Open research questions in Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development

What the literature leaves open

• The study identifies challenges related to the use of digital technologies by people living with dementia, including concerns about online safety and lack of confidence in using technology. The study also identifies challenges related to the evaluation of digital technologies, including the need for user-centred, participatory approaches.

  Using a living lab workshop to evaluate a digital journaling application with people living with dementia: a case study · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of consideration for the broader context of datafication and the integral role of data in shaping digital futures. The risk that decentralized technologies may reinforce existing power structures or create new forms of centralization.

  Artificial Intelligence for Social Innovation: Beyond the Noise of Algorithms and Datafication · 2024 · DOI

• Despite the growing diffusion of hybrid approaches, the governance conditions influencing their implementation remain unclear.

  Governance assessment of hybrid co-creation: framework development and application in Leuven, Belgium · 2026 · DOI

• Despite the popularity of the living lab concept, much remains unclear about their ways of operation and their potential to innovate.

  The Innovation Power of Living Labs to Enable Sustainability Transitions: Challenges and Opportunities of On‐Campus Initiatives · 2024 · DOI

• However, more generally, there are diverse understandings of co-production and a lack of consensus on what 'good practice' looks like.

  What does ‘co‐production’ look like for food system transformation? Mapping the evidence across Transforming UK Food Systems ( TUKFS ) projects · 2024 · DOI

• Future research should continue to explore how programs designed to support underrepresented students can catalyze organizational change in durable ways. Researchers might further explore how programs can influence institutional cultures and logics, resource distribution, and norms of shared equity leadership.

  Designing for Change: Principles for STEM Programs That Foster Organizational Transformation · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in existing STEM initiatives, which have largely focused on individual student outcomes while overlooking the organizational conditions that perpetuate inequity. The study notes that STEM education and organizational change theory have evolved in silos, rarely informing each other in substantive ways.

  Designing for Change: Principles for STEM Programs That Foster Organizational Transformation · 2026 · DOI

• The study is limited to two case studies of UK civic universities. The paper acknowledges concerns about generalisation, addressing them through Yin's (2018) assertion of the robustness of analytical generalisation.

  Campus development as civic interface: bridging rhetoric, practice, buildings and civic capital · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could explore the application of the Civic Interface model in different contexts and sectors. The paper suggests that further study is needed to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between civic engagement, social responsibility, and campus development.

  Campus development as civic interface: bridging rhetoric, practice, buildings and civic capital · 2026 · DOI

• The challenge of understanding users' needs, desires, and pain points in the design process.

  Applying design thinking as an analytical framework No.1 Ly Thai To Park, Ho Chi Minh City · 2026 · DOI

• The study lacks direct input from users as well as from designers and investors. The data used are entirely secondary, from newspapers and media. The project was only inaugurated in February 2026, and the park had been operating for only about three months at the time of the study.

  Applying design thinking as an analytical framework No.1 Ly Thai To Park, Ho Chi Minh City · 2026 · DOI

• They also face challenges such as human resources turnover and lack of funding. Additionally, living labs may run against the grain of established habits and practices.

  Learning from Experiences of 10 Canadian Living Labs · 2026 · DOI

• The vision or mandate of funding organizations may not always correspond to living labs evaluation methods. Lack of funding affects the sustainability of human resources.

  Learning from Experiences of 10 Canadian Living Labs · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of effective policymaking approaches that can address complex community challenges. The need for a more integrated approach that combines human-centered design and AI technology. The limited use of AI technology in policymaking, despite its potential to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

  A Study on an AI-Service Design Thinking Integrated Policy Living Lab for Solving Community Problems · 2026 · DOI

• This pathway utilises CS to produce granular, trustworthy data in areas where official statistics are lacking, adding nuance, or cross-verifying government data to enable accurate policy evaluation.

  D4.7 IMPETUS Toolkit · 2026 · DOI

• The concept of participation is often taken for granted, despite varying interpretations. The conceptions and perceptions of those involved in community initiatives are underexplored.

  Meanings of participation in a community initiative: a discourse analysis at Complejo SACUDE (Montevideo, Uruguay) · 2026 · DOI

• The interface dynamics that shape the work of real-world laboratories have yet to be explored. Conceptual and framing challenges arise concerning the positioning of real-world labs within the broader research landscape. Methodological challenges arise for conducting a literature review on this issue.

  Reading between the lines: a systematic approach to identifying underlying concepts in scientific literature – The case of interfaces between disciplinary lenses and real-world laboratory research · 2026 · DOI

• The difficulty of developing a definition that is both minimal and analytically robust. The need to balance the requirement for conceptual clarity with the need for flexibility and adaptability in the definition of policy innovation labs.

