Contribution des livings labs à l’innovation sociale territoriale : perspectives d’analyse et d’évaluation

Abstract

Territorial social innovation (IST) aims to provide innovative systemic and transformative solutions to existing and emerging complex social issues in a given territory. One of the strategies increasingly implemented by public authorities and social actors to achieve this is the establishment of public policy instruments (PPI) focused on innovation in real conditions such as Livings labs (LL). This article sheds light on the contribution of LL designed as PPI to territorial social innovation and to propose a conceptual framework to analyze and evaluate it. From an exploratory review of the literature, we first identified the characteristics of LL as PPI and then we examined the relevance of existing conceptual frameworks. Belley and Saint-Pierre’ s framework (2017b) was thus identified as a relevant guide to assess the contribution of LLs in a territory. It makes it possible to analyze the LL as a PPI and highlights the underlying logic of intervention in a territory. By combining this framework with a developmental evaluation approach, professionals will be better equipped.

Keywords

• territorial social innovation
• Living Lab
• developmental evaluation
• Public policy instrument
• analysis framework