Unforgettable Valencia
The fourth wave of ENoLL, Future Internet and social networks in a true emergency test
Who would have thought that social networks, Future Internet and enlargement of the living lab community were to be put in action before the Valencia week was over! It was also clearly understood and demonstrated that people are on the move to a large extent nowadays and that networks and networks of people make the difference.
On April 13, 2010 European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) organized a LivingLab BarCamp in Valencia to warm up the new and older livinlabbers. The stage was open for all spontaneous speeches and presentations, and the Camp gave a sneak preview for the contents behind the news given out the next day. On April 14, 2010 European Network of Living Labs announced its fourth wave results. The call for new members had been announced in January and 117 applications were received. The evaluation process, as carried out in previous waves, resulted in 83 accepted new members to the global network of living labs. This increased the number ENoLL living labs into 212, out of which 25 are outside of Europe, now also covering four other continents (North and South America, Africa and Asia).
The official Launch Event of the Fourth wave ENoLL members on April 14th was honoured of the presence of Mr Juan Tomas Hernani, General Secretary of Innovation of Spain and Mr Zoran Stančič, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, DG Information Society and Media. The afternoon of the 14th was dedicated to presentation of activities and prospects on Future Internet and living labs. The innovation policies world-wide call for end-user participation; living labs offer not only a platform engaging them, but an eco-system to produce demand-driven services while bridging the gap between ICT R&D and applications on various ICT implementing domains (transport, health, energy, e-governance).
Valencia collected several events to be held during the same week. The main conference was for the European Framework RTD Programme “From economical recovery to sustainability”. "Energy Efficient Building (EeB)" PPP, "Factories of the Future (FoF)" PPP, "Green Car (GC)" PPP and "Future Internet (FI)" PPP were launched on that week in Valencia. Side events within the week include meetings of E2B Association, EFFRA, the 4th Future Internet Assembly and other co-located events organized together with the European Commission.
The week got a very unusual ending as volcanic ashes from Iceland stopped hundreds of people flying back to their homes, also from Valencia. These extraordinary travel stories will be shared long to come, but strikingly the situation gave a strong rise to social networking as a measure to resolve global emergency situation. Aviation companies moved their best-updated communication to Facebook, people self-organised themselves for joint transportation, build travel groups and looked for vehicles through social networks. Bonds, networks and channels will remain. It will be interesting to follow how this user-driven emergency resolving will evolve and bear fruit in the future. No need to convince anymore whether user communities carry the potential and power to resolve challenges, or not. Living Labs have that potential and power in their very core! Welcome to that Community.
Here are some presentations:
