The Experiential Living Labs for the Internet Of Things (ELLIOT) project, funded under the EU’s FP7 programme, aimed to create an experiential platform integrating users directly into the co-creation and exploration of IoT applications and services. This initiative sought to assess the impact of IoT within the Open User-Centred Innovation paradigm and the Living Lab methodology. A Living Lab is an open innovation ecosystem that operates in real-life environments, focusing on co-creation, rapid prototyping, and testing to generate sustainable impact. It brings together stakeholders from the public sector, private industry, academia, and citizens to collaboratively develop and evaluate new technologies and services. This approach ensures that innovations are user-centric and tailored to real-world contexts.
The ELLIOT project encompassed four primary activities:
- Development of KSB Experience Models: Creating comprehensive models that integrate social, cognitive, economic, legal, and ethical dimensions related to IoT technologies and services.
- Design of an Experiential Platform: Building a platform to implement the KSB models, serving as a space for knowledge and experience accumulation in the IoT domain.
- User Co-Creation Techniques Exploration: Investigating methods such as serious gaming and participative requirements engineering to engage users in the IoT development process.
- Implementation in Three Living Labs: Conducting experiments in Living Labs focused on Logistics, Wellbeing, and Environment sectors, each comprising a physical space, an information architecture, and a community.
By involving users in real-life settings, the ELLIOT project aimed to bridge the gap between technology and end-users, fostering innovations that are both impactful and widely adopted.