Living lab in the digital innovation ecosystem

What about Living Labs?

The concept of Living Labs is transforming the digital innovation landscape in the agri-food industry. These innovation hubs act as dynamic catalysts, fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders within the industry 4.0 ecosystem. The purpose? To invent, create, refine, test, and validate groundbreaking digital solutions tailored to address specific challenges within the agri-food sector.  By bringing together food processing companies, researchers, technology providers, digital solution developers, and policymakers, these living labs drive practical advancements, tailored to regional needs and priorities. Together, we are transforming ideas into impactful, real-world outcomes. 

Empowering Agri-Food SMEs

Starting from the specific needs and challenges of the agri-food SMEs, it is our strong believe that the Living Labs offer the ideal environment to get introduced to new technologies and experience first-hand the potential, opportunities, and added value they have in store for specific applications. Therefore, a network of shared, open access Living Labs, where smart sensor systems, related ICT solutions and other technologies can be demonstrated, tested and where related and relevant training sessions and workshops can be organized, forms the backbone of the strategy of the SS4AF partnership.

Bridging the Gap

Living Labs bring the supply side of technological and digital solutions closer to the demand side (the problem owners, i.e. the companies from the agri-food chain) and as such bridge the gap between development and validation on the one side and real-life implementation and application on the other side. This will create a win-win situation for all players within this ecosystem.

European network of Living Labs

At the core of the network of Living Labs lies the need for cross sectoral collaboration and innovation and creating a trust zone between all the players in the innovation ecosystem will be a key element. Living Labs do have their core expertise and will hardly ever be able to answer all questions that come up from companies. Via networking, a broader European ecosystem of innovative players is established that will be able to provide a wider range of high-quality services to the companies. Unique expertise and/or infrastructure from a specific region can be made accessible through a network of Living Labs, as such creating a bigger platform. This strategy will ensure that if the solution for a specific question cannot be found within its own region, companies, with the support of clusters, can reach out to the network and tap in into the combined available expertise. Living Labs are reshaping agri-food innovation by creating an interconnected ecosystem where technology meets real-world challenges. Through these innovation powerhouses, digital transformation becomes not just a possibility, but a tangible reality, with the potential to (r)evolutionize the agri-food industry.