evels of obesity and an ageing population, the health challenges faced by European countries are familiar to many industrialized nations. Technology may lead to the creation of increasingly sophisticated healthcare solutions, but focusing on the user is essential if they are to be genuinely responsive and personalized.
Several experiments were undertaken in the area of healthcare as part of the IDeALL project, and they show how businesses and public bodies can select methodologies to respond to users’ healthcare needs. Examples include the development of a smart pill dispenser, supported by IDeALL partner Medicalps, and innovative orthopaedic supports developed using LUPI methodology in an experiment led by the Cité du design. The HUMBLES method for user-centred business was applied in an experiment involving Lékué, a Catalan company with a strong focus on innovation, which helped them to shift their business aims from "being a market leader in the production of silicon-based products", to "producing utensils which would support people to cook well and follow a healthy diet".
Information and communication technology
Information and communication technology clearly plays a pivotal role in this new co-creative landscape, providing both the paradigms (e.g., open source) and the tools (e.g., user-generated content-sharing networks). IDeALL consortium member Artur Serra (2013) divides living labs in Europe along two main lines: "those who are focused principally on helping companies to connect with user requirements, facilitating processes by which these requirements can be incorporated into the design of products and services" and those that "concentrate on opening innovation systems to the society in general, which we would call citizen laboratories". Although some of the examples cited above fulfil the first category, he classifies his organization, IDeALL-partner Citilab in the second.
Several experiments and case studies selected by the IDeALL project show how new technologies can open new possibilities for all users, as shown in the example of Barcelona Laboratori, an IDeALL case study that seeks to make the whole city of Barcelona into a living lab. Serra describes Barcelona Laboratori and the different use cases developed by Citilab of Cornella de Llobregat for the IDeALL as a project “to build a second generation of citizen laboratories involving both the current official innovation system (universities, research centres, large businesses) and new, emerging stakeholder, such as entrepreneurs, urban innovation communities, (arduinos, fablabbers, social innovators), extending this innovation potential to as many citizens as possible … through schools, cultural centres, retirement homes, not-for-profit organizations and more’”. This ethos is exemplified in the IDeALL experiment the iCity project, which seeks to open up cities’ information infrastructure to promote the co-creation of public services in areas such as mobility, environment, security, and health, by developers. This example has used the 3H engagement methodology designed by Citilab, which may be instructive for local governments wishing to introduce smart technology into their area. They can use this approach to ensure that new services are responsive to residents’ needs and that big data is used in a way that benefits citizens.
At the local level, Citilab experiments have been directed towards equipping participants with the skills to adapt to a new digital economy and participate in the Internet of Things. The Nuevos Artesanos (New Artisans) experiment, for example, was developed as a response to people with traditional craft skills finding themselves out of work. Combining programming and electronics workshops with a "do it yourself" ethos, participants were able to put their craft skills to use in the creation of smart items, documenting the process as they went along (Figure 4). Similarly, the Inventa’t la feina (Invent your own job) experiment sought to find a solution to the situation in Mataró, which has some of the highest youth unemployment levels