Erasme Living Lab – Lyon Metropole: 20 years of Public Innovations
Created in 1999 as a multimedia centre in the countryside one hour west of the metropolitan area of Lyon (Rhône-Alpes Region), Erasme Living Lab became the Living Lab of Greater Lyon Metropole (the political institution that drives the urban area) in 2015, when Rhône department and Lyon Metropole merged. The management team were relocated in the centre of Lyon, the greater city of the region (1,3 millions inhabitants). Dedicated to digital culture since 1999, the ERASME missions were enlarged to smart city and the co-creation of new digital public services for inhabitants. Since 20 years, the Living Lab experimented different methods of open innovation with users on the one side and technological experts in various fields on the other. So, the Erasme team is specialized in collaborative workshops, service design, prototyping and digital technologies. Erasme is a tool for internal services of Lyon Metropole to rethink public services but the Living Lab has also a good reputation with diverse professional communities of the regional ecosystem and even at a national scale.
Stakeholders & Beneficiaries
Co-creation process
Digital Transformation Process
Results, Outcomes & Impacts
Challenges & Bottlenecks
Transferability & Replicability
Success Factors
- The management team is composed of engineers, designers, developers, makers who are familiar with open innovation methods, animation and project management. They share competencies with diverse creative and professional communities, all experts in a specific field (culture, education, technology, health…) at a local, regional or even national and international scales.
- Established step by step during 20 years, the methodology of co-creation with users and stakeholders is proven: a first phase of “Mix” with users (from ideation to prototypes); a second phase of “Lab” with professionals and users (from prototypes to tests then development of an innovative product or service).
- Education to the “right to fail” through a communication about “lessons from experience”. Because failures can be a source of value rather than a barrier to co-creation.
- A Living Lab approach “out of the walls”, in public spaces with citizens rather than in a dedicated place, is a way to promote co-creation to the general public, digital artists or social innovators. But a dedicated place “as neutral as possible” is better for associating professional ecosystems such as big firms, creative start-ups or higher education institutions (design, digital coding, urban planning…).
- Thanks to its 20 years of seniority, Erasme Living Lab is well identified by the metropolitan ecosystem, and even beyond the region.