Living labs in practice: experiences of implementation across 14 European regions

Living Labs – collaborative research environments that bring together researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to co-design and test solutions in real-world settings – are increasingly used to address complex policy challenges across the natural and social sciences. While scholars have called for greater attention to the evaluation of Living Labs, less is known about how they are implemented and experienced in practice. This paper addresses this gap by examining the RUSTIK project, a network of 14 Living Labs across European rural regions bringing together academic and practice partners to develop data experiments supporting rural sustainability transitions. Using qualitative analysis of interviews with 27 Living Lab Coordinators and Pilot Region Partners, the paper examines how the methodology is understood, alongside the opportunities and challenges encountered during implementation. The findings highlight the value of Living Labs as spaces for learning and experimentation, while revealing challenges related to stakeholder engagement, resource demands, and translating outputs into policy. Participants also identified institutional capacity, policy contexts, and collaborative relationships as important influences on implementation. The paper contributes to growing debates on Living Lab evaluation by examining implementation rather than outcomes, providing insights into how Living Lab methodologies are experienced by those responsible for their implementation.