&D directors carried out by the Regions of Knowledge Project “LOCOMOTIVE”

Speakers include Carlos Orzoco, Global R&D director of Dow Chemicals, Francisco Escarti Europe R&D Director of Boeing, Andrew Dearing General Secretary of the European Industrial Research Managers Association as well as directors of clusters, regional development directors and researchers.

The aim of this conference is to disseminate some of the findings of the project in order to support the development of better regional policies to make Europe more attractive as a research base. It should be of interest to regional policy makers, those involved in developing clusters, knowledge transfer professionals and university staff.

Further details can be found on www.locomotive-project.org or by mailing locomotive@tutech.de.

NOTE: Potential delegates are advised to book hotels early as Hamburg’s hotels are likely to be in heavy demand around this time. The venue is the Hotel Elysee in Hamburg and this can be booked via the conference web site. A contingency of rooms has been reserved until 12 May 2007.

Introduction by Prof. Jan Annerstedt, Living Labs Global / Interlace Invent

In the mobile & wireless industry, Europe sits on a very large source of technology, with huge potential. Thus, we need a release of this resource, involving both macro and micro economics aspect, including citizens, business and travellers.

The mClusters project, sponsored by Europe INNOVA, is tasked with connecting the European innovation environments, within mobile & wireless services and solutions.

One of the main questions is whether we can actually shape innovation environments, and whether Europe is open enough to do this? The mClusters projects have so far looked at and benchmarked 21 European cities, on both hard & soft factors, to understand this dynamic, and one of the outcomes of the project is to support European cities in these endeavours to promote new models for innovation environments fostering user-driven innovation in the mobile & wireless areas, as well as to create a leading network of cities for mobile innovation.

Some of the conclusions so far: A city such as Tallinn, can be very effective in achieving excellence in new business ventures within the mobile & wireless industry, and use the networks of European innovation cities, to export the innovative solutions to other areas of Europe. Thus, the open innovation environments, or ‘Living Labs’ can help foster excellence in the innovation and commercialisation of mobile & wireless solutions, and as such work as a platform for attracting capital and talent to a region, as a mode of collaboration, and to involve users in the design and development processes. Hence, the Living Lab becomes a city-based innovation resource taking advantage of regional pools of creative talent, the affluence of cultural diversity, and unique regional resources.

One of the questions from the audience was how do you become a Living Lab? One of answers is that the driving force behind a living lab is the drive of business and users, to actively strive for pioneering mobile & wireless services and solutions in the context of a city-area, with the participation of universities, public administration, firms, users and citizens, and actively create links between the user groups. Thus, becoming a living lab is as much a question about management capacity and drive, as about set methodologies.

Jens Bley, Director Living Labs Germany, Partner Content Bridge AG

Living Labs Germany today is a network organisation, focusing on ICT and mobile & wireless services. In Hamburg, these activities have been pioneered by close collaboration with the industrial organisation of ICT companies, with the main focus on content and content-based services.

The two pioneering projects out of Hamburg, but with nationwide impact are Mobile Marketing in Urban Spaces and mTourism.

In the Mobile Marketing in Urban Spaces the urban commercial communication space is combined with mobile & wireless services. Consequently, the city has been broken into local entities, to develop the relationships with local stakeholders and thus provide a platform for developing city-wide services based on local engagement and business models. Public media provides navigation, communication and several other services, which can be enhanced by the mobile phone in the urban and mobile space.

One of the main focus areas is the urban furniture in Hamburg, in which outdoor advertising contracts in Hamburg have been tendered out, with the purpose of leveraging the multimedia aspects of the city. Although the main part of the business on urban furniture is done via traditional advertising, the future will be based on mobile and interactive services, which suddenly introduce new players to the market.

The public medium raises awareness, and the mobile phone raises the recall rate. Consequently, the business models are not new, but a known currency in the media and marketing world is being employed in a new business area. Hence, a variety of pioneering application are being developed in areas such as storefinder, live casting, event offerings, discount-coupons, public information, live voting, and interactive quizzing. For the consumers, the drivers are navigation, entertainment and smart shopping, for the marketers this is about traditional business drivers such as marketing, drivers of communication and awareness.

In the mTourism area, Living Labs Germany is taking advantages of the links to Living Labs Stockholm, signing an agreement to prototype the mobile tourism solutions developed and in use in Stockholm, in the cities and tourism destinations in Germany. This is combined with new initiatives such as Sehnsucht Deutschland or ‘Longing for Germany’, developing the emphasis on tourism initiatives in Germany in new and cross-media areas, e.g. print, online, mobile and television.

