Advancing University Living Labs: Relational Infrastructure for Transformative Impact

Universities around the world are evolving their roles to tackle the defining challenges of our age, such as climate change, community resilience, and public health, while also advancing their core missions in research and education. University Living Labs are emerging as novel mechanisms for implementing challenge-led, mission-oriented research and innovation, enabling real-world experimentation, collaborative learning, and solution development across disciplines and sectors, anchored in the long term commitment of universities to their communities and regions. This report explores how University Living Labs can act as relational infrastructure, bridging research and implementation, knowledge and action, and universities and their communities. Inside you will find nine case studies, a three tiered model to understand University Living Labs, a series of roles played by Universities, and a set of recommendations in response to three common challenges of implementing a University Living Lab.