Title: Social innovation in living labs: the micro-level process model of public-private partnerships

Authors: Sandro Battisti

Addresses: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133, Milan, Italy

Abstract: Social innovation can be studied within living labs, where learning between organisations and users is supported through the use of technology. Living labs are considered innovation intermediaries in enabling the co-creation of solutions to cope with the user's needs. The fields of organisational innovation and user innovation can build an understanding about living labs and the process of introducing social innovation. The empirical field of this research is based on five living labs that are managed by public-private partnerships in the Trentino territory in Italy. This research proposes a micro-level process model for the development of social innovation within living labs. The model suggests that the interaction between organisations and users can be guaranteed through ambidexterity, learning, collaboration and empowerment. This research defines that social innovation in living labs (SILL) is an organisational form which is managed by public-private partnerships in order to conceive solutions that would address specific needs of citizens.

Keywords: social innovation; service innovation; open innovation; living labs; innovation intermediaries; social informatics; information and communications technology; ICT; information technology; organisational innovation; user innovation; user involvement; crowdsourcing; public-private partnerships; PPPs; process modelling; Italy; ambidexterity; learning; collaboration; empowerment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIRD.2014.064146

International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 2014 Vol.5 No.4/5, pp.328 - 348

Received: 26 Feb 2013
Accepted: 20 Feb 2014

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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