Transdisciplinary and Transformative Knowledge Production in Living Labs
Introducing the Living Labs Incubator
For some time now, living labs have served as central research infrastructures for participatory knowledge production and technology development. They are used in a wide range of areas, from urban planning and medical research to sustainable energy transition, raw materials extraction, and IT topics. This diversity makes it difficult to develop coherent methods, standards, and indicators for the production of knowledge in and through living labs. How interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge integration can be achieved in living labs and how knowledge transfer can be facilitated by living labs are currently open questions in both theory and practice. The Living Labs Incubator was set up as part of the RWTH Excellence Strategy to work on these challenges together.
The Changing World and the University
Global challenges require sustainable and scalable solutions in order to stimulate change in many places. Universities play a key role here. They educate the future generations and provide expertise and infrastructure for the investigation and testing of sustainable social and technological innovations.
RWTH Aachen University is one of the first technical universities in Germany to define the need for successful inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable change as a central focus of its Excellence Strategy.
As part of this development, a wide range of living labs have emerged and continue to emerge as platforms for the co-production and co-evaluation of knowledge. They aim to enable sustainable transformation in universities and society. In 2020, the Living Labs Incubator (LLI) was established at the Human Technology Center (HumTec) as part of Measure 5 of the Excellence Strategy of RWTH Aachen University. It will identify and support paths of transdisciplinary research and teaching in and through living labs.
What is a Living Lab and What Does the Living Labs Incubator do?
Living labs are characterized by a transdisciplinary approach to research and work. They produce solutions for collective problems in local contexts in an experimental and collaborative way via close cooperation between stakeholders from the fields of science, politics/administration, business or (organized) civil society.
The LLI has established a steadily growing living lab network at RWTH. A regular e-mail newsletter provides information from the network and on interesting funding calls, event tips and publication references for living lab researchers and those interested in the field. In addition, the LLI is developing new methods of knowledge production (cross-modal data management and analysis; transdisciplinary data analysis) and evaluation standards (e.g. indicators for knowledge transfer in and through living labs). The LLI also organizes regular meetings, topic-specific workshops and seminars and it is working with network partners to establish a Living Lab Training Center.
At the same time, national and international networking activities are taking place. Among other things, membership of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and cooperation with the “Digi-Sandbox.NRW” network of the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy have been established.
Living Labs at RWTH – Some Examples
To illustrate the range of topics and the diversity of living labs with RWTH participation, here are a few selected examples from the LLI network:
SmartQuart
- RWTH participants: Chair of Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate, Institute of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building, Teaching and Research Field for Real Estate Development
TransUrban.NRW
- RWTH participants: Chair of Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, Chair of Energy System Economics
- As the first two living labs for the energy transition funded by the BMWK (Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection), the two projects are testing new, decentralized electricity and heat supply systems in neighborhoods. Aspects of sector coupling are taken into account as part of digitalized planning, and predictive processes are being used for control and regulation purposes. The consortia consist of energy suppliers, scientific stakeholders and local politicians and administrators.
KlimaNetze
- RWTH participants: Chair of Planning Theory and Urban Development, Chair of Sociology of Technology and Organization
- This research project has already been completed and it was funded by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research). In it, a new collaboration between stakeholders in climate protection in Bielefeld has been tested in living labs. The living labs were very successful: They are helping to implement the mobility turnaround in Bielefeld in a very real way. They also generated new findings in the field of network research and the creation of social innovations.
Reallabor Nivelstein
- RWTH participants: Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies, Unit of Mineral Processing
- In October 2020, RWTH Aachen University and Nivelsteiner Sandwerke und Sandsteinbrüche GmbH signed a cooperation agreement to research new technologies for a sustainable supply of raw materials and energy. The ELMAR and Energiepark Herzogenrath projects, among others, are currently researching how resource extraction can be sustainably secured in a CO2-neutral, resilient, and overall cost-optimized energy system by large consortia of scientific and industrial partners. The Institute of Power Electronics and Electrical Drives is also conducting research to this end in the Nivelstein living lab.
The ELMAR project is researching how resources can be extracted sustainably. Photo: Martin Braun
WIRKsam
- RWTH participants: Institut für Textiltechnik
- The competence center, which is based in the Rhenish mining area and which has a living lab site in Hürth, develops innovative work and process sequences supported by artificial intelligence to create attractive workplaces and increase competitiveness.
– Authors: Gabriele Gramelsberger, Stefan Böschen, Julia Backhaus, Stefan John, Gudrun Rohde, Juri Dachtera, Inge Leurs, Anamaria-Ioana Rasenescu, Alexander Sonntag