Co-Design
Step 1: Set-up your Living Lab
By the end of this step, you will have a well defined framework that guides the different phases of your living lab.
You will define purpose, scope, goals, boundaries, and governance arrangements, while identifying who needs to be involved and how roles and responsibilities are distributed.
This step ensures that everyone begins with a shared vision with the appropriate organisational structures in place for governing the collaboration in your living lab.
Start working on the set-up
A
Define the purpose, scope and structure of the living lab
A clear set of initial goals and objectives helps everyone understand the direction and expectations, supporting alignment and meaningful collaboration. These can include both how you want to work together (process) and what you aim to achieve (outcomes), and will later be refined together with other actors as they are identified.
Make sure you …
Define what your living lab aims to achieve and identify the key challenges and opportunities your living lab will address, while keeping room to adjust and build on these goals together with others later in the process.
Clear boundaries ensure that activities remain focused and relevant, and help determine which actors, data, and processes need to be involved. Make sure you consider not only administrative boundaries, but also ecosystem service boundaries (e.g. water catchments).
A core team built on complementary skills and shared commitment supports collaboration, reduces conflict, and strengthens the quality of co-creation.
Make sure you …
Include people with different types of knowledge and competencies (e.g. local communities, NGOs, government agencies, researchers, amongst others), and keep the group focused and manageable. As a general guide, core teams are often small, allowing for effective coordination and decision‑making. Consider including roles such as a coordinator or facilitator (to organise and drive the process), people with local or contextual knowledge, and participants who can connect the living lab to institutions, decision‑making, or implementation.
TIPS It is often beneficial to have a local project coordinator from the community to support trust-building, contextual knowledge, and continuity.
A clear and agreed way of working supports transparency, trust, and effective collaboration throughout your living lab.
Make sure you …
Define and agree on roles and responsibilities, and clarify how decisions are made and disagreements handled, in a way that supports learning and collaboration.
TIPS Consider to formalise this through a Memorandum of Understanding.
B
Plan for launch and open communication about your living lab’s visions and goals
Early opportunities for collaboration build trust, broaden perspectives, and create a more inclusive foundation for co-creation.
Make sure you …
Organise initial workshops, meetings, or networking events where appropriate to establish connections. Include marginalised or vulnerable groups.
Reliable communication and shared documentation strengthen collaboration by creating predictable and stable routines for working together.
Make sure you …
Create a communication plan for your living lab, define how progress and results will be documented and shared. Set up platforms for data sharing and collaboration.
C
Consider ethics, CARE and FAIR principles
Ethical awareness ensures respectful participation, responsible data use, and builds trust among those involved.
Make sure you …
Familiarise yourself with the CARE and FAIR principles and ensure they are integrated into your living lab activities. For more information see UiT’s helpful overview.
Continue to evaluate and follow ethical considerations throughout the entire process, including the CARE and FAIR principles.
Downloads
- Ethics template (feel free to update to your local context)
A clear data management plan protects participants, ensures responsible data handling, and supports consistent and secure information management throughout your living lab.
Make sure you …
Develop a data management plan that clarifies who owns the data, how it will be stored, shared, and whether it will be made open access. Familiarise yourself with data protection laws, such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Downloads
D
Plan for long-term sustainability and adaptability of your living lab
Securing sufficient resources supports continuity, stability, and the ability to follow your living lab through its full cycle.
Make sure you …
Identify the resources needed to set up and operate your living lab, including time, people, and financial resources. Consider the main types of costs you may need to cover, such as coordination and facilitation, actor engagement activities, data collection and tools, communication, and implementation or testing of solutions. Clarify your options to secure initial funding or in‑kind contributions, and how the living lab can be sustained over time. Begin securing resources early and explore different funding sources, such as public funding (e.g. regional, national, or EU programmes), private contributions, partnerships, or project‑based funding.
Continuous learning, evaluation, and feedback mechanisms are central to living labs, helping the process evolve, improve, and respond effectively to new insights.
Make sure you …
Establish how learning will be captured and passed on throughout the process and how feedback will inform adjustments.
A clear timeline creates shared expectations, supports coordination, and helps track progress toward goals.
Make sure you …
Outline the key milestones, deliverables, and review points needed to guide progress through the living lab cycle. You can do this by using Gantt chart and Milestone planning.
TIPS Plan to have regular (iterative) review points over the course of your living lab.