1 Objectives and Set Up

The APOLLON project aimed at demonstrating the positive impacts of cross-border domain-specific Living Lab networks, by setting up an advanced pilot composed of 4 thematically focused European-wide Living Lab experiments. In the experiments, SMEs are enabled to take part in cross-border Living Lab experiments beyond their home markets, and are supported by large industrial companies, academic centres and other stakeholders. The pilot aims at the sharing and harmonisation of Living Lab approaches and platforms between networks of exemplary European Living Labs, and the subsequent evaluation and exchange of results on a European and even worldwide level.

The pioneering approach of Living Labs is to improve the innovation process by establishing business-citizens-government partnerships that enable users to participate in R&D at an early stage. European Living Labs are at the forefront of defining and putting into practice this new approach within the context of their local ecosystem. Currently, Europe-wide federation and networking between Living Labs is primarily aimed at harmonising best practices for setting up and conducting individual Living Lab research. In addition, Living Labs are collaborating across Europe at an individual project level.

It is commonly thought that strongly increased cross-border Living Lab collaboration would potentially yield huge added value for Europe, as it enables firms, most particularly SMEs, to participate in domain-specific innovation ecosystems at a European scale, without losing sight of local circumstances and idiosyncrasies. Therefore, the next step in Living Lab networking is to pilot a more intensive, permanent and scalable collaboration, resulting in methodologies, tools and sustainable organisational structures for cross-border domainspecific Living Lab networks. The APOLLON project has answered to the call of the European ICT-PSP work programme to pilot and share best practices across Living Labs involving SMEs as key user- and provider-participants.

APOLLON addresses four major domains in which ICT products and services innovation may benefit most from cross-border Living Lab networking. These are: (1) Homecare and Independent Living, (2) Energy Efficiency, (3) eManufacturing and (4) eParticipation and Social Media. In each of these domains, innovation is crucially dependent upon good knowledge of / embedding in local ecosystems on the one hand, and the ability to scale up to a European level on the other hand. Also, in each of these domains a set of dynamic projects and initiatives connected to lead markets, as well as a number of prominent Living Labs, industrial and SME stakeholders, can be identified that have a clear expressed need for scaling up through cross-border networking. Moreover, cross-border Living Lab networking in these domains responded to a range of national and European policy priorities.

In each of these domains, real-life experiments were specifically designed to pilot and validate that cross-border domain-specific collaboration between Living Labs leads to measurable improvements in ICT product and service innovation, that it brings significant added value to SMEs including micro entrepreneurs, and that it leads to sustainable networks strengthening the European innovation fabric. Furthermore, each experiment had a complementary focus on specific harmonisation and networking aspects, i.e. a common ecosystem, a common benchmark framework, a common technology platform, and a common integration framework. The APOLLON general framework for piloting a cross-border domain-specific Living Lab network is depicted below.

APOLLON general framework

Therefore, the activities of the project were situated on two tightly interconnected levels featured throughout the project. The ground level is the so-called ‘vertical’ level, i.e. the level of the Homecare and Independent Living, Energy Efficiency, eManufacturing and eParticipation and Social Media domains. Here, the focus is on validating the added value of a cross-border Living Lab network to deliver a domain-specific breakthrough and to engage business stakeholders (especially SMEs), end-users as well as public stakeholders in innovation at a European scale. In each of these pilots a specific use case was investigated, i.e.:

- - - - Homecare and Independent Living: Remote Gateway and sensor-based systems Energy Efficiency: Research benchmark for user empowerment eManufacturing: An Integration and service platform eParticipation and Social Media: Integration framework of different services

The upper level is the so-called ‘horizontal’ level, where common methodologies and tools for cross-border Living Lab networking are being set up, tested and validated, and where work on governance and business models as well as European and worldwide transfer and dissemination will ensure a scalable and sustainable outcome. As mentioned earlier, the vertical experiments will each have a complementary focus on specific cross-border harmonisation and networking aspects, i.e. on building a common ecosystem, a common benchmark framework, using a common technology platform, and creating a common integration framework. This will result in:

