Living Labs for SMEs

Interactive, co-creative relation of consumers, users and producers is quickly developing recently. Living Labs (LL) have a bridging role between market pull and technology push. They realise concurrent innovation. LLs are approaches to realise an interactive search for new products/services in real life milieus together with users/consumers, without mediation of marketing experts. Our presentation highlights LLs first as providers of a collaborative working environment for users. It emphasises that LLs have a strong methodology and describes and assesses the „LL Harmonization cubes”. It outlines then what LLs can bring advantages for SMEs. Main added value of LLs for SMEs is that they provide for innovation services by integrating SMEs in a collaborative working environment that would otherwise not available for them.