Comparative Insights into Urban Living Labs and Learning Factories: Collaborative Business Models and Stakeholder Synergies in Fenicia and Distrito TEC Chapter in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • Urban Living Labs (ULLs) have become key experimental platforms within smart cities, integrating academia, industry, local government, and communities to collaboratively address urban challenges. This study examines the cooperative frameworks of two ULLs: Fenicia in Colombia and Distrito TEC in Mexico, focusing on fostering socio-technical innovation. These ULLs enable the co-creation, testing, and scaling of solutions that support sustainable urban development and smart city transformations. ULLs for smart cities share similarities with learning factories in their emphasis on sustainability and resource efficiency. Both leverage technologies like IoT, digitalization, and data analytics to optimize energy, water, and materials use. In smart cities, these technologies create efficient infrastructure by managing energy grids, transportation, and waste. In learning factories, they enhance industrial processes, reducing waste and improving efficiency, with both models aiming to build sustainable, data-driven environments. Using a comparative case study approach, the research assesses public-private partnerships, and community-driven projects through document analysis. It evaluates how these models drive socio-technical innovations in waste management and mobility, integrating stakeholder efforts into sustainable urban development. The main contribution of this study is the identification of strategies for integrating academic research, industrial innovation, and community participation. The study also explores how these frameworks can be adapted in Latin American contexts, offering insights for addressing global sustainability challenges. Recommendations are provided to enhance collaboration in solving urban challenges. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

publication date

  • January 1, 2025