Bruno Naulais, General Manager of the European Space Incubator, European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) promotesthe idea that satellite technologies should enable end-user driven mobile and wireless solutions. What is important here is that based on the satellite data, new products, services and scientific results can be developed. Services, such as the Galileo project, are developing new technologies within navigation, position and communication with new features regarding accuracy, resolution and bandwidth. Consequently, the satellite systems are becoming increasingly involved in the communication industry linked to both US and other initiatives in space as well as terrestrial areas.

On of the main themes of ESA is the technology transfer and business incubation in the space area. Some main themes are low weight, strength and durability, efficiency and reliability, compactness, temperature, radiation and corrosion resistance for the technologies developed for e.g. space deployment. There considerations require highly specialised services and facilities, which ESA can provide in the incubators in Noordwijk, Darmstadt and Franscati.

Areas in which space technology have been used are for example composite materials for artificial limbs for the Paralympics, anti-vibration devices for skiers, ozonisers for e.g sterilisation of dentist equipment Other equipment are passive radiometers, to find water and soil moisture around e.g. dykes and dams to prevent flooding.

In the mobile area several solutions have also been developed. The company MarineNet has developed a technology for using GSM onboard e.g. cruise ships, by setting up a mini-GSM antenna, using satellite links to links to the global mobile networks. Mobiria is developing services for connecting retail, tourism services to consumers via a GNSS chip. The company Posirid is developing positioning systems using impulse radio improving positioning also inside buildings and other places not directly in contact with antennas. The company Sport Track develops visualisation of sports on the internet on mobile devices and displays. Some applications are in the boat racing industry, Tour de France and other sport events. The company Disaps creates applications for blind people to navigate in the city using satellite signals combined with WiFi, with one pilot project is running in wireless Leiden. The company Sat Sport is developing a tool for sports, where you can see your result during training using onboard telemetry, which can be compared with training patterns, form measurements and other methodologies.

ESA currently operates several initiatives to assist companies in areas such as technology transfer, technology brokering through MST Aerospace GmbH, and national technology transfer initiatives (NTTI) Business incubation, ESTEC, ESTIC and ESRIN in Netherlands, Italy and Germany, and the ESINET, which is the incubator network. In the incubators, ESA is currently making EUR 40-50M available in early stage financing. Also, ESA is involved in the Galileo Masters competition for business plans in the satellite and space area, to be kicked at the end of April, in Sophia-Antipolis.
 

Panel Debate

Laurent Londeix, Laboratory Director “Data services & M2M solutions”, France Telecom R&D

France telecom today employs 6000 employees in the region of C^te d’Azur, and is supporting a number of mobile & wireless projects, such as mTourism with satellite technology, GSM and other mobile & wireless technologies. 20 years ago, France Telecom thought that they could invent everything themselves, but today the company has increasingly understood the value of collaborative research. Hence France Telecom is today an active member of the 65 French clusters of excellence, and the chair in the secure communication clusters, and active in e.g. RFID and quality of communication.

Today, France Telecom is also involving SMEs to develop new technologies, and many new activities are focused on user-driven innovation, both in involving users in the innovation processes, and also to be sensitive to user requirements in the areas of services and applications.

Liisa Kanniainen, Executive Director, Mobey Forum

The common focus in mobile services is the consumer, as this is the person that has the mobile device, and will use the services. But what is the enabler or the enabling factor? In Mobile Forum, the focus is on payment, as users want to be able to pay wherever and whatever they want. Hence, the enabler is the possibility of payment, and securing the ability to pay, the necessary systems, security and integrations.

Frank Meinzer, Head of Operations, Telecom Valley

Telecom Valley is an organisation to develop collaboration between companies in the mobile & wireless industry in Sophia-Antipolis. The critical path for the future is to identify end-user solutions and to help the individual customer to get easier access to specific needs. No company can stand alone, and here also the European networks come in, as the role of the European networks is to create collaboration and to secure market access.

Jean-Bernard Titz, Programme Manager Pôle SCS

The developers are also important in the mobile & wireless context, and securing collaboration between developing companies. Some of the main markets in Sophia-Antipolis are tourism, health, and logistics. But we also want the business-side to be emphasised, as innovation is also about commercialisation. Hence, we have created thematic groups between universities, firms, researchers and users to discuss mobility and wireless. One of the main points is actually speaking with the users, for example tourism offices, about what they want to help them.

