An Action Research Approach to Rural Living Labs Innovation

This paper examines the potential of the Living labs concept as change catalyst for rural and regional development. An action research approach is proposed as a basis for organising innovation in Living labs. The approach distinguishes between strategic and operational Living labs activities. We discuss how software development as spiral process and how architecture framework development can be integrated into action research approaches. The paper is based on the mid-term results achieved in the seven Rural Living Labs launched by the C@R project.