Nagykovacsi Innovation Lodge Well-being Living Lab A Gateway to Innovation

1. Nagykovácsi Innovation Lodge
Well-being Living Lab
(A Gateway to Innovation)
One of our greatest challenges today is the assurance of our well-being in this world
influenced by new technologies and science. How can we increase our well-being on the long
run rationally using the latest technologies and scientific knowledge without becoming their
slaves?
It is also interesting to ask how we can develop
the technologies, products, services and
methodologies in a way that their primary goal is
not a technical bravoure or an unlimited money
making opportunity. We have to find a way to
use these new technologies to help us assure and
increase our well-being. Even though increasing
our well-being is important for all of us, as far as
we know, there are very few research &
development (R&D) and innovation activities
that focus on this priority.
This discovery led TREBAG Property & Project Management and Net-MEX Innovation
and Education Ltds to establish the Nagykovácsi Innovation Lodge and operate the
Well-Being Living Lab in it.
Why Innovative?
Innovative, because it brings together processes starting from R&D, to taking to the market
and applying of new methods, products and
services. Innovative, because it takes part in
the development of new methods, products,
and services and in the dissemination of all
the above to the citizens. Furthermore, it
seeks to give the notion of innovation a
much wider meaning as it was previously
and almost exclusively used for the
development of economic and public
administration activities. We believe that
innovation should cover all aspects of
human life, not only the ones related with economy.
…and why Lodge?
Lodge, as we perceive it as a gateway towards innovative solutions. It is a gateway open to
potential users who show interest in taking part in the development process. Lodge, because it
is much smaller than the innovation centres or houses that mainly operate in cities or
industrial parks. Lodge, because it fits in much better into the country, subregional, small
town or village setting, rather than into a big city or industrial park setting concentrating

2. significant economic power. Finally we call it a Lodge, because it does not only support
economic success but it seeks to improve people’s well-being as well.
The Nagykovácsi Innovation Lodge focuses on two main activities:
 The Well-Being Living Lab
 Company, entrepreneurial R&D, as well as innovation management
What is open innovation and what is a living lab?
Our innovation lodge operates with the methodology of the so-called open innovation. This
technical term means involving potential customers and users into the process of innovation.
(Even though the term is new, the content is very old.) This technical term has been invented
for the sake of online community applications (iwiw, facebook, youtube, twitter, etc.).
Nowadays some local and regional applications of open innovation are called living labs.
This is a good means of open innovation as most of our life is not spent in virtual space but in
reality. The living lab therefore is the real-life part of the open innovation method, involving
people in the flesh. Therefore the real-life part of the already established Innovation
Lodge is the Well-Being Living Lab, while the virtual part is under construction.
What is the Well-Being Living Lab based on?
The Well-Being Living Lab is not a dream to be realized in the future, but it is based on the
results of numerous projects carried out within the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The
R&D activities built on the know-how of TREBAG and NET-MEX can also be used as an
input to the Well-Being Living Lab; as applying these can increase our well-being. It is
obvious that our well-being is influenced by many factors, all at the same time. It is also
obvious that our living lab will not be able to focus on all these factors. Therefore now, at the
start we will focus on those pillars that we can support with the biggest accumulated
knowledge and references.
Supporting the well-being of youth
 helping them build a career
 linking them with each other and with their future employers (based on their
theses, diploma works and other
scientific works)
 train the trainer trainings
 education programs to help
young people start their own
businesses
 teaching and dispersing
examples for a healthy lifestyle
Supporting the well-being of families
 organizing family sports and free
time activities
 family learning activities
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3. Supporting the well-being of the elderly
Preventive programme package for elder people to decrease or slow down the negative side
effects of aging:
 Maintaining the mental and physical health
o Mental training
o Education for the elder people (studying languages, information and
communication techniques, etc.)
o Physical training
 Indoor (yoga, exercise, dance, etc.)
 In nature (nordic walking, excursion, biking)
o Healthy nutrition
o Decreasing stress
o Increasing perception skills
 Elder people for the well-being of the elderly (voluntary peer support programme)
Supporting the development of small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
 Innovation management
 Quality Management
 Coaching for high-growth SMEs or SMEs planning high growth
 Stress Management
Supporting the well-being of citizens of settlements in a subregional setting
 By integrating the above mentioned programmes
 By supporting the development of „Learning” settlements
 By creating and managing local innovative processes
Supporting farmers
 Bio cultivation
 Growing and using medicinal herbs
As you can see, amongst the mentioned elements we can find some that support welfare
(primarily the ones relating to the development of businesses, building careers and
innovation) because in order to speak about well-being you need some elements of
welfare.
Multilingualism
The Living Lab does not only operate its activities in Hungarian but also in other languages,
mainly in English.
Why is it new?
In Hungary there is an already existing and successfully operating model that supports
innovation; the institutions that follow this model are often called innovation centres or
houses. There are several ones of these operating throughout the country. The Nagykovácsi
Innovation Lodge is a new model that is highly different from other innovation centres
or houses. The differences are as follows:
 The Innovation Lodge focuses on increasing the well-being of people
In the focus of the activities of innovation centres (the innovation centres and houses will be
called innovation centres in the rest of this text for the sake of simplicity) one can find
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4. innovation related with economic growth, while the innovation lodge concentrates on
innovation that favours the improvement of human well-being. Naturally, the innovation
lodge also helps significantly innovation related with the economy as one needs a certain level
of welfare to achieve well-being. The innovation lodge strives to concentrate on the
creating/entrepreneur people.
 It is close to the citizens and to SMEs
While our Innovation Lodge is on the main street of Nagykovácsi, most innovation centres are
located in industrial parks or on university campuses far from the centres of town. The
Innovation Lodge operates close to the citizens and SMEs as opposed to the innovation
centres that operate in a more isolated way.
 Its activity area are the settlements, subregions and counties
The different fields of activity inherently comes from the location: as the field of activity of
the innovation centres are the industrial parks or universities where they are based at, the
innovation lodge concentrates on activities in settlements, subregions and counties. This
naturally does not exclude the collaboration on national and EU levels and outside the EU.
 Its main activities are the realization of R&D and innovation processes
The main function of innovation centres are the leasing of spaces and offering of innovative
services to the tenants. As opposed to this, the Innovation Lodge focuses on the carrying
out of R&D and innovation activities. The Innovation Lodge also owns spaces that can be
used by other businesses and civil organizations, but it does not own any spaces to be rented
out.
 It is in the hands of small business owners
While most innovation centres are in the hands of local administrative units, universities or
non-profit organizations, the Innovation Lodge is owned and operated by two Hungarian
small businesses. Furthermore, while most innovation centres have been established with
significant financial support from Hungary or the EU, the innovation lodge has been founded
without that.
We believe that we will establish a model with our Innovation Lodge that besides being
viable for many years will provide an example to the creation and operation of other similar
but individually different innovation lodges in the country and in the EU.
Nagykovácsi, December 2010
Péter Kövesd, Managing Director
H-2094 Nagykovácsi, Kossuth L. 20.
Tel: +36 26 555 221
Fax: +36 26 555 222
Email: pkovesd@trebag.hu
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