Living Labs
Creating a network of living laboratories
The national research program on Nature-based Solutions has established a network of eleven living labs across mainland France and its overseas territories, some of which are based on pre-existing structures such as Workshop Areas, Human-Environment Observatories, and INRAE workshop sites.
Living Labs for Co-Creating Nature-based Solutions
A living lab is a collaborative research structure that brings together public and private sector entities, businesses, organizations, and individuals. It is an approach in which citizens, residents, and users are considered key players in the research and innovation process. The goal of a living lab is to test new services, tools, or uses in a “real-world setting”.
The goal is to bring scientific research out of the laboratories and into everyday life, often with a strategic focus on the potential applications of these technologies. This is achieved through collaboration between local governments, businesses, research laboratories, and potential users. The aim is to promote open innovation, share networks, and involve users from the very beginning of the development process.
Strongly recommended by the European Union as an innovative tool, living labs have been recognized as a well-suited approach to the design and implementation of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). They constitute a very useful tool for demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of NbS and for better understanding their co-benefits for human society and biodiversity, as well as their costs.
As part of the National Research Program on Nature-Based Solutions, a network of eleven living labs has been created in the French territory. They share common methodologies and approaches while taking into account the specific characteristics of each region. Each living lab brings together academic and non-academic partners with diverse expertise and backgrounds.
Support will be provided to the network for an initial period of four years as part of the targeted project.
Coordinated by the CNRS and co-led by INRAE, this project enables the study and evaluation of systemic Nature-based Solutions in territories through the co-construction of projects between scientists and stakeholders. One of the key conditions for the success of this project is the commitment of stakeholders in the regions involved in the living labs network. A wide range of partners (local governments, associations, land managers, economic actors, etc.) are already deeply involved and working alongside the research teams.
The living labs network is fully aligned with the program’s strategy by addressing:
- Organizational challenge: structuring and promoting a network of living labs specifically dedicated to NbS
- Scientific challenge: strengthening the scientific basis of NbS approaches and demonstrating the “proof of concept” for these solutions
- Knowledge transfer and training challenge: promoting access to ccientific information by strengthening science-society links on NbS
The targeted project Supervisor
Dominique Joly, Head of Infrastructure Management for Ecology and the Environment at the CNRS
The program’s eleven living labs
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