Triggering policy innovation through living labs: addressing design and implementation deficits

Living Labs (LLs) have emerged as important instruments for fostering innovation in public policies, particularly at the local level, as they engage citizens, public authorities, research institutions, and private actors in collaborative experimentation. However, despite their rapid diffusion and theoretical promise, some empirical studies have questioned their effectiveness in generating tangible policy changes. This paper investigates the implementation dynamics of 24 LLs in various European cities and identifies the key factors that have limited their impact in producing policy innovation. These factors refer to problems stemming from the design and the implementation stage and include misalignment between experiments and citizens’ needs, constraints on iterative testing, role confusion within the quadruple-helix governance structure, and a limited capacity to promote learning through which the implementation process can be adjusted. The study recommends strengthening citizen alignment, reorienting experiments toward policy changes, clarifying the roles of actors, and improving information gathering to promote learning. Moreover, political commitment has emerged as a decisive factor for the success of LLs.