1. Users and Innovation Research –
INUSE- Research Seminar
Open Innovation House, Otaniementie 19-21
(2nd floor, room A208, Time: 9.30-11.30)
Users roles for co-creation of innovation in
living lab networks
Seppo Leminen, D.Sc. (Econ), Principal lecturer Laurea University of
Applied Sciences, Adjunct Professor Aalto University School of Business
seppo.leminen@laurea.fi
Anna-Greta Nyström, D.Sc. (Econ), Åbo Akademi University, School of
Business and Economics
Mika Westerlund, D.Sc. (Econ), Assistant Professor, Carleton University,
Sprott School of Business, Canada

2. Research gaps
• Living Labs provide a promising research area for studying open
service innovation. (Pascu & van Lieshout, 2009)
• The roles of the actors in Living Labs networks deserve further
investigation. (Nyström & Leminen, 2011)
• Research on living labs scarce from the network perspective (e.g. in
Leminen & Westerlund, 2008) and there is lack of rich case
descriptions of Living Labs (Schaffers & Turkama 2012; Leminen &
Westerlund, forthcoming)

3. Living Labs (1/3)
 Experimentation environments, where stakeholders form public-
private-people partnerships (4Ps) to create, prototype, validate, and
test new products, services, and technologies in real-life contexts.
(Ballon et al., 2005)
 Products, services, and technologies are developed and tested in
physical or virtual regions, where users are informants/co-
creators. (Kusiak, 2007)
 Different from: (Ballon et al., 2005; Schaffers et al,. 2007)
• test beds for controlled testing in a laboratory environment.
• field trials for testing in a limited but still real-life environment.
• other forms of open innovation that have no concrete setting.

4. Living Labs (2/3)
 Participants’ roles: Living Lab is a real-life test and
experimentation environment, where users and producers co-
create innovations, and which connects them with utilizers and
enablers. (Leminen & Westerlund, 2008)
 Global networks: many Living Labs join regional or global
networks of Living Labs: e.g., European Network of Living Labs.
(http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/)
 Different types: i) narrow but sizable communities of expert
users; ii) whole bounded populations; iii) Living Labs for technical
service development; iv) Living Labs for non-technical research
using a service platform. (Stewart, 2007)

5. Living Labs (3/3)
• We define living labs as physical regions or virtual
realities, or interaction spaces, in which stakeholders form
public-private-people partnerships (4Ps) of companies,
public agencies, universities, users, and other
stakeholders, all collaborating for creation, prototyping,
validating, and testing of new technologies, services,
products, and systems in real-life contexts. They are used
for the development of communities for the use of
innovation. (Westerlund & Leminen, 2012)
5

6. Users as innovators
 Customer participation (customer contribution to co-production)
and interaction (dialogue between customer and business) vital in
service innovations. (von Hippel, 1986)
• Today’s organizations need a constant flow of ideas while competing
through emergent technologies and fast NPD. (Kao, 1997)
• Integrating customers and users to learn from and with them in
the innovation process is a key success factor for firms in all
industries. (Edvarsson et al., 2010).
• Firms involve consumers in the co-production of brands,
experiences, design, marketing strategies, and even product or
service development. (Jeppesen & Molin, 2003; Zwick et al., 2008)

7. Objectives of the study
• Describe Living Labs as open innovation networks
• Identify the distinct structures of Living Labs networks
• Analyze users’ roles in diverse Living Labs networks

8. Customer involvement: two
different approaches
(Leminen, Kortelainen & Fred, 2010) 8

9. Methodology
Primary data
• A multiple case study among the staffs of 26 Living
Labs in Finland, Sweden, Spain, and South Africa
during 2007-2011 (a total of 103 semi-structured
interviews).
Secondary data
• Web sites, bulletins, magazines, and case reports
• Data collection aimed at identifying and
categorizing roles in Living Labs networks

10. Activity based user roles
• Four principal activity based user roles in Living Labs
found:
• Informant
• Tester
• Contributor
• Co-creator
10

11. Living Labs: The network view
Users
Innovation Providers
Enablers development
Utilizers
A Living Lab network Network of Living Labs
11
(Mod. Leminen & Westerlund, 2008)

12. Different types of Living Labs
Enabler
• Utilizer-driven Living Labs
• Enabler-driven Living Labs
Utilizer
• Provider-driven Living Labs Developer
• User/User community-driven Living Labs
User
(Kortelainen, Leminen & Fred, 2011)
12

