Abstract:

This paper is conceptually situated within the framework of the social studies of science and technology (STS) and innovation management studies. STS constitutes a field of study interested in the mutual relationships between social phenomena, the processes of generating scientific knowledge, and the dynamics of technological production. From this perspective, livinglabs usually bring together a small number of users in contexts that are familiar to them with the aim of articulating their creative potential in processes of design and evaluation of technologies. In recent years livinglabs have proliferated in the information and communication technology industry, growing in popularity, and their forms and applications have diversified. According to the European Network of Living Labs (http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/), there are currently more than 250 ecosystems of this type in Europe, of which 64 are in Spain. Among these livinglabs, some have been gerontechnologically oriented. They are open co-creation ecosystems that aim to develop innovation management experiences with the involvement of older people in line with the challenge of trying to provide answers to the challenges of the current aging societies. These communities are known as seniorlab. Despite the development and emerging interest of this type of laboratory, there is still considerable lack of knowledge about its conceptualization and its implementation presents great heterogeneity. For this reason, the objective of this study is to know the state of the art on the studies carried out on Living Labs in the field of Social Sciences. We therefore propose to carry out a Systematic Review of the Literature with the intention of answering the following research questions:
a) what types of studies are carried out around the Living Lab,
b) what are the objectives and purposes of the Living Lab analyzed,
c) what is its geographical context,
d) type of users it addresses and
e) what are the characteristics shared by the different Living Labs analyzed in the selected literature.

The research was focused on the databases that have a greater scientific impact in the area of ​​social sciences: Web Of Science (WOS) and Scopus. Living AND lab AND technolog *”, “ living AND lab AND gerontechnolog * were used as search terms. "," Living AND lab AND senior * "," living AND lab AND elder * "," living AND lab AND age * "," living AND lab AND old * AND adult "," living AND lab AND old * AND people “, “Senior * AND lab”, “senior * AND lab AND age The initial results of this research identified a total of 4,274 publications in WOS and 135,948 in SCOPUS. Finally, 19 studies that responded to the search criteria were analyzed in-depth. After the analysis of the literature, we found a predominance of both qualitative research, studies carried out in the European context, as well as heterogeneity in the objectives of the analyzed research. Overall, the development of technology designs for neuro-rehabilitation and health in general is confirmed. The work concludes with an attempt to conceptualize the livinglabs for older people based on the identification of a number of common characteristics present in the analyzed studies.

Keywords:

Digital Literacy, Active Learning, Inclusive Learning, Older-adults.