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1. Rationale |
Living-Lab.Net
Multi-disciplinary research for personalized personalization of living
and working environments Living-Lab.Net platform. Changing needs in working
and living The diversification,
growing mobility and individualization of the society are creating demand for
a wider choice of alternatives in housing as well as in working environments.
People in different life stages (from nursery to adulthood and further up to
eldercare) and with different lifestyles place different requirements
for their immediate environment. In the present urban situation questions
related to ecological, economical and social sustainability and cultural
diversity of the built environment are becoming essential. Understanding European
diversity Our immediate environment
is always time and site-specific, culture-oriented and related to climate.
When creating user-oriented interfaces, technologies and applications, there
can’t be one universally relevant solution. It is essential to approach the
problems from the individual end-user point of view and in relation with
divergent local conditions with modular solutions.
Towards integrated
environments Services, products and
spaces are increasingly merging together forming intelligent, adaptive and
responsive environments. The compatibility and usability of the new
integrated and configurable environment becomes essential. A new societal
architecture focused on the balancing of work and life through pervasive open
wireless technologies is emerging. The shift has profound implications for
enterprise business cultures, architectures and transformation initiatives.
New models of production
and service provisioning When customer needs are
diversifying, the industry is turning from supply to demand led services and
products. Individual needs rather than segmentation are becoming the basis of
production. The situation requires generic and interactive production
processes based on customization, co-configuration and design-on-demand
approach. These involve new processes in design and manufacturing as well as
in selling, marketing and service provisioning. LivingLab objectives are to
1) enhance and further
strengthen European lead in applying wireless technologies in everyday
living. In an increasingly diversified and fragmented society, the ability to
personalize work and life environments according to individual and situation
based needs becomes essential. Making technology more usable and
understandable for individuals best does humanization of technology. 2) address the EU-wide and
global challenges of socio-economic sustainability through identifying and
responding to the multiple roles that a mobile individual plays as a member
of society. Implications for social policies, local governance and
neighborhood communication needs will hence be identified. 3) identify mobile
individuals’ and families/social teams’ current and emerging emerging demands
for digital and physical products, services and infrastructure. 4) create modular,
customizable solutions for the identified needs that meet company’s or other
service providers feasible delivery. Therefore, the focus is on products and
services that can effectively adapt or be adapted by the users to the unique
requirements of the situation and have market viability. 5) Optimize utilization of
mobile technologies in everyday living in order to further strengthen
European lead on different applications improving Work-Life efficiency and
Work-Life balance The project also addresses the global and EU wide
challenges socio-economic sustainability through identifying and responding
to the multiple roles that a mobile individual plays as a member of society.
Additionally, implications for social policies will hence be identified. of
mobile individuals. The benefits of the LivingLabs
are two folded. From the individual point of view benefits are: - Better everyday living
and work/life balance for individuals/families. - Better knowledge worker
productivity for corporations and organizations. - Socio-economic and
community infrastructure that responds better to individuals, families and
organizations needs. The benefits from the
organizational point of view are: - Development of open and
scalable modular components - Tools for end user driven
configuration - Customization strategy
from organizations point of view Methodologies Personalization through
mass-customization is enabled by user-configurable digital and physical
components. In order to be able to create these kinds of components, the
needs of different user groups are analyzed through segmentation, after which
the identified segments are modularized and the modules developed into
user-configurable components. MIE/SIE project in
Living-Lab.Net research platform is an integrated project:, a network of
multi-disciplinary research on focusing on individuals’ and teams’ needs for
personalized work/life environments. Research collaboration answers to the
above listed questions. Multi-disciplinary research
is realized through studying individual needs in both physical and virtual
environments as they relate work, home and community. These needs are
observed from the point of view of the individual/social, usability and
technology aspects. The operational model is
based on a research platform consisting of a network of local laboratories using
a common set of tools for producing individual solutions for specific
situations. Research activities include developing design-on-demand,
mass-customization and co-configuration solutions for generating individual
domestic and working environments. Continuity of research laboratories is
based on market opportunities. Furthermore, the challenge
is to create an operational model between universities and companies and to
initiate an international network of several corresponding laboratories. The
research is going to be conducted in multiple levels between industry,
experts and universities. The model to be developed in the Living-Lab project is to meet the
challenges of personalization of the products and services. The research
method includes -The analysis of the segmentation of the needs of different kinds of
end-users -The modularization of the segments into components -The design of the components into personified products and services Contents of the project MIE/SIE project focus areas in Living-Lab.Net
platform is Technology
Research partners VTT, TKK, MIT, UB User Interfaces
Research partners UIAH, UTA, MIT, UL Human Sciences
Research partners UTA, IPTS, UIAH MIE/SIE project Research areas Ambient Intelligent Landscape / Seamless Individual Environments
Industry partners Nokia, Radiolinja, UPM, Skanska, Kone, WSOY Creative Knowledge worker / Work/Life Balance
Industry partners Nokia, Radiolinja, Sanoma WSOY Secure mobile identification / m-Commerce, locationing
Industry partners Radiolinja, Sanoma WSOY Learning environments/ Home/School/Work communications
Industry partners Sanoma WSOY, Radiolinja m-Community communications / services, maintenance, updating
Industry partners Kone, Skanska Rf-Product identification / material logistics
Industry partners UPM, Skanska, Radiolinja Capable constructions and materials / Work/Life Balance
Industry partners UPM, Kone, Skanska Implementation The results of the research are put into practice through pilot
projects targeted on new and existing communities where planning is based on
seamless Work-Life balance experience. 4-6 pilot areas across Europe are
chosen considering their different stage of completion, diverse cultural
conditions and different concepts of urban development. This enables
effective testing of ideas in actual environments and development of new
solutions in direct contact with the users. Customers of the research European policymakers. European organizations wishing to increase knowledge worker
productivity European organizations wishing to increase real estate efficiency European city planners and architects European home builders European knowledge workers wishing to improve work/life balance
Organization Research takes place together with the research institutions and
industries in cooperation in a Living-Lab.Net research platform. The
follow-up of the progress in the research is managed in three groups:
Corporate board, scientific board and operational management. The steering
group / advisory board comprising of the leaders of the corporate and
scientific boards as well as other experts gives the overall guidelines for
the entire research project. Appendix: Mass Customization Mass customization The customer will increasingly become customizer, if there are models
to allow that happen. Mass Customization models should be looked after each
industry’s point of view, customer needs should be identified and adequate
supporting mechanisms created. Whole supply chain should be then looked after
in order to develop it to allow reasonable user configuration.