  Towards a minimal definition of policy innovation labs · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the tensions that arise when transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation methods are applied to achieve agroecology transitions. The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the opportunities for mutual learning between agroecology and other fields of sustainable food system transition research.

  Bridging agroecology and food system transition frameworks: identifying shared methodological and conceptual tensions · 2026 · DOI

• The research is based on a single case study and involves a limited number of participants, which constrains the generalisability of the results. The evaluation focuses primarily on qualitative observations developed within the timeframe of the workshop, without addressing the long-term impact on production systems and market dynamics.

  DeinSite Co-Design Framework: Workshop Practices in Southern Italy’s Museum Systems for the Innovation of Traditional Crafts · 2026 · DOI

• To explore the potential of AI technology in policymaking and its implications for democratic governance.

  A Study on an AI-Service Design Thinking Integrated Policy Living Lab for Solving Community Problems · 2026 · DOI

• The paper notes that Living Labs have a limited focus on shifting structures. The paper suggests that the nature of Living Labs will inherently limit their transformative potential.

  The transformative potential of Living Labs for biodiversity recovery · 2026 · DOI

• The study only considered the rural public spaces in Shanghai, China, - The sample size was limited to 36 valid participants, - The study relied on focus group interviews and literature…

  Towards a Communication Ecology in the Life of Rural Senior Citizens: How Rural Public Spaces Influence Community Engagement · 2024 · DOI

• Enhance the transformative potential of Living Labs in a network of networks, - Raise their transformative ambitions, - More carefully consider their composition to include stakeholders that can help to achieve…

  The transformative potential of Living Labs for biodiversity recovery · 2026 · DOI

• The need for a methodological model that integrates co-design approaches for promoting product innovation in traditional craft districts - The lack of a framework that combines Open, Participatory, and Prototype-Led Co-Design - The potential of co-design to enhance museums as cultural and production hubs and promote new synergies between tradition and contemporary…

  DeinSite Co-Design Framework: Workshop Practices in Southern Italy’s Museum Systems for the Innovation of Traditional Crafts · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development

• Citizen Science: A Developing Tool for Expanding Science Knowledge and Scientific Literacy · BioScience · 2009 · 1,888 citations
• The Design and Implementation of Cross‐Sector Collaborations: Propositions from the Literature · Public Administration Review · 2006 · 1,676 citations
• Governance Innovation and the Citizen: The Janus Face of Governance-beyond-the-State · Urban Studies · 2005 · 1,177 citations
• Cross-Sector Partnerships to Address Social Issues: Challenges to Theory and Practice · Journal of Management · 2005 · 867 citations
• Collaboration Processes: Inside the Black Box · Public Administration Review · 2006 · 862 citations
• INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND FUTURE RESEARCH AGENDA · Public Administration · 2015 · 820 citations
• Deliberations about deliberative methods: issues in the design and evaluation of public participation processes · Social Science & Medicine · 2003 · 715 citations
• Varieties of Participation in Public Services: The Who, When, and What of Coproduction · Public Administration Review · 2017 · 700 citations
• Meta‐organization design: Rethinking design in interorganizational and community contexts · Strategic Management Journal · 2012 · 671 citations
• Enhancing Collaborative Innovation in the Public Sector · Administration & Society · 2011 · 654 citations

Most recent work

• Lessons Learned From a Co-Creative Research Project on Caring Neighbourhoods in Brussels: An Ethical Reflection on the Research Journey · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2026
• The living lab and the cursed catalyst: Navigating the legitimacy challenges of innovation intermediaries for sustainable innovation · Research Policy · 2026
• Living Labs as Governance Mechanisms for Sustainable Tourism Monitoring: Evidence From Six European Destinations · International Journal of Tourism Research · 2026
• Planting seeds or cultivating change? Digging into Living Labs’ contributions to transformative change · Global Environmental Change · 2026
• Urban living labs as cracks, not doors: Reimagining experimentation in transport (and beyond) · Journal of Transport Geography · 2026
• Bridging agroecology and food system transition frameworks: identifying shared methodological and conceptual tensions · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2026
• Establishing usable innovations · Frontiers in Health Services · 2026
• Designing inclusive co-creation: a conjoint analysis of citizen preferences · Public Management Review · 2026
• AI-enabled Living Labs: Accelerating innovation in multiple sclerosis care and research · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · 2026
• Co‐Creating an Urban Circularity Questionnaire: A Workshop Approach With Experts · Growth and Change · 2026

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