A review of European-funded projects implementing living labs for the sustainability of agri-food systems

Abstract Increasing awareness of the complex challenges faced by our agri-food systems highlights the need to rethink current governance models. In this context, Living Labs (LLs) are gaining recognition as a key approach to participatory innovation, as they promote co-creation, experimentation, and the implementation of innovations in real-world settings, through the involvement of citizens, businesses, public authorities, and the scientific community. The growing uptake of LLs is also reflected in the support provided by major funding agencies, most notably the European Commission (EC), which has funded a wide range of LL-based initiatives through its programmes. Despite this momentum, it remains difficult to obtain a clear picture of the societal challenges that LLs have addressed so far. The lack of a centralized repository, together with the heterogeneous use of terminology associated with this approach, hinders the identification of existing initiatives. This database aims to fill this gap by identifying EC-funded projects in the context of agri-food systems that implement LLs, and by listing and classifying the terminology used to describe them. The overarching goal is to provide a useful resource for both practitioners and the scientific community, thereby fostering a better understanding of the social challenges addressed by LL projects and helping to pinpoint additional potential areas of application.