Living Labs have been active in Flanders since 2003, focusing on testing new technologies and business models with users. This included early work on digital TV adoption and e-paper feasibility. Public-private investments in Living Labs between 2005-2012 exceeded €25 million, supporting projects in smart cities, energy, media and more. Recent examples demonstrate moving concepts from Labs to commercial roll-outs, including a smart city platform and the growth of a mobile service provider from a Living Lab initiative.

1. Living Labs in
Flanders:
Business Impact Bram Lievens
Pieter Ballon
Lieven De Marez
IBBT-iLab.o
ENoLL Open Living Labs PPPP
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Workshop, 27 Jan 2012
Living Labs in Flanders
! Living Lab research at SMIT (VUB) and MICT
(UGent) from 2003 onwards
! Foundation of IBBT in 2004: IBBT-SMIT and IBBT-
MICT
! i-City wireless Living Lab initiative in Hasselt in 2005
! IBBT-SMIT set up of Open Innovation Centre
Brussels in 2005
! IBBT-SMIT, IBBT-MICT and i-City merge and
transform their LL operations in iLab.o in 2006-8
! 40-50 Living Lab projects so far
! Number of test users typically 50-500
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2. Towards digital Television in Flanders (2004)
Living Lab project
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DTV Living Lab (2003-2004)
! 2003: Pioneer LL project of Digital TV in Flanders
! Partner: Cable operator Telenet (TNT)
! 300 Households
! Delay in commercial launch a.o. because of iterative
LL process
! Now:
! Market share in Flanders of app. 70%
! Income from digital subscriptions 340 mio !/y
! Leading in interactive services (total market 45 mio !/y)
! Projected growth in line with our forecasts (LL approach
diverging from traditional intention surveys)
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3. TNT much better adoption
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IBBT PSAP segmentation forecast

4. PSAP segmentation forecast
Q2 2008
2006: 140000 Q3 2007
40000 Belgacom Q2 07
+ 100000 Telenet
Q3 06
1mio
(+882000)
300000
138000
Q3 05 Q1 06 Q3 07
Timing? !y 2y ? ?
E-Paper (2005-2006)
! Objective
! Assess the feasibility for distribution and consumption of
newspapers on eReader-devices
! Involved: Newspaper, Technology providers (iRex/Philips),
Advertisement
! Main outcomes
! Not feasible
! Timing, technology limitations
! Too high impact on current internal processes
! Identification for other opportunities and alternative
business-models
! BOOKS (which was validated by success of Kindle,…)
! iTunes model
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5. DVB-H (2007): Finland vs Flanders
Finland, 1 Vraag Vlaanderen , 3 Vragen (PSAP)
2006: behoorlijk potentieel 2007: zwak potentieel
2007: overschatting
41% 47% 16,7%
Actua: 26/02/2008 vs 16/11/2010

6. Public-Private investments in Living Labs
(2005-2012)
! Living Lab initiatives in Flanders
! i-City
! Start budget: 3,6 mio EUR
! Industry investment: 1,8 mio EUR (a.o. Microsoft)
! Flemish Living Lab Platform: total budget 2,8 mio EUR
! Industry investment: 1,4 mio EUR (a.o. Telenet, Fifthplay)
! Support of Flemish projects on smart-cities, smart-energy and smart-
media
! LeyLab: total budget (initially 4,5 mio EUR)
! Industry investment: 50% (a.o. Alcatel Lucent, Belgacom)
! Roll out of Fiber-to-the-home
! Media garden: total budget 800k EUR
! 250k industry
! Electrical Vehicles: total budget for set-up: 25mio EUR
! 16,25 mio EUR funding
! 9 mio EUR directly by industry
! Additional investments through projects
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InCitys project (2010-11)
! Living Lab project within Flemish Living Lab
! From concept to commercial roll-out of smart city platform
! Fifthplay
! Roll-out of basic infrastrucure
! Testing of services and business-model
! 75 houses, 250 users and 25 shops
! Outcomes
! User experience
! Technological platform
! Service portfolio
! Business model adjusted
! Large commercial roll-out: Q2 – 2012
! First rollout target 4000 houses
! Plans to export to other cities in Europe
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7. From Mobile Living Lab to Mobile Service
Provider Business (2008-2012)
! From i-City to city-Live: mobile data apps Living Lab to innovative mobile
service company
! i-City LL activities transferred to iLab.o in 2008
! Take-over of service activities by city-Live: 1,4 mio EUR
! 400k by from i-City partners
! 300k Media-company
! 300k Cable-operator
! 300k Investment company
! City-Live sets up Mobile Vikings (2009)
! MVNO and mobile community mgmt & services
! Additional investments KPN
! Unique model in Belgium (Europe?): Business model, no marketing, no sales team, no
stores, no contracts, no call center; but viral marketing and mobile social network =>
Spectacular growth, fastest in market; very low churn; 68% new customers are
referrals; more social network services underway
! Currently 77,000 customers; est. 15-20 mio !/y business
! Real impact on mobile market - Reaction from established operators
! Expansion to other countries foreseen
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