Philippe Moretto, Project Director, Team Côte d’Azur

Team Côte d’Azur was founded 22 years ago, and focuses on inward investments. The success of Sophia-Antipolis has been applications and technologies, and today the cities are becoming the focus for marketing of the region’s competences. For the region, some of the big challenges are to promote the clusters, and integrate these with the Pôle de Competitivé. The next challenges are be also to involve the satellite development, as well as other technologies such as GSM, in new application areas such as global monitoring, navigation and positioning. It will be interesting to see the new application areas such as timing and communication. Thus, our role will be to work together with the companies and associations in the region, to further enhance the region and to maintain the position amount the ten best regions in Europe. To develop this position, there must be a combination of public and private institutions.

One of the questions from the audience was whether there are mechanisms to source and support entrepreneurs. The region has among other resources, thematic groups to identify and develop technology needs, including tools such as a knowledge management platform.

Pihlippe Moretto responded that there are many new start-ups, and new competences, and hence the region is trying to facilitate meetings for entrepreneurs and the many young start-ups, to interlink investors and business angels. The more the exchanges can be facilitated, the better is the support the start-ups.

Karl-Frank Meinzer added that one of the contributions of the Living Labs is to involve the user, and to identify user needs, by connecting the firms and user-communities, in for example using lead-users or innovative users to become part of the firms’ innovation processes in order to open up to new paths for innovation by different incentive systems. Consequently, we should look at how user communities are interlinked with the firm.

Another question from the audience was when mobile tourism applications would be available in e.g. Nice or Cannes on the ordinary mobile phone.

Laurent Londeix answered that new support structures would have to be in place such as payment structures, but the status and timing of this had not been established now. mTourism is a hot topic right now in the region, and there are no technological barriers per se. One option could be NFC, and e.g. Nice airport is very keen to look at new technologies, and would be one of the first airports to use this technology. However, one of the challenges is how these services can be offered across firm standards, roaming, and identification. On top of the technology issues there are still legal, business and other dimensions which must be developed, but perhaps within 5 years this would be available.

Liisa Kanniainen added that it is not only the technological enables, but also how the business models will be on the phones. This is one of the main challenges in Mobile Forum, and this defines how fast one can go to the market. However, there seems to be common drive for the idea.

Bruno Naulais added that in the region, many technologies have been developed, but the region has been technology-driven and not user-driven, and therefore no one has the overview of which solutions have been developed where. For the EGNOS for example, the first tests have been made in the airport and are meant to spread into the market of e.g. the cities in the region.

Liisa Kanniainen concluded that as the technology and R&D is there, and the business case is being developed, it could perhaps been in even 3 years. As the name mTourism was pioneered in Sophia-Antipolis, there is a focus on this area.

A question from VTT in Finland, is whether in the future the use devices will be easier or more complex? And what kind of medicines will you have?

Jean-Bernard Titz responded that the technology has become more complex, so one of the challenges are to develop technologies that simplify the life of the user. The city of Tokyo has made a smart card solution for queuing in public transportation, so there is no more queuing. So, more application are on a convenience level, that the user chooses which technologies there want. E.g. there is an abundance of technologies, and the choice is with the users.

There is clearly a challenge for equipment manufacturers to hiding the complexity to the users, especially as we are going towards convergence, there is a strong value in addressing complexity. The whole idea of NFC is also to make it simple, but the level of abstraction is also higher for users. E.g. going from coins to mobile technology, will take time and adjustment for the users.

Living Labs Catalunya, an initiative to promote innovation in mobile services and technologies by the 22@Barcelona Innovation District, the Barcelona Digital Foundation, the City of Sant Cugat and TecnoCampus Mataró held a matchmaking event on Monday to connect 14 Scandinavian companies with Catalan business and institutional partners. Coinciding with the launch of the 3GSM World Congress, 40 experts in innovative services and technologies exchanged opportunities and ideas, with the support public agencies and venture capital partners to assist new inward investments and export opportunities.

22@Barcelona marketing director Jordi Sacristán welcomed the visitors together with Christer Asplund of Living Labs Global, acting as the facilitator for the event. All participants considered Catalonia the ideal business and innovation environment for joint activities and a professional entry-point into the Mediterranean market.

Sascha Haselmayer, General Coordinator of Living Labs Catalunya, called the event a great success, with a number of promising leads that could bring new services to citizens, businesses and visitors in Catalunya and new international opportunities opened for Catalan companies. Studies such as the mWatch Europe surveys i(see previous post) into mobile readiness in 21 European cities have continually emphasised the need to place European users at the centre of service development.

