Development of a Pan-European Citizen Lab within a European University Alliance Using Action Design Research

The paper describes the development process of a Pan-European Citizen Lab initiative driven by the European University of Technology (EUt+) alliance. EUt+ is a consortium of nine institutions that was selected as one of the European University Alliances by the European Commission. The partners are all technological universities from across Europe. Our vision is that the co-design of the Citizen Lab based on an analysis of societal needs will foster user-driven innovation. The expected impact will be an increased participation of citizens, an increased awareness of research, and social issues addressed at the community level. To achieve our vision, we have chosen Action Design Research (ADR) as one of the main tools for the creation of the Citizen Lab. ADR is a design research methodology that considers both technological and organizational contexts, shaping artefacts (innovations) through design and use, including users and researchers in the 2339 process. Originally focused on the IT knowledge domain, ADR was not originally designed to co-create innovations for diverse users in ecosystems, the EUt+ consortium views ADR as a highly promising hypothesis that needs further adaptation and verification for this new purpose.