Living labs

Making data available is a requirement not only for the MobiDataLab project, but for the scientific, technical, regional and EU community. Besides data, other aspects relating to generating insights and services from said data are requirements stemming from stakeholders that dictate the “what” and “why” of an innovation. Those requirements should come directly from the people, the local/regional government and other stakeholders.

The Living and Virtual Labs aim to support and facilitate the collaboration of those organisations and individuals involved in making mobility data available and stimulating innovation with it. It is an open innovation ecosystem.
Living labs: actors in the territorial context of our referring stakeholders (cities, regions, and transport operators).
Virtual labs: remote gatherings of actors who do not travel, through a platform developed by the project.

The Virtual Lab is a digital version of a Living Lab and contains various functionalities that support discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their inception life cycle, from challenge to idea to a prototype.

In simple terms:

• stakeholders will be provided with tools to post challenges
• innovators can propose and build solutions for the challenges and others
• citizens/users/stakeholders can provide suggestions, opinions and requirements through functionalities such as forums, comments or polls

Facilitating the above process will require a tool that resembles a social network but that has a specific context and functionalities related to challenge solving. While social networks restrict access to certain elements, such as posts or pages, the Virtual Lab must empower participation.

The methodology with which the Virtual Lab inspires participation is the execution of virtual and physical events. Three such events will be executed: a DATATHON, a HACKATHON and CODAGON during the MobiDataLab project life cycle.