Test-before-invest for the Digital Transformation: Living labs as tools for the integration of AI and Big Data in the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs)
The test-before-invest approach allows for innovators to develop new products and services in a controlled scenario, with the aim of having an optimal solution prior to further rounds of investments, minimizing risks and providing much better suited results. The European Commission has identified the test-before-invest approach as one of the core elements of the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), in which innovation and technology services are provided to SME’s, being AI and Big Data essential technologies. The EU test-beds, living labs and Sandboxes (particularly the brand new Sandbox in AI), arise as a powerful tool to tackle the approach to test-before-invest from a multi-stakeholder perspective, or, in other words: to target the wider market of systemic transformations, with deep repercusions on European Public Administrations. In this session we will provide clear examples on how living labs are appearing as enablers for the test-before-invest in real life scenarios where AI and Big Data are used as enabling technologies. We will provide pathways to the further integration of classical innovation agents, such as industrial clusters, and we will discuss relevant connections with testbeds, sandboxes and regulatory learning
