The European Network of Living Labs was launched on the 20th of November 2006. The launch took place at the Dipoli Congress Centre in Espoo Finland in connection with a conference entitled "The European Network of Living Labs: A Step Towards a European Innovation System".
The European Network of Living Labs is an important step towards a new European innovation infrastructure. The Network includes, in its first phase, 20 Living Labs from 15 European countries. It also involves more than 100 active researchers and a representative group of innovative European companies. The Living Labs network concentrates on the development of new information society services, businesses, technologies and markets and places people at the very centre of product development and innovation.
The participants of the European Network of Living Labs in its initial phase are:

1. Arc Labs Waterford, Waterford, Ireland
2. Botnia Living Lab, Luleå, Sweden
3. Open Innovation Centre Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
4. Wirelessinfo Czech LL, Litovel, Czech Republic
5. Freeband experience lab, Enschede, Netherlands
6. Frascati Living Lab, Frascati, Italy
7. Györ Automotive LL, Budapest, Hungary
8. Gödöllö Rural LL, Budapest, Hungary
9. Hasselt & Leuven IBBT i-City LL, Brussels, Belgium
10. Helsinki Living Lab - Arabianranta, Helsinki, Finland
11. Helsinki Living Lab - Forum Virium, Helsinki, Finland
12. i2Cat Catalonia Digital Lab, Barcelona, Spain
13. Manchester EastServe, Manchester, UK
14. Madeira Living Lab, Madeira, Portugal
15. Mobile City Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria
16. Mobile City Bremen, Bremen, Germany
17. Knowledge Workers LL, Munich, Germany
18. Slovenia eLivingLab, Kranj, Slovenia
19. LL ICT Usage Lab, Sophia-Antipolis, France
20. Turku Archipelago LL, Pargas, Finland

The participants of the network are further described on the Internet at: http://www.openlivinglabs.eu
The aim of the European Network of Living Labs is to link the separate Living Labs innovations and innovators around Europe to a common European network. The network enables the development of innovation services, methods, testing environments and Europe-wide provision of those for local and international companies and public administration. This helps to achieve globally competitive European innovations and to create products and services facilitating the everyday life of people and businesses.
The network also provides an opportunity to test products and services produced in one country in different cultural environments and create easily-copied solutions from the very beginning.
The conference called “European Network of Living Labs: A Step towards a European Innovation System” has been held at the Dipoli Congress Centre in Espoo and was attended by over 300 research, technology and innovation-policy specialists from the EU countries, representing the public sector, research institutes and business world. A high-level delegation from China also participated in the conference.
The conference was organised by the Finnish Government Information Society Programme, the Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR) of the Helsinki School of Economics, and the European Commission.