Rooted Together: The Emergence of Living Labs and Their Institutionalization in Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland

Abstract

Universities are increasingly expected to contribute to tackling the economic and societal challenges through the enactment of their institutional missions. In this context, university-led living labs have emerged as innovative spaces with the potential to transform pedagogic models, research practices, and third mission activities. These initiatives have gained momentum in Europe and have been embraced by Finnish universities of applied sciences (UASs) as teaching and learning environments that actively incorporate students. Despite this growing interest in the topic, the literature remains scattered and fragmented, and there is a limited understanding of how living labs have been integrated into higher education settings, their implications for the university, and the challenges associated with this process. This research addresses this gap by studying how two living labs in Finnish UASs have been established and the factors that have facilitated or hindered their institutionalization. By employing a qualitative approach grounded in a constructivist paradigm, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with professors and students, as well as document analysis, to analyze the external and internal forces shaping the emergence of living labs from an institutional theory perspective. The findings indicate that living labs emerged organically as bottom-up initiatives with low bureaucratic barriers, championed by lecturers who implement and sustain them within a supportive institutional context. Furthermore, the living labs’ alignment with the university’s identity, mission, and culture, together with the agency of institutional entrepreneurs, are the two main factors that have driven their institutionalization.