Living labs in integrated agriculture and tourism activities: Driving innovation for sustainable rural development

Abstract

Among the number of the approaches and types of proinnovation structures the living lab concept gathering momentum in last years is one of the most promising in the processes of developing goods and services fullfiling consumer demands. The active involvement of end-users in research and innovation life-cycle is a prerequisite for raising competitiveness and improving business environment. It is a way of entrepreneurship encouragement and meeting challenges of assuring safety, quality and sustainability in all the spheres of economical life. The paper explores the living labs concept and makes SWOT analysis for the use of the living labs approach in developing sustainable agriculture and tourism sector in rural areas in Bulgaria. It scrutinizes the important questions of establishment and management of such structures. The study considers the use of the approach in a broader aspect through its role in driving innovations for sustainable rural development. The last one, as well as rural regions revival, has been intensively discussed in the examined country but the ways of achieving it are difficult to be found. Thus, the investigation concerns the opportunities for the use of the living labs approach and its feasibility in integrated agriculture and tourism activities.