Abstract

Abstract: Canada’s universities are facing unprecedented challenges due to new government regulations, the shift towards a more digital environment and the advent of new digital technologies such as generative AI in education. In order to respond to these challenges, most universities have now moved toward contributing to local and regional development to co-create local value. This can be done through innovation and entrepreneurial activities by universities. To promote entrepreneurship and innovation in academic environments, living labs (LL) have been identified as a possible solution as they bring in actors from all around an innovation ecosystem together to co-create value. In order to better understand the impact and the role LL can play in encouraging academic entrepreneurship the most up to date information was collected on the subject through a literature review that served as the theoretical foundation to conduct an exploratory qualitative case study in Canadian academic ecosystems to see how LL can be an answer to the challenges facing Canadian academic entrepreneurial ecosystems and how LL’s were integrated into these ecosystems based on the five aspects of LLs which are real-life setting, co-creation, active user involvement, multi-stakeholder participation, and a multi-method approach. The findings of this study highlight the adequacy of LL as a way to fulfill the new mission of HEI’s, the mixed impact the pandemic had on LLs, the facilitating role of digital technologies in LL and some best practices and challenges giving insights on how to best set up LL methodologies in academic entrepreneurial ecosystems with qualified leadership.