User Contribution in Innovation Processes - Reflections from a Living Lab Perspective

This paper discusses user contribution in innovation processes from a Living Lab perspective. In this paper we focus on methods and techniques for user contribution in innovation processes by discussing experiences based on 100 activities conducted within four different research projects. The purpose of this paper is to discuss our experiences of methods and techniques for user contribution in innovation processes, in relation to Living Lab, as well as to: a) phase in the innovation process, b) kind of user contribution and c) type of users. Our contribution is threefold, we have: (1) theoretically modified the CIC model to better suit a Living Lab milieu, (2) empirically discussed methods and techniques for user contribution in relation to the modified model, as well as to Living Labs and (3) identified several issues regarding different kinds of user contribution and types of users that need to be considered in Living Labs.