17 May 2011Marlien Herselman

Living Lab in Southern Africa Living Lab in Southern Africa network network

Agenda

• What is LL & elements• LLiSA – where we started • Purpose of LLiSA• Challenges• Value proposition

It is not the strongest of the species that

survives, nor the most intelligent that

survives.It is the one that is most adaptable to change. Charles DarwinBritish Naturalist (1809-1882)

3

Key elements of a LL

• User driven• In real-life context• Multidisciplinary• Cover different domains/themes• Impact on community to improve• Involves different stakeholders• Is supported by a specific funder/stakeholder Helsinki LL• Unique set of values with different approaches

DST Mandate

MERAKA hosting LLiSA

Establish LL as centres of gravity enabling community-academia-industry interaction with a national agenda and fast results

Build critical mass consisting of infrastructure, R&D, students and leadership

Establish local and international networks and co-operation of SA researchers

Increase number of quality of scientific publications in the field of ICT4D

DST, COFISA, SAFIPA, ENOLL, Industry partners, HEIs, regional & local governments, SMEs, students,

Communities, NGOs

Collaborative partners

Purpose of LLiSA networkPurpose of LLiSA network

• Create capacity for understanding, establishing and developing LL activities in Southern Africa

• Support pilot projects in Southern Africa

• Facilitate local and international collaboration and linkages

• Links developers, research organizations, industry and government together for advancing regional LL activities

Assessing Next Opportunities (Scale with Big

Impact is the Key)

Excellent

BADor

So So

Excellent Vision +

Invention =

Sustainable “Innovation” for rural or urban communities

1. Technology2. Business Model3. User Experience

Innovation on

Challenges of LLiSA Challenges of LLiSA since 2009since 2009• How to increase skills base• Manage user expectations • Balance/manage partner roles /stakeholder

interventions• Role out innovation products within communities which

will increase economic development of communities• Reward system for communities where LL are

researching• IPR within LL (ownership)• What is Innovation• Governance of LL• Difference between project and LL

Since 2009:Value proposition of Since 2009:Value proposition of LLiSALLiSA

• Context we can provide – specific rural communities – poverty reduction – skills development – from a SA rural perspective

• Network with NGOs, local municipalities, government, HEI, industries, SMMEs, community representatives

• Lessons on scalability• Guidelines on setting up and maintaining LL – lessons, experience gained• Allow communities access to new innovation creation (co-creation) as they are

drivers of the process• Trust relationships, diversity of network, community owned• Quality feedback on community engagement with new ideas, inventions and

innovations• Access to depth of network and wide range of customer base• Support to SMMEs on valuable lessons learnt and best practices• Can provide links between different projects within LL• Credible network with lot of members and access to communities to test products and

do research collaboratively• Has database of users for companies to access for test bed type research

Recent developments in LLiSA Recent developments in LLiSA networknetwork

• LLiSA launch on 24 February 2009

• 1st Annual LLiSA conference on 23,24 November 2009 at Convention centre at CSIR, Pretoria Conference presentations/articles on LL

• ENoLL collaboration (visit from experts (Daan Velthausz, Tuija Hirvikoski, Minna Fred in February/March 2011)

• New additions to LL network and ones who is non-existing

• Upgrading of wikipedia to include social networking updates – new webpage

• Two workshops before June 2011 to assist established and new LL with support, development and processes, evaluation

• Market the network to broader audience

• Site visits to all LL & Monitoring and evaluation

Data of LL in LLiSA

Living Labs main drivers

3

1

5

3Industry

Government (provincial)

Academic

NGO

Main area of focus

9

1

2

Rural

Peri urban

Urban

LL information

Status of LL in LLiSA

9

4

4

Operational

Beginning operations

Planning phase

LL in Southern Africa

1

1

21

1

0

1

1 MpumalangaNorth WestEastern CapeWestern CapeGautengNorthern CapeKZNMozambique

Sustainability and business model • LLiSA will provide advise and support to new LL and existing

ones on possible future products;

• Incubation of LL can provide better innovation deliverable – developed a toolkit of how to start and maintain a LL (guidlines, processes)

• In kind contributions by industry partners

• LLiSA board to develop sustainability plan, business plan, communication strategy and marketing strategy

• Leverage other science councils and research partners as well as industry

• Lobbying LLiSA at government dept.

• Donor funding

• International proposals with partners (univ, industry)

LL Workshop – RLabs – March 2011

• Focus on sustainability, evaluation, funding and integrating social media into LL websites

• Recent visits to LL:• Current Activity of the Living Lab• Alignment of the Living Lab to LLISA guidelines• Meet Stakeholders• Interview Stakeholders• Assess Community Involvement • Sustainability model

Future developments • ENoLL collaboration – MoU • Research papers• Self evaluation• Focus on measurement/evaluation (market, operational, financial, human,

process capital, technology, renewal & development, competitive advantage)• Ask other LL to evaluate each other• Evaluation based on purpose/objectives of each LL• Every LL business model, purpose & process, network matrix, use a specific

M&E framework Inventory of document, participation papers – as trail, white paper, case studies

• Make use of LLiSA’s small entity to use to our advantage to coordinate LL activities, communication and document materials

• Sustainability = value proposition & leverage funding opportunities, grants for specific purposes – leverage cooperate social responsibility moneys, look international and share innovations across LL & international

• Use social media more• Next LL workshop in June and last one in November 2011 – use specific

theme/focus

What makes LLiSA a success?

• Hosting entity – independent (Meraka)• LLiSA board – insight & transparency• Using specific community focus with DI and CI as key area for

comparing and collaboration in Africa & international• Use our small entity as a strength to get work done• Have regular face-to-face interactions and workshops• Focus on successes of existing LL – best practices and why LL fail –

also product testing between LL• Research LL from all angles• Share networks, knowledge & skills transfer & ideas• Databases of users, industry involvement, stakeholder maps and

unique focus of LL• Write collaborative papers• Market LL to each other and to potential funders/partners• Uniqueness of each LL focus = contributions not only on ICT

Thank YouThank YouContact Details (LLiSA board)Contact Details (LLiSA board)(Meraka host the network)

• Chair: Prof Marlien Herselman (mherselman@csir.co.za)• Members:

• Meraka: Mario Marais (mmarais@csir.co.za)• Meraka: Mmamakanye Pitse-Boshomane

(mpitseboshomane@csir.co.za)• NGO: Deon Manuel (deon.manuel@affrivate.com)• Reconstructed LL: Rene Parker (rene@rlabs.org)• Siyakhula LL: Sibukele Gumbo (sgumbo@ufh.ac.za)• SAFIPA: Thiru Swettenham (tswettenham@csir.co.za)

URLs:www.meraka.org.za

http://www.llisa.net