Coming up with ideas for new services and products, and developing the old ones so that they become even better is a must for businesses and the public sector. In the Living Lab concept, end users improve existing products and services with their feedback, or invent entirely new ones.
To speed up the Living Lab activities and boost their productisation, the collaborators of the Helsinki Living Lab (HLL) network have drawn up a letter of intent meant for tighten up their collaboration. The goal is to create quality criteria and a working model for the HLL network during this year. The contract was signed on the 4th of May 2009 by Art and Design City Helsinki Ltd, Active Life Village, Forum Virium Helsinki, Greater Helsinki Promotion, and Laurea University of Applied Sciences.
Packaging of the HLL working model is made easier by good groundwork and the experiences gained up until now. Research and development work for the Helsinki metropolitan area Living Labs has been carried out in recent years all around the capital region: in Arabianranta, Helsinki, in Otaniemi, Espoo, in Kustaankartano, Helsinki, and in Aviapolis, Vantaa. Testing has covered web-based storage and email services, wellbeing services, screens displaying traffic information, and new types of digital services for the grocery trade.
Quality standards for HLL collaborators
Apart from providing a concrete and concise framework for the collaboration within the Helsinki Living Lab network, the letter of intent also acts as a sign of trust between the collaborators in the network.
−In my opinion, the essence of the Living Labs scene is the word “trust”. The collaborators must be able to trust that all parties concerned will perform their duties in a professional and timely manner. This is important, as the way of doing things always involves interaction, different time schedules, and in many cases also geographical, cultural and language diversity. The best motivation is created when all parties have a clear idea of the goal of the research being undertaken, and when there is no ambiquity about their roles, says managing director Kari Halinen of the Art and Design City Helsinki Ltd.
The vision of the Helsinki Living Lab is to be a lively, future-oriented community specialised in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and to act as an innovative, international forerunner that works in close collaboration with other Finnish and international Living Lab contributors.
For additional information, please contact:
Mia Uronen, development and project manager, Forum Virium Helsinki,
tel. +358 40 5010017, mia.uronen (at) forumvirium.fi
