Meeting with the facilitator (5 April 2018)

The BSC team had a meeting with Dalija Segliņa, who has graciously accepted the role of facilitator as part of the Agrilink Living Lab project. While there was no set agenda, the overall purpose of the meeting was to discuss possible strategies of going forward with the living lab project.

Firstly, there was some debate regarding the actual form of the online platform that our project is aiming towards. Will it be a list of all the available resources? Will it be a full-fledged database or just a prototype? What is more, who will be in charge of maintaining it? We did agree that it would be a good idea to try to attach the living lab to an existing resource – perhaps one that was created as a part of the INNOFRUIT project. Dalija agreed to check whether this is possible. This, however, brought us to the question of ownership – who will own the tools developed as part of the living lab?

Secondly, we discussed who should be involved in the creation of the living lab. It was obvious that both service providers and end users should be engaged. I expressed my concerns regarding the involvement of agricultural advisors with a solid client base, because I thought that they might see our platform as a threat – as a way for other advisors to poach their clients. We also discussed that  users should be encouraged to voice their needs. In relation to this, Dalija promised that she would take a look at the historical record to see what people have requested in terms of advice and training. Overall, it was agreed that there should be something like a core living lab team that would participate at most meetings and events and ensure continuity.

Thirdly, we discussed the possibility of organising living lab meetings as part of bigger events (e.g. agricultural conferences). This would allow us to engage a wider audience and receive their input. 

Fourthly, we discussed the particular form that the living lab meetings could take. They would certainly involve presentations and discussions, but some thought should be given to developing forms and activities that are conducive to the emergence of new forms of communication and collaboration. In other words, our meetings should be sufficiently open so as not to hinder innovation. 

Most importantly, we agreed that we will try to organise our next meeting with stakeholders and living lab allies on 27 April.

Best,

Emils