PRESS RELEASE 12 DECEMBER 2007
Living Lab marketing brand
The Living Lab Innovations – Successful User Cases seminar
provided an understanding of living lab in the Helsinki
Metropolitan Area in the form of presentations and visits. The
seminar also announced the establishment of a European Network
of Living Labs office (ENoLL) in Helsinki.
The Living Lab Innovations – Successful User Cases seminar
attracted almost two hundred participants interested in living
labs to Helsinki on 28 November, 2007. Among them were players
from companies, public organizations and the European Network
of Living Labs (ENoLL) as well as representatives of Chinese
news agencies and the press.
The event also saw the launching of “Helsinki Living Lab”, an
alliance of the living labs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
(Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa), which in the initial stages will
consist of six living labs in various areas of activity,
several science universities and polytechnics, companies and
firms of consultants.
Helsinki Living Lab is a network in which the players,
together with genuine users, develop products, services and
innovations in genuine urban environments and genuine usage
situations.
The aim is to generate better services and
products and to create new business. Helsinki Living Lab will
operate as an open umbrella and as a joint brand for all
living-lab players in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, making
it possible for them to cooperate with each other.
Besides the living labs already operating in Arabianranta,
Pasila, Oulunkylä, and Otaniemi and one near Helsinki-Vantaa
Airport, the construction of the next stage of living labs, at
Suurpelto in Espoo and Kalasatama and Jätkäsaari in Helsinki,
is on the point of starting.
Aiming for global network
The Living Labs Innovations seminar also announced information
about a new European Network of Living Labs office to be
opened in Helsinki in January 2008. Forum Virium Helsinki, a
cluster developing digital services and content, will be in
charge of running the office.
The main coordination inside ENoLL will be carried out by its
Brussels office, which is managed by a Finn, Susanna Avéssta.
The operational side will be led by a management group
selected by Living Labs, with Veli-Pekka Niitamo from the
Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research
(CKIR) at the Helsinki School of Economics and Nokia acting as
chairman.
The Helsinki ENoLL office will coordinate the living lab
cooperation network inside the EU and outside, and it will be
responsible for the network’s communications. Ties with China
have already been opened and the aim is to create a global
network of living labs.
The European Network of Living Labs was established by
nineteen members in Helsinki in November 2006 during Finland’s
Presidency of the EU. The present country holding the
Presidency, Portugal, and its successor, Slovenia, have
assumed responsibility for developing the network, which has
already grown at breakneck pace: at this moment there are 51
living labs in 18 European countries.
Further information is available from: Forum Virium Helsinki
Jarmo Eskelinen, Director
Tel. + 358 50 593 3441
Greater Helsinki Promotion
Johanna Korhonen, Director, Communications
Tel. + 358 400 995699
Helsinki Living Lab
Helsinki Living Lab is a network in which the players,
together with genuine users, develop products, services and
innovations in genuine urban environments and genuine usage
situations. The aim is to generate better services and
products and to create new business.
The living labs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area that are
involved in the initial stages are: Arabianranta, Forum Virium
Helsinki, Kustaankartano Centre for Elderly, m-cult, RFID Lab
Finland and Well Life Center. Helsinki Living Lab cooperation
is being made possible in the first stages by:
-the Center of Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR), Culminatum, DIMES ry/ LiTe Open, Greater Helsinki Promotion, HIIT/HUT, Laurea, Movense, Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and
Innovation), the University of Art and Design Helsinki, VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) and the Cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.
Further information is available at: www.helsinkilivinglab.fi
Forum Virium Helsinki
Forum Virium Helsinki promotes the development of digital
services. Forum Virium Helsinki is an independent bouncer of
ideas and creators, bringing together large and growing
companies, managing development projects and opening up
connections with international markets. Forum Virium Helsinki
is closely involved in creating real-life test environments in
the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and in planning Länsi-Pasila
and the Fortum Virium Centre, which will be built in that area
of Helsinki. The aim is to generate better services and
increasing business on the basis of strong expertise. The
companies that are providing the impetus for Forum Virium
Helsinki, which was established in 2005, are Destia, Digita,
Elisa, Nokia, TeliaSonera, TietoEnator, Veikkaus, WM-Data,
which is a LogicaCMG company, YIT Group and YLE (Finnish
Broadcasting Company). Co-partners are IBM, Itella, MTV Media,
SOK, Swelcom and Vaisala, and from public management the City
of Helsinki, Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund), Tekes and
VTT. SMEs are represented by Idean, ConnectedDay and
Fromdistance: A large number of growth companies operating in
the Helsinki area will also be taking part in development
projects.
Further information is available at: www.forumvirium.com
Greater Helsinki Promotion Ltd Oy
Greater Helsinki Promotion is company owned by the key cities
in the capital area and the Uusimaa Regional Council, whose
role is to use marketing means to increase international
awareness of the area and awaken the interest of companies,
highly skilled experts and investors in Helsinki.
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