This paper aims at a broad scan of needs for knowledge advancing living labs and broader customer value co-creation in shopping malls. Special attention is given to the meeting and social integration function and metaverse development. Living labs are understood as a methodology of co-creative and open experimentation that is customer-led in a real-life environment. Emerging metaverse development tends to change opportunities and limitations, about which almost nothing is known. The paper uses a qualitative approach in two steps. The first step explores relevant theory on systems, like retail systems, customer-value co-creation (marketing) and capability and personal traits in behavioural change (individuals), while distinguishing between three living lab stages, namely, anticipation, processes on the way, and ex-post evaluation. A few central themes that are becoming increasingly important are the emerging metaverse, if and how traditional malls can continue serving as physical meeting places, and the possibility they will change course towards new combinations of physical and virtual activity. In the second step, a broad array of knowledge-advancing needs is discussed, and this results in a smaller set of knowledge gaps on the basis of urgency, like interests of new ICT stakeholders in shopping malls, impacts from metaverse on site-specificity, and benefits and barriers of disabled persons. The paper also forwards the need for more attention to the ex-post evaluation of co-creation projects, which calls for standard protocols and AI-supported data systems. The paper closes with contributions, management implications, and ideas about future research.

This paper pictures several risk-taking strategies of young high-tech firms in bringing energy inventions to market and ways urban policy (municipalities) may provide supporting facilities and help accelerate the energy transition. Derived from a longitudinal study of 100 firms in northwest Europe, two findings contribute to practice. Firstly, a share of almost 40 percent of university spin-off firms fails in the market introduction; if the market introduction is reached, 30 percent is relatively late. This development calls for attention to acceleration and risk-taking concerns. However, risk-taking firm strategies, like targeting radical inventions and new markets, tend to hamper early market introduction. Secondly, urban policy supports filling risk-related needs, particularly in large metropolitan networks. Cities (municipalities) may act as launching customers and provide sites and organizations for practical experimentation (e.g., in living labs) alongside steering on cross-faculty application platforms at the university that also connect with city functions. Cities’ initiatives, however, tend to be fragmented and miss priority. Partnering in Triple Helix networks with local universities and businesses may improve the situation, for example, by priority setting, better alignment, and integration. The urban policy also has a role in improving broader conditions, particularly the attraction of related R&D firms to the city/region and the attraction and retention of top-class researchers.

Municipalities are increasingly involved in energy transition planning. There are, however, doubts about whether municipalities are an adequate organization and scale level for this. In this context, the article aims to picture developments of local young technology firms in bringing energy inventions to market, in particular, how municipalities have provided support to them. Such aim, in the context of energy transition, is new. Derived from study in Nordic countries and The Netherlands, two findings make a valuable contribution to literature. Firstly, a share of almost 40% of young technology firms fails in market introduction, and if reached the market, a 30% is rather late. Barriers stem from high risk-taking, late (no) collaboration, and limiting circumstances in metropolitan cities. Secondly, municipalities' initiatives appear useful in filling young technology firms' needs, but the initiatives are fragmented and miss priority. However, partnering in professional start-up organizations tends to improve the situation, indicating that the municipal level is promising in transitional change with regard to new technology. In contrast, driving energy transition through regional cluster building, includes different levels of functional interdependence, territorial scale, networking and governance, causing manifold complexity and uncertainty. Not all (large) municipalities seem able to act in a promising manner, however, much empirical research needs to be done.

Citizens feel increasingly engaged in outcomes of urban planning today. This engagement happens among others where urban transport causes serious annoyance, like noise or air pollution. In some cases, citizens have taken the initiative to measure strong annoyance by themselves, as driven by a feeling of distrust with actors causing the annoyance. As a bottom-up initiative, citizen sensing tends to be more comprehensive in goals compared to citizen science, the last being organized by established institutions, like universities, aimed at measurement for large databases. Despite the popularity of sensing initiatives, evaluation of influence on planning solutions has remained scarce. In response to this, the chapter presents a performance matrix of factors indicating how citizens’ sensing may be limited or enhanced in solving problems. The approach draws on case study results (airport, traffic circulation) and is introduced in the chapter by societal trends supporting active citizen participation and conceptualization of citizen sensing and citizen science.

Large cities have empirically confirmed to act as the cradle of innovation. We explore whether this is also true for sustainable energy technology. We pose the question to what extent large cities act as concentrations of sustainable energy inventions and market introduction, and to what extent agglomeration and network factors are involved and large cities offer specific advantages. Our empirical outcomes tend to be mixed. In the past years, large cities have remained clusters of sustainable energy inventions, however, spread over a larger number of (single) cities. With regard to market introduction, large cities tend to be slightly more successful than smaller cities, however, this is not true for early market introduction. The weak and somewhat ambiguous relationships with large cities may be connected with the typical location of some sustainable energy sources, namely, as fixed natural assets in sparsely populated areas, like windy seashore and hills, strong coastal water currents, extended woodland, etc., favouring research in nearby small university towns. At the same time, the abundant knowledge (diversity) in large cities may enhance inventions with larger risk-taking in newness, specialization and global markets, and concomitantly, delay and longer time to market.