13. User’s roles in Living Labs networks
Utilizer User Provider Enabler Living Lab
driven driven driven driven actors
Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator,
Contributor Contributor Contributor, Contributor User
Informant, Tester
Activity
based
Contributor 6, Coordinator, Co-creator 18, Coordinator,
roles Informant, Co-creator, Contributor Contributor,
Tester Informant 15,16,18,19, Informant
User
Informant
15,16,17,18,19,
Tester 15,17,18,
Informant Contributor, Contributor Informant
Contributor 4, Tester 11,12,13 Tester
User
Tester 2,4 Informant 13,14,
Tester 11,12,14
13

14. Business networks: structure
• Business network can be classified according to the
firm’s position in the network and the
configuration of the network (Doz, 2001).
• The company may act as the engine, or hub, in the
focal business network, or it is one of the many
actors having a minor role as a partner with whom
the hub company cooperates.
• Networks centralized, decentralized, or distributed.
Barbasi (2002, ref. Möller and Svahn, 2003)
14

15. Roles in networks
• Heikkinen et al. (2007)
• Webber, instigator, gatekeeper, advocate,
producer, planner, entrant, auxiliary
• Facilitator, compromiser, aspirant, accessory
provider
15

16. User’s roles in diverse Living Labs networks
Utilizer User Provider Enabler Living Lab
driven driven driven driven actors
Orchestrator, HUB
Facilitator
Distributed
Multiplex
Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator,
structure
Contributor Contributor Contributor, Contributor User
Informant, Tester
Webber, HUB
Builder, Position (structure)
Facilitator
based roles
Distributed Contributor 6, Coordinator Co-creator 18, Coordinator
structure Informant, (focal net), Contributor (focal net),
Tester Co-creator, 15,16,18,19, Contributor,
User
Informant Informant Informant
15,16,17,18,19,
Tester 15,17,18,
Facilitator, HUB
Centralized
Integrator
structure
Informant Contributor, Contributor Informant
Contributor 4, Tester 11,12,13 Tester
User
Tester 2,4 Informant 13,14, 16
Tester 11,12,14

17. New position (structure) based
roles for user found
• Builder
• Facilitator
• Orchestrator
• Integrator
• Coordinator (focal net)
17

18. User’s roles in diverse Living Labs networks
Utilizer User Provider Enabler Living Lab
driven driven driven driven actors
Orchestrator, HUB
Facilitator
Distributed
Multiplex
Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator, Co-creator,
structure
Contributor Contributor Contributor, Contributor User
Activity Informant, Tester
based Webber,
Position HUB
Builder,
roles Facilitator based roles
Distributed Contributor 6, Coordinator Co-creator 18, Coordinator
structure Informant, (focal net), Contributor (focal net),
Tester Co-creator, 15,16,18,19, Contributor,
User
Informant Informant Informant
15,16,17,18,19,
Tester 15,17,18,
Facilitator, HUB
Centralized
Integrator
structure
Informant Contributor, Contributor Informant
Contributor 4, Tester 11,12,13 Tester
User
Tester 2,4 Informant 13,14, 18
Tester 11,12,14

19. Main conclusions
We suggest that either
actors actively shape the environment
they act in
or
they are restricted by predetermined
social structures (e.g. business
networks)
19

20. Main arguments
• Innovation is the outcome of
cooperation between actors in business
networks
• Roles and positions of users are tools to
manage the network

21. Found users roles
in Living Lab networks
Position (structure) Activity based user roles
based roles for users
• Builder • Informant
• Facilitator • Tester
• Orchestrator • Contributor
• Integrator • Co-creator
• Coordinator
• Webber 21

22. Are you
innovating
together with
your customers?
Perspectives on
Living Labs
(in Finnish)
10.10.2012
22

23. Living lab special issues and living
lab tracks at 2013 conferences
Living Lab tracks
Technology Innovation Forthcoming 2012/2013
at the 2013 conferences
Management Special issue on: "Living Labs –
Review Environments for Concurrent
http://timreview.ca/ Product Development“
IJPD (International Journal of
Product Developement)
23

24. Thank you!
seppo.leminen@laurea.fi anna-greta.nystrom@abo.fi Mika_westerlund@carleton.ca
seppo.leminen@aalto.fi
Questions? Comments?