Innovating 4development
Joint EnoLL-FAO Workshop, Rome, 25-26 January 2011
The Living Lab approach for the development of innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services is proving an effective way to bring true and sustainable innovation to the broader dynamics of development at both the local and regional levels. The principle of co-design within a broad partnership of all the stakeholders concerned with the future of a community not only produces innovative technologies but equally promotes the emergence of new forms of collaboration and the behavioural transformation required to make the shift towards sustainable forms of human activity.
This linkage became evident through the recently-concludedEU-funded “Collaboration@Rural” project and is at the basis for the “Social Spaces for Research and Innovation” network promoting Living Labs for innovative local communities in Spain. Further, the EU-funded “MedLab” and “CentraLab” projects are validating the role of Living Labs as tools for regional development and building multi-level inter-regional Living Lab networks. In order to consolidate this process and introduce the international cooperation dimension to it, ENoLL (The European Network of Living Labs) and FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly promote concrete initiatives applying the Living Lab approach to rural and community development worldwide.
The aim of this two-day workshop is to explore the potential for cooperation under the umbrella of the ENoLL-FAO Memorandum of Understanding, broaden the partnership of actors and agencies interested in collaboration and take stock of current initiatives amenable to integration with the Living Lab approach.
download here the Agenda
Posts from the Regional Cooperation Portal www.regional-cooperation.eu