Structuring Living Labs for Sustainable Soil Management
Living Labs have emerged as an innovative, systemic approach to co-creation and experimentation, integrating multiple stakeholders in real-world environments to develop, test, and refine solutions collaboratively. For Living Labs to succeed, effective operational structures are essential to coordinate actions and ensure long-term impact.
The iCOSHELLs project brings together six Living Labs across Europe, using them as testing grounds for innovative soil health solutions. Drawing on their experiences, the project has developed a practical framework and a set of best practices to guide other Living Labs. Keep reading to learn more about the main highlights behind the operational structure framework.
Implementing a well-managed Soil Health Living Lab requires a decentralised yet coordinated structure, enabling local autonomy while staying aligned with broader management frameworks. This balance is essential for fostering stakeholder engagement and encouraging active participation from public institutions, private enterprises, academia, and civil society.
Furthermore, it is essential to have clearly defined management structures, roles, and strategies to strengthen LLs as innovation ecosystems that can connect scientific research, policy, and practical action. Success, however, depends on a context-sensitive and adaptive approach, tailored to the reality and circumstances of each LL. Therefore, it is important to continuously refine its processes based on feedback from practitioners, stakeholders, and users to maximise impact.
By embedding these principles into the iCOSHELLs initiative, Soil Health Living Labs can serve as effective models for sustainable land management, ultimately contributing to the resilience of Europe’s soils and the broader sustainability agenda.
Learn more details on methodological approaches to managing Soil Health Living Lab here: D2.1 Living Lab Operational Structure Document by the project partner GAIA.
