Knowledge exchange for innovation development in open innovation systems: living Labs as innovation intermediaries & knowledge brokers aligning user & stakeholder input

In nowadays knowledge economy, no more general ‘best practice’ innovation management exists. However, in Europe there appears to be a gap between exploration and exploitation of knowledge, a phenomenon referred to as the ‘European paradox’. One of the solutions put forward by the European Commission to overcome this paradox are the so-called Living Labs. To stimulate this innovation approach, the European Network of Living Labs was established in 2006. However, to this day, Living Labs have not been able to fully realize their potential. A more fine grained conceptualization and a better understanding of the mechanisms of Living Labs remain a task in progress. Therefore, within this paper, we investigate the potential of Living Labs as open innovation systems that foster different knowledge transfers amongst the actors participating in them. By means of an in-depth case study research we explore a variety of hypotheses abstracted from the open innovation literature on knowledge transfers and other variables influencing exchange and collaboration in open innovation systems. We conclude that given certain criteria are met, Living Labs can be a solution for sustainable innovation development