TY - JOUR T1 - A Small-Firm Perspective on the Benefits of Living Labs JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2012 A1 - Veli-Pekka Niitamo A1 - Mika Westerlund A1 - Seppo Leminen KW - energy efficiency KW - Innovation management KW - Living lab KW - managerial challenges KW - Open innovation KW - User-driven AB - Decreasing energy consumption is a global priority and the energy market is in constant change. The search for energy-saving innovations provides an opportunity to initiate a user-centered approach using the living labs model. This article describes how Process Vision, a small-yet-leading Northern European provider of energy IT systems, applied the livings labs approach to develop novel energy-efficiency management solutions. We discuss the company’s participation in the APOLLON consortium, a cross-border living labs initiative on energy efficiency. More specifically, we describe the Finland-based company’s experiences of a pilot project launched in the living lab and report on the perceived managerial challenges of applying the living labs approach from the perspective of a small firm. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 2 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/608 IS - 9 U1 - University of Ulster Veli-Pekka Niitamo, M.Sc. (Eng.&Eco.), M.A (eq. Applied Psychology), is a Visiting Professor in Innovation Management at the University of Ulster. He also holds business position as a senior advisor to Process Vision, and is the Director of the national export cluster Future Learning Finland. Veli-Pekka was the first Chairman of European Living Lab Group 2006-2009 (now known as EnoLL). He has served several global executive roles at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, Jaakko Pöyry Consulting in London, and the Nokia Corporation in Espoo and Amsterdam. In addition, he serves as a research director at Aalto University and was a visiting scientist at Leiden University and teacher at Helsinki University. He also sits on several living labs/innovation centre boards. U2 - Carleton University Mika Westerlund, D. Sc. (Econ.) is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business in Ottawa, Canada. He previously held positions as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley and in the School of Economics at Aalto University. Mika earned his doctoral degree in Marketing from the Helsinki School of Economics. His doctoral research focused on software firms’ business models and his current research interests include open innovation, business strategy, and management models in high-tech and service-intensive industries. U3 - Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Aalto University Seppo Leminen, D. Sc. (Econ.), Lic. Tech., holds positions as Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the Aalto University School of Business in Finland. Seppo holds a doctoral degree in Marketing from the Hanken School of Economics and a licentiate degree in Information Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology. His research and consultation interests include value co-creation and capture with users as well as relationships, services, and business models in marketing. He runs various living lab and business model projects relating to ICT. ER -