The paper "Living Labs and user engagement for innovation and sustainability", co-authored by LASIGE's researchers José Coelho and Carlos Duarte has been published in the “Journal of Cleaner Production” a top-ranked publication (ranked #1 in the Google Scholar Sustainability ranking and top 10% on 3 other Google Scholar categories).

This is an exploratory study conducted together with Lorenzo Compagnucci and Francesca Spigarelli both from the Department of Law of the University of Macerata, and is a direct result of LaSIGE researchers’ work with the Italian partners of the Althour project that ended in 2019.
Their work investigates the role of Living Labs (LLs) in promoting innovation and sustainability, seeking to understand how stakeholders and users, in a Quadruple Helix Model, can participate in LL activities and support the process of achieving a more sustainable society. It also guides the setting up of LLs with the aim of directly contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Research, based on a multiple case study, has shown that LLs are able to actively engage users, including firms and business systems, in promoting co-creation of value so as to benefit the economy, society and the environment. The work selects some good practices and derived some policy implications that could inspire LLs to promote innovation and encourage transition towards sustainable development at the local level, within the context of a QHM model.

The article is available: here.