How to face water shortage in agriculture? The contribution of Living Labs in sowing ad hoc innovative strategies

Water constitutes a pivotal resource for agriculture under a climate change scenario. Building a space for debate and co-creation about this topic is crucial for drawing innovative solutions. WIrri Living Lab (LL) is the umbrella of three different LLs fueled by questions arising from farmers and all centered on the purpose of wiser irrigation water use in the Veneto Region (Italy). This paper aims to summarize the experience of co-learning and co-development occurring in each of these LLs, providing details on innovations developed, main problems and solutions, and strategies used to keep LLs alive in terms of funding, resources, and ideas. In WIrri LL, the problem of water shortage in agriculture was analyzed in different rural areas, from different points of view and integrating complementary competences. The main outcomes were: i) building trust among participants; ii) directing the dialectic debate toward the development of solutions with a high level of technical readiness; iii) providing evidence to farmers on the importance of proper maintenance and management of technological tools/machines/devices on long-term perspectives to effectively save water.