Exploring business models for open innovation in rural living labs

Living Labs are user-centric environments for open innovation characterized by early and continuous involvement of users and by user-driven rapid prototyping cycles. Establishing sustainable partnerships of stakeholders with a shared set of values is a strategic step in the planning and preparation phases of Living Labs, setting the conditions for the subsequent phase of full operation. As Living Labs are instances of open innovation but also need to establish mechanisms to protect IPR, business models coping with various aspects of partnering is critical. Little theoretical and practical guidance is available on how to design and implement such business models. Based on current work in launching Living Labs for rural development, this paper identifies critical aspects of business models and preconditions for business models design. These first findings are relevant to understand how to arrive at successful business models for open collaborative innovation fostering rural and regional development.