Methodology for User-Centered Innovation in Industrial Living Lab

In the last years the Living Labs (LLs) approach is becoming really important to test new products/services in real-life settings. Following the perspective of user-centered innovation emerged by the critical review of the existing international LLs’ methodologies, this paper describes how, in the Living Lab related to KHIRA research project, research activities and innovation are integrated, according to a public-private-person partnership (PPPP), to develop innovation processes, participated and user-centered, in the industrial sector. The LL related to KHIRA research project involves several users categories: industrial partners, universities and research centers, SMEs belonging to Apulian manufacturing industry, public administrations, and other users. A heterogeneous users’ community can produce new ideas of products and services oriented to solve real industrial problems as those related to the product life-cycle management (PLM) in complex manufacturing environments. Purpose of this study is to present a methodology that can be used in the industrial LLs aimed at developing new products/services in complex environments, bridging the existing gap between the LLs’ activities management and those aimed to develop user-centered innovation. 1. Introduction Technological and methodological development, occurred in the last decade, has led the value chain of companies to present themselves in new networked models (value network). It follows that stakeholders have access to new methodological and technological paradigms that allow them to participate in these value networks and trigger the process of cocreation of products and services [1]. Although the benefits of working in a network are demonstrated [2], often a series of problems occurs, preventing the production of successful business cases [3]:(i)SMEs’ tendency to integrate themselves vertically, in order to share complementary expertise;(ii)lack of models and tools to identify and validate business opportunities;(iii)low management of intellectual property rights;(iv)low level of collaboration among the staffs belongs to different companies (know-how loss);(v)low level of knowledge access;(vi)low integration of users in the development process of new products/services.The possibility to overcome these limits is offered by the Living Labs approach. The LLs operate according to the development model open innovation functional region, offering the possibility of bridging the gap between industries and users, thanks to the engagement of end-users in the development process of new products/services