Can grassroots-driven citizen sensing initiatives triggered by distrust contribute to risk problem-solving? The article inspects such a potential in the field of risks to public health represented by noise pollution. After a conceptual reflection, the Amsterdam Schiphol and the London Heathrow airports' noise monitoring cases are compared. We inquire: How did lay people use citizen sensing to find solutions to the increase in noise? Which perceptions/actions influence and facilitate the problem-solving potential of citizen sensing? We found that the main citizens' actions leading to solutions are an adequate contesting of information monopoly through the production of valid data, as well as the challenging of institutional strategies to improve risk-related problem-solving. Accordingly, the citizen sensing initiative may generate mutual understanding and stimulate the institutional recognition of the problem and urgency for solving it. The article provides a novel exploration of evidence on performance of actors showing the problem-solving potential of citizen sensing through a preliminary performance matrix.

Universities are cradles of innovation, with many start-ups involved in sustainable energy solutions. The extent in which such solutions reach the market and the kind of risk-related factors young firms encounter, are hardly known and understood. We aim to clarify market introduction and focus on the empirics of firms' risk-taking behavior related to strategic choices, competences, and interactions with (national) ecosystem conditions. We use a unique dataset of almost 110 university spin-off firms and a small selected sample from this set. A total of 60% of spin-offs are able to reach the market, most of them in the first five years of spin-offs' lives. Wind energy provides the best chances, as compared to such things as solar photovoltaics (PV) and advanced biomass. In-depth results suggest the high probability of quick market introduction in 'Innovation Leader' countries, like Sweden and Denmark, if combined with employing rich collaborative networks. A second set of favorable influences includes a practical mindset and accessing substantial investment capital. In contrast, strong risks tend to be connected to activity in fundamental inventions, highly specialized technology, weakly developed (sub) markets, poorly built networks, and short refunding time of substantial investment. This study provides a unique contribution to understanding the market introduction of sustainable energy solutions and risk-taking in this effort by young high-tech firms, among others, connected to differences between countries.

This article provides an attempt to better understand the establishment of international knowledge relationships, including changes over time. Internationalization of young high-tech firms is strongly required given the drive for upscaling technology solutions and given the increased global spread of knowledge centers. To increase understanding, a framework of conditions of capability formation in internationalization is developed and measured using a sample of 105 university spin-off firms in Northwest Europe. In early years, 62% of these firms employed knowledge relationships abroad, often crossing continents. The main capabilities in this stage tend to be connected to education (PhD) and market training, innovation activity at practical level, and diversity in preceding domestic networks. Subsequent changes on the firm level show a somewhat stronger internationalization, 74%, associated with other capabilities compared to early years, mainly derived in previous internationalization, pre-start work experience and innovation activity at an advanced level. However, the results also point to a 'problematic' segment of firms, including shrinking patterns and persistent absence of internationalization. To summarize, we observe inertia as well as (highly) dynamic patterns of knowledge relationships abroad, with important implications for management and policy.

Urban living labs is a practical methodology in improving sustainability in cities by facilitating collaborative learning and innovation in a real-life environment, thereby mainly responding to the needs of users (citizens). The paper aims to filter a list of key learnings on urban living labs through the lens of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). One of the motivations is that key learnings on urban living labs are mainly derived from means-goal effectiveness (MGE) thinking while the urban setting calls for a broader perspective due to complexity and tension from the multi-actor, multifunctional, and multi-scalar character of cities. The filtering reveals almost 40 learnings as ‘overlap’ and ‘exclusive for MGE’. Importantly, five learnings are identified as specific for RRI and potentially enriching living lab methodology: ethical and normative principles like health, safety, security, and equality between societal groups, and a wider distribution of benefits and risks of living lab outcomes, in particular, contradictory sustainability issues. The RRI filtering causes three practical implications: coping with uneven power distribution between stakeholders, limited feasibility of applying the comprehensive learning framework, and challenges of overarching platform structures enabling to better incorporate RRI concerns in living lab methodology. The findings as presented in an adapted list are new, as RRI values and concerns have seldom been applied to practical innovation and have never been explicitly applied to urban living labs’ performance beyond the borders of effectiveness thinking.

The concept of the entrepreneurial university advocates the importance of the economic and societal impacts of universities through, among other things, the creation of spin-offs. With regard to supporting the early growth of spin-offs, literature has consistently emphasized the role of spatial and social proximity to universities in providing access to resources and facilitating technology transfer. However, little is known about the relationship between universities and their spin-offs, especially after incubation programs have been completed. Using a sample of 100 spin-offs from two universities in Europe, we develop several hypotheses predicting the motivation to maintain proximity to universities and the impact on performance. The findings suggest that factors such as research orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and market hostility encourage spin-offs to maintain proximity to universities. However, spin-offs experience diminishing returns in performance as commercial activities are reduced due to them over-pursuing proximity. More specifically, spin-offs with a high entrepreneurial orientation perform strongly if they are able to balance their level of proximity to universities. Our study contributes to the current discussion on the role of the university in supporting entrepreneurial activities and sparks a new debate on how to support the long-term growth of spin-offs, including differentiation in support according to entrepreneurial orientation, as well as flexibility in support.

