From Practice to Theory Gaps: a Roadmap from Case Studies Analysis on Living Labs

Living Labs (LLs) have been defined as collaborative spaces, innovation management tools, or open innovation networks, used to develop and validate new products or services by involving different actors within a real-life context. Dealing with a phenomenon that only recently has been institutionalized, where framework theories have been identified after the practice has already emerged, the present paper identifies theory-practice gaps based on a thematic analysis of in-depth case studies focusing on LLs experiences. Results suggest five main gaps to be addressed within future research, related to theoretical frameworks fragmentation, the involvement of users, the need for a clearer definition of LLs, and of an evolutionary approach to their analysis, the identification of a suitable theory for the real-life setting.