Today I had the opportunity to present the Reconstructed Living Lab at the 1st Annual Living Labs in Southern Africa (LLiSA) conference. It was interesting hearing other Living Labs across South Africa and some from Finland presenting their Living Labs approaches. Some of the key points are summarised below of today’s activities:
1) Living Labs in South Africa has a different meaning than LL in Europe. SA LL have a focus on empowerment of communities whereas EU LL have focus on evaluation of user groups.
2) Community Driven projects can only be successful with support of Community Champions.
3) Community ICT solutions is of little benefit if it does not include mobile phones.
4) Intellectual Property Rights should also consider the communities who are part of the development process.
5) LL is a longterm commitment and no short term returns should be expected.
Tomorrow is day two of the conference with an exciting day ahead.
[...] our experiences, challenges and opportunities. A more detailed discussion on Day 1 can be read here and the presentation can be read below. RLabs: Living Lab Challenges and Opportunities View more [...]