Smart Cities

FNF-KLID Seminar on Living Lab 'Focusing on Theory and Cases'

Marking the beginning of the FNF-KLID series on living labs for 2021, FNF Korea and its partner, the Korea Local Information Research & Development Institute (KLID) held a seminar on living labs in South Korea. Like last year’s joint online seminar on artificial intelligence, which mainly targeted local government officials, this event was streamed live on YouTube.

This seminar consisted of two presentations and informed its audience on living labs’ potential for accelerating social and technological innovation in South Korea. Additionally, the seminar focused on how living labs can contribute to the development of South Korean smart cities.

After greetings by the representatives of the two organizers, Kyungsung University’s Professor Kwang-Woo Nam delivered the first presentation of the day, “Living Lab and Local Innovation: Theory and Methodology.” In his presentation, Professor Nam explained that successful living labs are made with clear goals and good governance. This was immediately followed by Eon-Jin Lee’s presentation, “Case studies on Busan’s living labs.” As manager of the Busan Centre for Creative Economy & Innovation (BCCEI), Lee introduced various living lab programs run by the BCCEI such as the Citizen Science Lab and the Green Up project. Both presentations emphasized how living labs stimulate social transformation by promoting a citizen centred approach to local problem solving.

The moderator of the event, Professor Min-Jung Oh from Sungkyunkwan University wrapped up the seminar with a Q&A session. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, there were only speakers and organizing staff on site. However, as a YouTube livestream, the seminar reached 500 viewers. The speakers also received many real time questions from online participants. In line with the current COVID-19 situation, one viewer asked about the extent to which participation in living labs could be digitalized.

As a continuation of this event, FNF Korea and KLID will have another online seminar in June.