EcoDesign 2009 conference Sapporo Japan
January 26th, 2010On 7, 8, and 9 December 2009 the 10th anniversary edition of the International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing was held in Sapporo, Japan. For this memorable version of the conference the special topics of social innovation and green building/city were introduced, closely fitting the Living Lab objectives.
Two Living Lab papers were presented in the Design for Sustainable Behaviour session. Both papers were based on the Living Lab pilot study on bathing. One paper described the outcomes of the pilot study, presented by TU Delft Living Lab member Lenneke Kuijer. The second paper presented a follow-up project by a TU Delft graduation student, exploring bathing in different cultures.
The presentations were successful and well received by the audience of approximately 30 researchers and practitioners from all over the world. Both papers can be found through the publication part of this website.
First European Conference on Energy Efficiency and Behaviour Maastricht
January 26th, 2010On 18 and 19 October 2009 the First European Conference on Energy Efficiency and Behaviour was held in the Dutch city of Maastricht. The conference, organized by SenterNovem focused on understanding the behaviour decision making of individuals in the contribution of reducing carbon dioxide emissions’. Because this topic is closely related to the goals of Living Lab, a member of the team (Lenneke Kuijer, Delft University of Technology) presented a paper in the Technology and Behaviour session. The presentation was successful and well received resulting in a number of new contacts.
Overall the conference was experienced as very useful. Especially the presentations of, and contact with some well known scholars from the field like Hal Wilhite, Charles Vlek, Paul Stern, Elizabeth Shove, Cees Midden, Eva Heiskanen, Evert Hasselaar and many others provided valuable insights. An overview of the confereces’ program and some of its presentations can be found on the conference website through www.conference-energy-behaviour.nl.
Open Innovation Session Zurich
January 18th, 2010The Open Innovation Session in Zurich was executed on 7 October 2009. The location for the session was the Value Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Eight participants from different disciplines as well as from industry and academia took part in the Open Innovation Session. The participants had the task to generate new ideas in group work during the creative session concerning three central topics about energy awareness and efficiency.
Results of the creative workshop
An important aspect to increase user acceptance and energy awareness is that energy consumption must be a tangible product. To promote energy as a tangible product it should be established by TV, famous people (from music, politics etc.), education (school) or as a brand. The marketing and energy coaching through technology and social contacts adjusted to motive types is important as well in the context of energy saving. A lifestyle which motivates people to save energy should be created. Also a modular visualisation of energy related to the socio-cultural types (player, calculator, green, lazy, demographics etc.) of users is needed. This means users can choose their preferred type of visualisation (playful, very simple, number oriented, colours etc.).
ECTP conference Brussels
December 22nd, 2009Living Lab presented their plans at the ECTP conference in Brussels 24-25 November 2009. The theme of the conference was Innovation in Construction: Taking the lead in greening the future. Focus of the Living Lab presentation was to present the Living Lab infrastructure and how this can link new technologies to the end user. The feedback of the audience was generally positive and the attendance to the conference led to some interesting new contacts for the next phase of Living Lab.
Research pilot & open innovation session
December 10th, 2008On Friday the 28th of November 2008 the first open innovation session as conclusion of the first research pilot with the topic ‘experiments in bathing practices’ took place at the TU Delft/the Netherlands.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in this very successful and pleasant workshop. It was amazing how many great and valuable ideas were generated. We will keep all involved parties informed about the outcomes and the progress of the research pilot.
Conceptualisation workshop Brussels
September 30th, 2008Thanks to all of you for your valuable input and hard work during the conceptualization workshop (16-17.09.2008) in Brussels. Also thanks to the invited stakeholders that especially came to provide us with feedback. We highly appreciated your comments and suggestions; they form an important step towards the further elaboration of the concepts.
For inspirations, I would like to recommend you some blogs of other living lab projects:
http://blog.openlivinglabs.eu/
http://www.ami-communities.eu/drupal/node/28