Commenting on the 3GSM World Congress, he expressed the hope that in future editions of the event visitors would experience Catalonia as a ‘Cradle of Content’, through a unique range of mobile services at their disposal. Such initiatives would not only add to the attractiveness of the region, but also showcase the uniqueness of companies in the region developing world-class services and technologies.

Already on Tuesday, follow-up talks were held not only with key companies, but also representatives of Living Labs Kalmar (Sweden), to strengthen the regional collaboration to deliver new services for students, tourists and travellers.

On 29-30 of June, we attended the thematic workshop of Europe INNOVA in Munich ‘Lead Markets and Innovation’. Raised by the Aho Group Report ‘’Creating an innovative Europe'’ into how the Lisbon objectives can be achieved, Lead Markets are widely discussed as an instrument to promote European competitiveness through local excellence, competitiveness and lead-user availabilities as catalysts for globally competitive products and solutions.

Particular issues raised by the workshop included European policy on innovation (David White, Director Innovation Policy EC DG Enterprise), which is yet to define a position towards lead markets as a growth instrument. It is a hotly debated topic inside the European Commission, and Prof Luke Geroghiu as member of the Aho group summarised the context in which the lead market was raised as a policy issue.

Living Labs Europe incorporates an advanced concept of lead markets, primarily through the integration of end-users into the innovation process, as well as the trans-European networking of markets and user-needs to serve innovation, attractiveness and economic development. Whilst each Living Lab is a local lead market for a prioritised set of solution areas, Living Labs Europe itself acts as a pan-European lead market.

A core set of factors were discussed that make lead markets, such as mobile ICT in the Baltic Sea Region, automotive and photo-voltaics in Germany, particularly competitive – attracting inward investments and setting global standards. Lead markets may best be identified by features such as competitive market structures, cost advantages, advanced demand structures, global transfer structures via participating Multi-National Corporations (MNC), and export advantages partly also due to advanced secondary services attuned with the specificity of the sector. Yet, it appears a challenge to accurately predict lead markets – as most are identified after they have developed.

mWatch methodologies, consisting of a mixture of indicators (Mobile Fluency, Innovative Climate, Management Capacity) go a long way to capture the localised Mobile Readiness. Demand and lead-users are identified, together with technical competences, the ability to innovate as well as the capacity to manage and lead horizontal projects. The Kaleidoscope of Innovative Projects showcases the leading projects and entrepreneurs exploiting or even surpassing the framework conditions – recognising the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. mWatch intends to provide insights into emerging lead markets – as can be said about the top performing Estonia. Whether this lead market will be able to deliver the exportable goods, set international standards or even just sustain its position will remain to be seen.

Extensive discussions focused on standards and regulatory instruments to shape lead markets – not only through de-regulation, but by setting ambitious lead-targets (i.e. Germany’s renewable energy tariff; Japanese Top-Runner programme) that set internationally competitive performance and quality standards. Knut Blind, from ISI Fraunhofer, provided intriguing insights into the spectrum of instruments at the disposal of not only regulators, but also companies and shared standardisation platforms. Living Labs may consider direct end-user involvement in creation of standards – in mobile ICT with its acceptance challenges as a key hurdle to open markets. These may not only set the accessibility, but also the security / privacy of services provided as is shown by the concerns of the mStudent communities.

Whilst often a national competence, local governments in Living Labs Europe have already shown that particularly public procurement can act as an important standard-setting instrument. Hamburg is reviewing its urban furniture / outdoor advertising licensing to set a new standard via insisting on interactive functionality by the bidding firms. For providers, that may include globally operating urban furniture / outdoor advertising firms like JC Decaux, Wall AG and others, Living Lab Hamburg may become the de-facto benchmark with continuing high demands on service provision that will set standards elsewhere calling opening export opportunities for unique competences.

Experts reviewed the role of procurement as a critical issue in shaping lead markets, outlining the need to consider innovation and potential fostering of lead markets as part of specification, tendering and delivery processes. Competitive Dialogue, whilst only accepted as an exception to procurement rules, opens a channel to review technological possibilities with possible providers before finalising specifications. This, combined with directives explicitly excluding R&D activities from common procurement restrictions, may bear significant opportunities to make Living Labs more competitive as local and networked lead markets and enable more co-investment via true PPP.

