Finnish Presidency launches European Network of Living Labs
The Finnish Presidency launched the European Network of Living Labs as a step towards the creation of a new European Innovation System (EIS) on 20 November in Espoo, Finland. The European Network of Living Labs is a collaboration of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) where companies, public authorities and people link up to share information, research and test new products in the fields of information and communication technologies (ICT) and mobile services. The aim of the initiative is to stimulate innovation by moving research out of the laboratories and into the real life contexts of cities and regions where citizens and users will be encouraged to cooperate with researchers, developers and designers to contribute to the whole innovation process. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said at the launch event: 'One of the goals of the network is to attract companies from around the world to take part in European research and innovation efforts.' 'New concrete measures are needed to...make Europe more competitive and innovative in a human-centric way, a way that focuses on people's real needs.' So far, about European 20 cities have signed up to the initiative, including the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Mataro and Sant Cugat, and the region of Catalonia, Budapest, Istanbul, London, Salzburg, Sophia-Antipolis in France, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Turin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, the Swedish-Danish region of Oeresund, and the four Swedish cities of Lund, Malmoe, Vaestervik, and Stockholm. 'Across Europe, cities and regions gain comparative advantages by swiftly advancing their infrastructure for transportation and telecommunications. Cities that become nodes in cross-border networks attract business firms and investors, tourists, and other visitors, says the Living Labs website.
Countries
Finland