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4. A common eco-system model (Homecare and Independent Living experiment) In the first experiment an existing solution which is piloted in a local Living Lab will be transferred to one other Living Lab belonging to the network. The focus within this approach is to determine what kind of ecosystem, value network and common approach needs to be in place to conduct cross-border pilots (in the domain of Homecare and Independent Living) and to what extent it helps to do this faster, easier and more efficiently. This model will be applied to two Independent Living Services applications. A common benchmark framework (Energy Efficiency experiment) This experiment will develop a common benchmark framework that will be deployed in all Living Labs taking part in the Energy Efficiency experiment. The main focus here is to assess the scalability of the Living Lab network, its services, and the comparability of research data within cross-border projects. This model will set benchmark criteria for a well-functioning energy Living Lab service delivery and will provide a clear model of network efficiencies related to a shared platform of Living Lab services. This model will e.g. be applied in the energy efficiency domain to assess the impact of smart-metering on user behaviour. A common technology platform (eManufacturing experiment) In this experiment a common technology platform will be introduced and used by each of the domain specific Living labs. The objective of this approach is not only to see to what extent the use of such a common platform facilitates the transfer of projects between Living Labs but also to investigate whether this stimulates new forms of collaboration between different partners. The experiment will install and adapt a research prototype called RWIP with additional integration logic and services capability that will be used in the three participating Living Labs. An integration framework (eParticipation and Social Media experiment) In this experiment we will transfer and integrate several locally tested applications into each of the different Living Labs that are active in the network. By deploying the integrated solution in all of the Living Labs we can test more accurately the advantages, best practices and limitations (on an organisational, technical and research level) of cross-border activities within the network. In this experiment there will be an exchange and integration of different local projects between all participating Living Labs.

The APOLLON target outcomes were to deliver concrete results and guidelines in terms of building common ecosystems and Living Lab networks, common benchmark and impact assessment frameworks, using common technology platforms, and creating common integration methodologies. At the end of the project the following goals need to be achieved:

1. A set of validated methodologies to set up and conduct cross-border Living Lab pilot networks 2. A recommended toolset for facilitating cross-border research 3. Set up of European thematic Living Lab networks 4. A framework and practical guidelines for involving SMEs 5. Impact assessment of the specific added value in terms of results as well as operational efficiencies of the cross-border approach 6. Recommendations and action plans for viable, sustainable and scalable roll-outs to further domains and sectors

In sum, the APOLLON Objectives and Set-up can be summarised as follows:

APOLLON Objectives and Set-Up

Related to the design and set-up of the APOLLON pilot experiments, it also needs to be highlighted that we chose different ways of cross-border activities in each of the experiments. The focus of complementarity between the four pilot models implemented in the vertical experiments is depicted below.

In the Homecare and Independent Living experiments, two SME remote gateway and sensorbased systems that were respectively transferred to another national context and market. As the Health sector is strongly determined by local value-chains and regulations, the four Living Labs involved had to first investigate the required eco-system and approach for setting-up cross-border experiments. This was necessary in order to determine a common approach and define the required roles and stakeholders for such cross-border Homecare and Independent Living experiment. Subsequently, the two local systems were to be piloted in the cross-border Living Labs using this approach. In the evaluation of the experiments, the main focus was on the assessment of these requirements, in order to determine how a common eco-system may benefit cross-border Living Lab research in the domain of Homecare and Independent Living. During the project, we were able to add a third experiment, which is reported on below.

Complementarity between the four use cases within APOLLON

In the Energy Efficiency experiments, the challenges in terms of Energy Efficiency which the European Union is currently facing, were focused upon. To identify and address these key challenges, an ICT-based transformation of the energy sector is needed both in production and consumption. Knowing that heating, cooling and lighting of buildings account for more than 40% of European energy consumption, the Energy Efficiency use case focused on the stimulation of behavioural changes by providing real-time updates on energy consumption through Smart meters. This requires a cross-border large scale demonstration approach. Therefore the Energy Efficiency vertical experiment clustered four running local Living Lab projects in four countries dealing with Energy efficiency in general and Smart metering in particular. Each of these projects was independently investigating how smart metering technology can be used in the most efficient way and creates behavioural change. The goal was to validate the outcomes of these projects on a broader scale by using a common research benchmark and, by doing so, enhance the scalability of Living Lab research.

The thematic objective of the eManufacturing vertical experiment was to improve the innovation lifecycle for SMEs in the manufacturing supply chain. For this three main challenges needed to be addressed. Firstly, there is need for a stronger integration on the operational and management level. For example, a more tight integration between the board room and the shop floor is a fundamental challenge in the manufacturing domain. Secondly, in terms of Interoperability there is a need for collaboration frameworks in order to facilitate