The chapter introduces a novel financial arrangement in healthcare services: Health Impact Bonds (HIBs). Transition aims at making healthcare services not only more affordable but also more efficient, the reason why HIBs focus on the performance (output) side of services (pay-for-success contract). The chapter describes the urgency and challenges in moving towards illness prevention, on the system (healthcare) and project levels. Next, it is explored how HIBs can improve situations of care investment that does not (fully) precipitate at the investor while preventing the rise of new problematic situations. Accordingly, a preliminary list of conditions is designed for the alignment of HIBs. Overall, it seems that HIBs provide substantial solutions by combining new contracts on paying-for-success in performance and a shared savings contract, although some questions remain regarding the involvement of investors. The concluding section includes a reflection on city involvement in HIBs.

This article is a description of a growing community and movement taking place in Portugal related to open innovation. The testimonies of two principal promoters as well as the views of two career academics were gathered. Herein, the process is described whereby real corporate problems felt in industry and requiring a solution are brought for discussion and resolution by a community of motivated problem-solvers, who were carefully chosen for their skills and capabilities. Can this initiative become a mass phenomenon and can it be built up to attract [paying and sponsoring] corporations across Europe and from different continents? How can the events evolve to become mainstream? What capabilities and promotion are necessary for that to occur? The promoters involved are entrepreneurs located in central Portugal and are seen to be forward-thinkers disrupting how innovation is seen and approached. In a society geared towards services and tourism the team is seeking to bring open innovation to the fore in a country also considered to be very creative and not lacking in creative talent - but which on the other hand is very traditional, collectivist, hierarchical, consensus-seeking, and where innovation may be resisted and change viewed with suspicion. In a 72-hour time frame where problem-solving participants are invited and gathered at a physical venue individuals surpass themselves and experience team work in a setting where all logistics issues are previously carefully thought out and taken care of - so as to provide for the best problem-solving environment possible. The open innovation initiatives (called Hackathons) involve the following: defining the challenges (we want challenges that define goals and purposes but that are open enough to let the team build something creative), defining the fit (each candidate can apply as a team or individually; candidates select their preferred area); building teams (the candidates are free to change teams and can even propose their own challenges; we encourage communication between the team elements and also the mentors). A three-day Hackathon involves: creating a team spirit; constant feedback; building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product); learning new things; sharing is caring.

Little is known about how young high-tech ventures create openness in their knowledge networks. This paper explores the influence of antecedent resources on openness in knowledge networks, seen as diversity in knowledge partners, and explores the impact of openness on growth. The results from 105 university spin-off firms suggest that three antecedents positively influence openness, namely, founders' prestart experience, education and innovation experience, and one negatively, namely, size of the founding team. Regarding non-linearity, there are signs of cubic influences, potentially in line with passing critical junctures. In addition, external factors tend to have no influence on openness, except for region of location. Further, shaping the right amount of openness and benefitting from it seem a struggle, as an increasing openness tends to influence growth with decreasing returns.

Living labs, as a methodology to enhance user-centric innovation, have large potentials in bringing inventions to the marketplace, but their performance can benefit more from evaluation. This article develops a novel framework for evaluation of living labs, including (1) a system approach providing an analytical view on living labs’ performance and results; (2) a focus on actor-complexity and boundary-spanning needs; (3) a set of questions concerning, e.g. absorption of user-feedback, satisfaction among actors, and openness and connecting with larger networks; (4) a list of key performance factors; and (5) a focus on participatory evaluation. The design of this evaluation framework rests on a comprehensive literature search and case studies representing different actor complexity, namely home-solutions in healthcare, reconstruction of large (multi)functional buildings, and multiple combinations of activity (university campuses). Key performance factors are found to be: an early involvement of adequately skilled users in multiple learning processes, including absorption of feedback, and a broader but balanced set of actors connecting with upscaling and acceptance in the market. Also, boundaries need to be better bridged by learning how to handle conflicts and deal with intermediation, while respecting shared goals and interests. Specifically, university living labs call for maintaining a solid relation with cities and their actors. Overall, an explicitly designed evaluation framework is a key part of the working plan of living labs. The results also indicate a need for stronger attention for boundary-spanning in evaluation, because living labs are increasingly applied in comprehensive multi-activity settings.

This chapter presents the theme, theoretical approaches and overview of the chapters in the book. The theme is the contribution of cities (their actors) to increased sustainability in social-technical systems, eventually by accelerating sustainability improvements. The selected systems are energy, transport and healthcare. Cities may act as the cradle of key inventions, as places of up-scaling and commercialization and as places of quick adoption, though few individual cities take up all these roles. Next, several urban innovation theories are introduced, including agglomeration and cluster theories, and the relational (collaboration) approach, with the aim to ‘position’ the chapters. Specific attention is given to the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach. Complementary approaches are institutional and governance perspectives, in particular with respect to cities acting as institutional innovators. A final approach is the evolutionary approach, as invention, up-scaling, commercialization and adoption of new technology are concerned with long time-lines and manifold uncertainties.