European-funded projects on living labs within agriculture and food systems

Increasing awareness of the complex challenges faced by our agri-food systems underscores the need to rethink current governance models. In this context, Living Labs (LLs) are gaining recognition as a key approach to participatory innovation, since they foster co-creation, experimentation, and the implementation of innovation in real-world settings, by involving citizens, businesses, governments, and the scientific community. Despite over two decades of funding by the European Commission (EC) on LLs, many questions remain open, particularly regarding the societal challenges they have addressed so far. However, the absence of a centralized repository and the heterogeneous use of terminology associated with this approach hinder the identification of existing LLs. This database aims to fill this gap by identifying EC’s projects funding LLs within agri-food systems, and highlighting the terminology used. The objective is to provide a resource useful for practitioners and the scientific community, fostering research on the social challenges addressed by LLs and identifying potential other application areas.