Innovation Districts as Living Labs Megan Antcliff Director, Strategic Projects and Innovation South Australia, Department for State Development
Aug 09, 2015
Innovation Districts as Living Labs
Megan Antcliff
Director, Strategic Projects and Innovation
South Australia, Department for State Development
LIVING LABS
“Hugely powerful yet poorly defined, living labs offer a set of alluring promises”
‐ Evans & Karvonen
Living Laboratories view actors (users) as active competent partners and domaine experts (beyond participation, involvement and engagement).
The Living lab is both an arena (an environment) and an approach ... designed to:
‐ Speed up the innovation process from idea to market ‐ Co‐create and improve innovative ideas‐ Investigate and create new business opportunities
LIVING LABS: WHAT?
LIVING LABS: WHY NOW?
“The urgent threat of climate change does not afford us the luxury of taking time to reach and apply effective solutions. As in a war effort, it’s necessary for all parties to work together expeditiously, in this case to develop ways of lowering carbon that are demonstrated to be acceptable and feasible in the real lives of those who need to adopt them or are affected by them.”
Salter and White CRC LCL 2013
LIVING LABS: LOOK LIKE?
•Research – researching different aspects of the innovation process
•Corporate – a physical place where stakeholders (citizens) are invited to co‐create innovations
•Organisational – members of an organisation co‐creatively develop innovations
•Intermediary – different partners collaboratively innovate in a neutral arena
•Time limited – Living lab as a support for the innovation process in a project
INNOVATION DISTRICTS
“ ... geographic areas where leading edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start‐ups, business incubators, and accelerators .....
Instead of building isolated science parks, innovation districts focus extensively on creating a dynamic physical realm that strengthens proximity and knowledge spillovers.”
Katz et al
INNOVATION DISTRICTS: WHAT?
“Given the vast distinctions in regional economies, the form and function of innovation districts differ markedly across regions. Yet all innovation districts contain economic, physical, and networking assets.
When these three assets combine with a supportive, risk‐taking culture they create an innovation ecosystem—a synergistic relationship between people, firms, and place that facilitates idea generation and accelerates commercialisation.”
INNOVATION DISTRICTS: WHAT?
Economic Assets – firms, institutions andorganizations that drive, cultivate or support an innovation‐rich environment
Physical Assets – the public and privately owned spaces, buildings, open spaces, streets and other infrastructure designed to stimulate new connectivity, collaboration and innovation.
Networking Assets – the relationships between actors, such as individuals, firms and institutions that have the potential to generate, sharpen and accelerate the advancement of ideas.
INNOVATION DISTRICTS: WHY NOW?
“For all its power Silicon Valley has a great weakness, it's soul crushing urban sprawl.”
Paul Graham
INNOVATION DISTRICTS: LOOK LIKE?
Physically compact
Amenity‐rich
Central city core location or transit‐accessible
Mixed‐use‐ firms, research labs, and universities, retail, housing
Powered by clean energy
Wired for digital technology
Fuelled by caffeine
TONSLEY: PEOPLE & PARTNERS
“Moving in with other advanced operators and educators into one interactive precinct can only foster greater innovation ... this benefits not just our company, but the entire state. Our vision is to collaborate on site with our best tertiary institutes and aligned smart business in South Australia to form a world‐class centre of excellence in Adelaide.”
ZEN Chief Executive Officer, Richard Turner
“When we came over the hill and we saw the big red roof, we knew we were almost home.”
Bedford Park resident
TONSLEY: PROCESS
Setting the vision
Bridging known infrastructure gaps
Attracting private investment
Brokering the right partnerships
A triple helix approach
Industry cluster development
LIVING
LABS
ACTORS
ARENA
APPROACH
INNOVATION DISTRICTS
ECONOMIC
PHYSICAL
NETWORK
TONSLEY
PEOPLE
PLACE
PROCESS