Whether or not lead markets will feature as a strategic component in European innovation policy, it is clear that Living Labs Europe is set to achieve a networked market that may overcome also the issue of cross-border viability of lead market solutions. Already today, early steps are undertaken in the network with particular need to strengthen the advanced demand side and commitment by policy-makers to strategically procure and invest in innovative solutions. Unlike the eco- or space-technology sectors, Living Labs actively shape user-communities and their demands from a legitimised platform – that span not across a non-homogenous national market, but across a community of interested users and leaders across Europe.

I am writing from our second workshop on ‘Urbanised Innovation Environments’ in Shanghai, organised around the Fenglin Biomedical Centre , a project we have been working on together with HPP International for the Xuhui District Authority since 2004. Forming part of the Hubs & Regions research activities, the workshop is conducted jointly with two world-class academic institutions, the Architectural Association Housing & Urbanism department and Diploma Unit 10 (London) and Tongji University’s Urban Planning Department in Shanghai. It involves 15 professors from Europe and China, as well as more than 40 post-graduate students from both institutions. After the final review, it is worth reflecting on a number of issues related to the urbanisation of innovation environments which have emerged from projects and discussions in 5 groups. A core question emerging is the issue of leadership and the changing discipline of urbanism in the light of economic transformations. User-centric innovaton environments – be they biomedical, health or mobile solutions related – have a communality their need for successful leadership structures. Whilst urbanism as a discipline is primarily pre-occupied with the spatial and infrastructural (as well as socio-technical) facilitation of economic and social development and accessibility, it cannot be disassociated from the need of institutional transformation. Unless cities, related agencies, universities and companies acquire the managerial capacity to manage an innovation environment, urban transformation and regeneration will not only be without effect, but will also remain reduced to traditional instruments which add at most limited value to innovation processes. Such leadership relies on prioritisation and continuity. Prioritisation as to set the sectorial specificities (in this case Biomedical) and giving priority in all decisions to activities conducive to this cluster. In the implementation, continuity in such prioritisation is critical – often this is the point where short-term interests lead to a break with continuity – i.e. when housing developments or generic office types promise quicker response from the market. This points us to a second issue, the ability of urban development strategies to evolve and absorb change over time. Here, our latest observations in Shanghai as well as Singapore and Barcelona have shown that in all cases governance has (or is) gradually shifting from centralised (public) leadership to inclusive stakeholder models. In our global comparative review of biomedical centres, we have identified 4 primary governance models – with differing degrees of ability to evolve strategy. Such transformation is now underway at Singapore’s One North – working towards a model that is more closely resembling that of the Orestad Group (Copenhagen) or the Life Sciences Cluster ‘ Medicon Valley Academy ’ (Oresund).Living Labs form part of these discussions, as their stakeholder, end-user and urban development focus provide an important reference to future management models for urban change. Independent sectorial platforms to brand, strategically manage and vision the cluster are ideally placed to provide continuity (especially independent of election cycles) and dedicated focus to the needs of emerging innovative industries. Where changes happen fast and commitment from a variety of stakeholders is required, non-institutionalised governance models seem to have a leading edge.

From the very beginning Living Labs Europe was conceived as a strategic place branding instrument, addressing European competition among the 150.000 communities and regions. The intention was to create a clublike (yet open) network of those cities taking the lead in developing Mobile Solutions, as both innovative economic activities and services to their communities. Living Labs Cities are non-competing – it is an alliance to build mutual strengt? and share resources to become competitive leaders. This is further strengthened by the European mClusters Programme, in which Living Labs Catalunya is one of 9 European reference regions for excellence in mobile solutions clustering. It is as much a strategy as a branding action. Historically, Europe’s leading cities and regions have considered themselves as competitors – yet an increase in international benchmarking activities and networking has led to alliances being made such as Baltic Sea Region (New Hanseatic League):

• Joint Branding and inward investment strategy Cluster strategy, business groups related to clusters Baltic Ports Association
• Competitors team up to form a Branding Alliance for global visibility UK – Oresund Life Sciences Alliance Endorsed at highest-political and business levels
• Vision to create globally leading life science regions Oresund Region: Cross-Regional / Nationa collaboration on Innovation, Science, Inward Investment, Infrastructure, Marketing and Education

Living Labs Europe is driven by the recognition that place branding can no longer be seen as a closed system, but that network and co-branding synergies can add substantial value. Living Labs Europe provides this branded international framework which enables the Brand? Proposition of individual Living Labs to be more credible:

• Association & Collaboration with Europe’s best to partners and markets across Europe
• 100% Compatibility with EU R&D and Information Society policy International End-User
• Communities for User-Centric Innovation Urbanisation of innovation activities – Living Labs are city based resources with close end-user linkages