ENoLL - European Network of Living Labs

Wim De Kinderen opened URBIS The Smart Cities Meetup with a keynote on Living Labs. By the end of the morning, he was at a table with the First Vice Premier of the Czech Republic.

In his keynote, Wim made the case for Living Labs as a practical instrument for regional competitiveness and meaningful stakeholder engagement, showing how co-creation infrastructure translates into economic development and smarter, more inclusive cities. The argument landed somewhere beyond the stage.

From 1-on-1 conversations at our booth to two sessions on turning cities into breeding grounds for innovation and on Living Labs as engines of regional competitiveness. What we encountered in Brno wasn't just curiosity about Living Labs. It was commitment. A newly formed national Living Lab platform. Two government ministries in the room. A car manufacturer already piloting autonomous trams through Living Lab methodology. The Czech Republic isn't catching up, it's moving.

Wim reflected: "The genuine interest we encountered, and the way CzechInvest and national ministries are looking at Living Labs as a carrying instrument in their economic strategies, tells me this movement is reaching a critical mass." Koen Vervoort added: "URBIS proved that what we do at ENoLL can make a difference for everyone, one person at a time." And Marta I. De Los Ríos White left Brno "very inspired after seeing how embedded the Living Lab concept is in their current and future plans."

Thank you to everyone who made time to connect with us. We can't wait to see where this movement takes the Czech Republic.

https://www.bvv.cz/en/urbis

We've been looking forward to sharing this: OLLD26 tickets are now available, and Early Bird rates are open until 29 June. 🎟

Whether you're a returning face or joining us for the first time, there's a ticket category to suit you, including reduced rates for students, presenters, and participants from low and middle income countries.

One very important thing, seating for the Policy Event in Brussels on 29 September is limited, so if that day matters to you, grab your ticket sooner rather than later.

Brussels and Antwerp, 29 September to 2 October. We hope to see as many of you as possible.

https://openlivinglabdays.pulse.ly/x2xn4qzefz

Already planning to come? Tell us in the comments. 👇

We're proud to be part of something special on 15 June. 🌍

ENoLL has been invited to join the McGill SPOTlight on Rehabilitation series, a knowledge-sharing initiative from McGill University's School of Physical and Occupational Therapy that brings together researchers, practitioners, and communities around rehabilitation science.

The session is free, virtual, and open to everyone. Register once and you're covered for the full SPOTlight series.

This session explores how Living Labs can transform healthcare research, and it's a conversation that's been building for over 15 years. Prof. Eva Kehayia of McGill University has been collaborating with European Living Labs and ENoLL's network across communities, museums, and everyday lived spaces, always with inclusion and accessibility at the centre.

Joining her on 15 June are ENoLL's own Director Martina De Sole and Vice-Chair Evdokimos Konstantinidis, for one hour of cross-continental dialogue on co-creation in rehabilitation science.

Topics include community-based approaches to health innovation, accessibility and inclusion for people living with physical disabilities, and what genuine co-creation looks like in a research setting.

📅 15 June 2026 · 12:00 PM EDT · Virtual (Zoom)

Register here: https://enoll.pulse.ly/2vktrfvr40
Know someone working in health research or rehabilitation science? Tag them below. 👇

📢 Our second Co-Creation Webinar is now live on the ENoLL Academy.

"Running a Living Lab? Learn to co-create with confidence" is led by Dr. Toñi Caro and Francisco Albalá of Eoh-for-Good. Pre-recorded, 60 minutes, and accessible for three months after you register.

Register here: https://enoll.pulse.ly/f1l2ykkueo

Something worth sharing with our community.

On 4 June, ENoLL Director Martina De Sole will be speaking at the EIC Summit 2026 in Brussels, one of Europe's biggest gatherings of innovators, researchers, investors, and policymakers, with around 2,500 participants every year.

Her session, held at the Summit's brand-new EUnicorner space inside the EIC Pavilion, focuses on Living Labs as a competitive advantage for European companies: how the methodology transforms the innovation journey from a high-risk gamble into a structured, evidence-based path to market.

It's a message our Members and partners know well. Seeing it on a stage like this, alongside commissioners, Nobel Prize winners, and deep tech founders, is a meaningful moment for the Living Lab community.

The Summit is free and open to all. If you're in Brussels on 4 June, come and hear Martina speak at 10:45 at the EUnicorner.

Details and registration here:
https://enoll.pulse.ly/bvloft7eud

The best conversations at any conference happen away from the main stage.

On 2 October, the final day of OpenLivingLab Days 2026 in Belgium, a series of field visits will take participants directly inside Belgian Living Labs for a half-day of real exchange. Not presentations. Not panels. Actually being there, walking through the spaces, meeting the people, seeing how co-creation happens in practice.

There are five visits to choose from, each one very different. A health and wellbeing innovation center at Thomas More in Geel. An urban co-creation lab in Ghent's landmark De Krook library. An agricultural Living Lab in Roeselare. And two visits in Antwerp exploring what happens when art, healthcare, and community come together through Living Lab principles.

Spaces are limited across all five. The visits are hosted by Belgian ENoLL Members, designed as interactive half-day sessions, and open to all OLLD26 participants.

Find out which one speaks to you at the link: https://openlivinglabdays.pulse.ly/zk0yoy65q8

Something meaningful came out of three years of work, and we want to share it with you.

The GILL project, coordinated by ENoLL and funded by Horizon Europe, brought together researchers, Living Lab practitioners, startups, and communities across eight European countries to ask a real question: how do we build innovation ecosystems that actually work for everyone?

The answer wasn't theoretical. Fifteen Action Oriented Experimentations later, the project produced tested methodologies and tools for gender-responsive innovation in Green Transition, Digital Transformation, and Health & Resilience domains.
And now it's a book. Breaking the Barriers: Gender, Culture and Diversity in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, published by De Gruyter, is the collective legacy of that work, edited by Hilda Rømer Christensen, Andrée Woodcock, Nicola Marsden, Alena Křížková, and Barbara De Micheli.

We're proud to have coordinated this project and even prouder to see it become a lasting resource for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers across Europe and beyond.

Read more and find the book here: https://degruyterbrill.pulse.ly/3islaqvu2c