Needsfinding in living labs: A structured research approach

Living labs enable innovations to be facilitated and implemented quickly and efficiently. A key element of the living lab approach is the active involvement of users. In this article, we examine a structured needsfinding phase of a living lab infrastructure project within the context of bicycle commuting. Given that effectuation costs are high, it is essential for the lab to focus on tackling the right user needs. Thus, the living lab's needsfinding phase aims to identify user needs and wants, as measured by bicycle commuting intention. We examined intention in a structured way by following the theory of planned behaviour. The results show that bicycle commuting intention can be explained by the variables of our model (R square=0.808). The specific insights arising from the needsfinding phase are an important focus for the activities and experiments in the later phases of the living lab. The generalized insights are also relevant to innovation experts outside the area of cycling.