Modularity enables the producing of suitable environments using different
models of configuration. How technology can be effective in the work/life
context for long time periods, how technology can be used to simplify the
control of workplaces, to save resources, to promote well-being and to
improve usability, and which innovations related to the immediate environment
would most fundamentally improve the way we live our everyday lives. Best
practices and industry standards should be used in right mix to achieve right
amount of customization from users point of view. Mass customization in principle aims at producing goods and services
to best meet individual needs with near mass production efficiency. Mass
customization is a model that refers to an expanding set of strategies to
enable the provision of customized products at prices and lead times comparable
to mass-produced products. From an industry perspective mass customization
approach allows organizations to capitalize on their own core business areas
while also responding to the additional opportunities created through new
interfacesimproved interfaces between configurable modules and subcomponents
of the desired end product. Classic strategies of differentiation are no longer sufficient in many
sectors of industry. Globally interconnected markets merely offer enterprises
marginal leverage for improving their operating results, enterprises that
manage to build individual and enduring relationships with their employees,
customers and end-users of their services can achieve strategic advantages in
the face of increasing global competition. Customers are more and more
demanding and organizations must be able to produce similar basic products in
multiple variations in order to offer first-rate service. |
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2. Objectives
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The
objective of the Living-Lab.Net project is to develop a
multi-disciplinary research and testing platform concentrating on the
immediate environment from the user point of view. Emphasis is on new models
of production made possible by digitalization and demanded by societal change
and the increasing integration of services, products and the spatial
environment. The project aims at addressing two questions: What do the users
want and how it can be produced? Research activities include developing
design-on-demand, mass-customization and co-configuration solutions for
generating individual domestic environments. Furthermore, the challenge is to
create an operational model between universities and companies and to
initiate an international network of several corresponding laboratories in
order to better support the European diversity. Multi-disciplinary
research methods
In order to
reach its objectives, a research laboratory should be multi-disciplinary and
based on different environments. Each laboratory would have to concentrate on
local domestic issues as well as on more general challenges to better
understand the user behavior. All the important fields of technology, human
sciences, construction and energy as well as health related issues should be
covered. In each laboratory there are researchers from all different areas
working together trough a local and international network. All levels of the
industry is tied to the research collaboration. This concerns local
industries, EU wide enterprises as well as big global actors. |
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3. Approach |
The
research platform
Change is
accelerating, but the places we create are largely static and unresponsive.
The Living-Lab.Net consists of a series of linked laboratories to explore how
new technologies, materials and strategies for design can make possible
dynamic, evolving places that respond to the complexities of life. The
laboratories will accommodate ongoing research that falls into two
categories:
1) Testing
of Technology and Infrastructure. These modular, highly flexible facilities
will allow for a variety of design strategies, new technologies, new
construction methodologies, new materials, and new applications to be tested
over time. The LivingLab will consist of mass customized components. 2) Testing
with People. The labs will allow for scientific studies of people and the
relationship to their environment and its technology. Researchers
will have the capability to qualitatively and quantitatively collect data
using sophisticated sensing technology. The
research challenge We are
already living in a society where individual tastes are no longer
predictable. Markets cannot easily and neatly categorize their customer base.
In near future the customer will increasingly be the customizer, if there are
models to allow that happen. Modularity
could enable the producing of suitable environments using different models of
configurations. Modularity in immediate environment comprises services and
structures as well as the design and construction. A modular system is
composed of units or modules that are designed independently but still
function as an integrated whole. Modular
models for configurable environments are based to following division: · The
Architecture, which specifies what modules will be part of the system and
what their functions will be. · The
Interfaces that describe in detail how the modules will interact, including
how they will fit together, connect and communicate. · The
Standards for testing modules conformity to the design rules and for
measuring one modules performance relative to another. Technology
questions The
Living-Lab.Net will be used to investigate, among others, the following
questions about interaction between the digital world and human behavior: · How can
technology be effective in the home context for long time periods? · How can
technology be used to simplify the control of homes of the present and
future, save resources, and improve health? · What new
innovations for the home would most fundamentally alter the way we live our
everyday lives? Network of
innovative platforms
Each
national Living-Lab is a multi-disciplinary platform for different actors in
the field of home environments. Active co-operation between companies,
institutes as well as consultants is organized by local Living-Lab partner.
Living-Lab
research and development platform is open and shared multidisciplinary
university facility. Collaboration
between research units
Each lab
consist of several different multitask units which could be combined nationally
as well as internationally using virtual LivingLab and its standardized
interfaces as a tool for collaboration. Living-Lab.Net collaboration works
trough a virtual platform using standardized modular research interfaces
which have been created in early stages of the networking. Limited number of
specialized units could be combined to look for same direction ( like
structure, services, interfaces, materials etc. ) Research units could be
located in each university´s Living-Lab research platform |