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

Increasing awareness of the complex challenges faced by our agri-food systems highlights the need to rethink current governance models. In this context, Living Labs (LLs) are gaining recognition as a key approach to participatory innovation, as they promote co-creation, experimentation, and the implementation of innovation in real-world settings, by involving citizens, businesses, public authorities, and the scientific community. The growing uptake of LLs is also reflected in the support of major funding agencies, most notably the European Commission (EC), which has funded a wide range of LL-based initiatives through its programmes. Despite this momentum, it remains difficult to obtain a clear picture of which societal challenges have been addressed so far by LLs. The lack of a centralized repository, together with a heterogeneous use of terminology associated with this approach, hinder the identification of existing initiatives. This database aims to fill this gap by identifying EC projects that fund LLs within agri-food systems, by highlighting their main characteristics, and by listing the terminology used. The overarching goal is to provide a useful resource for both practitioners and the scientific community, thus fostering understanding on the social challenges addressed by LL projects and pinpoint additional potential areas of application.