Methodology

Living Lab for Health facilitates multi-stakeholder participatory processes within innovation networks, aiming at achieving a collective impact through four iterative phases:

Phase 1. Participatory research for strategic design. Collective strategic R&I planning for integral interventions.

Steps:

1. Understanding the system and its interrelationships: why is the challenge complex

2. Defining the desired future: commitment to a shared vision

3. Identifying factors with potential for system change

4. Understanding transformation: how is change happening and where is change needed

5. Planning change: collective strategic and action plans for collective impact

Phase 2. Co-creation. Co-design of integrated and high-leverage interventions that are systemic, decentralized and collaborative.

Steps:

1. Ideation

2. Prototyping

3. Validation

Phase 3. Implementation. Facilitation of innovation networks that implement integrated interventions within systems in transition (transition innovation).

Steps:

1. Pilot phase (testing)

2. Scalability (advocacy and adaptation)

Phase 4. Reflexive monitoring. Collective reflection to monitor impact and promote learning, data development and scientific publications to inspire new iterations with continuous improvement.

Our methodologies are based on frameworks for transforming R&I, including those developed by the European Commission, e.g., Horizon Europe partnerships, Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), Open Science, Open Innovation or Mission Oriented Research. The Lab also rely on other methodological frameworks such as Community-Based Participatory Research, Design Thinking, System Thinking, System Innovation, and Transdisciplinary R&I.

Systems innovation is a necessary approach to address complex and persistent challenges. It requires the application of system thinking, which helps to understand the challenges with their interconnections with key factors that can be found in different areas of the system of which they are part: social, scientific and technological, economic, physical/environmental and political.

In order to promote systems innovation, it is first necessary to recognize and understand the complexity, as well as to avoid the traditional reductionist approach that focuses on changing a specific aspect without solving the problem. Systems innovation aims to improve or replace an entire system.

To facilitate systems innovation, it is necessary to facilitate spaces for co-creation to promote systemic change at the collective and organizational level through more collaborative problem solving that better takes into account the roots of the problems and their interconnections in different areas of the system.