Citilab

Citilab is a digital innovation laboratory based in Cornellà de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its work is organized around the idea that citizens should participate directly in the creation, testing, and use of digital technologies rather than remain only consumers of products developed elsewhere. The organization provides a platform where residents, researchers, entrepreneurs, companies, public institutions, and community groups can collaborate on technology-related projects. The center is associated with the Living Lab model. Living Labs differ from conventional research facilities because experimentation takes place in real social settings and involves the people who may ultimately use the resulting technologies or services. In this model, technological concepts, digital services, business models, and forms of civic participation can be developed and evaluated in everyday contexts. Citilab’s emphasis is particularly connected with the collaborative and audiovisual internet, as well as with projects that encourage people to create, learn, and experiment with digital media and networked technologies. Citilab originated as a project supported by the municipal government of Cornellà de Llobregat. Its headquarters occupies Can Suris, a former textile factory in the city. The building underwent approximately four years of restoration before becoming Citilab’s base in November 2007. The choice of a former industrial site reflects the center’s broader role in local regeneration: an existing urban and industrial space was converted into an environment for digital learning, innovation, and social collaboration. Rather than functioning as a conventional consumer brand or a single-product technology company, Citilab operates as an institutional and community-facing innovation platform. Its activities include citizen-oriented technology projects, research and experimentation, entrepreneurship support, and training. The organization’s value proposition is based on access, participation, and practical experimentation. People can use the center and its programs as resources for developing their own ideas, acquiring digital skills, collaborating with others, and exploring how the internet and digital tools can address social, educational, cultural, or economic needs. The organization’s scope is primarily local and regional, with its physical base and civic mission centered on Cornellà de Llobregat and Catalonia. Its model, however, is relevant to wider discussions about digital inclusion, participatory innovation, urban technology, and the role of public-private-community partnerships in research and development. Citilab’s identity therefore sits between a civic institution, a research and experimentation facility, a training center, and an entrepreneurship platform. Publicly available reference material does not establish a separate corporate parent, listed-company status, commercial owner, or individual founder.

Citilab was conceived as a local digital innovation project in Cornellà de Llobregat, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The initiative was backed by the city government and was intended to create a public-facing resource where citizens could engage directly with technology, digital media, and the internet. Its purpose extended beyond providing conventional computer access: Citilab was designed as a setting for people to develop projects, learn new skills, collaborate with researchers and businesses, and explore new forms of digital participation. The project was established in a former textile factory known as Can Suris. The building’s industrial history is significant to Citilab’s development because the site was not created as a purpose-built corporate research campus. Instead, an existing industrial structure was restored and adapted for use as a contemporary laboratory for digital and social innovation. The restoration process lasted approximately four years. In November 2007, Can Suris became Citilab’s headquarters, marking the transition from a municipal project under development to an operating facility. Citilab’s institutional model is closely related to the Living Lab concept. In a Living Lab, innovation is conducted with the participation of users and communities in real-life environments. This approach contrasts with a more closed research process in which technologies are developed inside laboratories and introduced to the public only after completion. Citilab’s model brings citizens into the innovation process alongside businesses, government bodies, research centers, and other organizations. The resulting projects may concern technologies, digital services, business models, educational practices, or forms of civic and community activity. The center’s thematic emphasis includes the collaborative internet and audiovisual forms of digital communication. Its activities combine citizen-based innovation with research, entrepreneurship, and training. This combination gives Citilab a hybrid role. It is simultaneously a community resource, an educational venue, an experimentation site, and a platform for collaboration between public and private stakeholders. Its programs are intended to help citizens move from passive use of technology toward active creation and participation. The physical location in Cornellà also gives Citilab a local development dimension. By placing a digital innovation facility in a restored former factory, the project links technological experimentation with the reuse of industrial heritage and the social development of the surrounding city. The center’s work is therefore connected not only to internet technologies but also to questions of access, education, entrepreneurship, and community involvement. Public reference material provides limited information about Citilab’s later organizational structure, individual leadership, commercial revenue, or specific named programs. It does establish the organization’s origins, headquarters, operating model, and principal areas of activity. On that basis, Citilab is best understood as a civic and participatory innovation institution rather than as a conventional product brand. Its continuing identity rests on using a Living Lab environment to connect citizens and professional stakeholders in the design and validation of digital initiatives.

• 2007

  Can Suris becomes Citilab headquarters

  [1]Citilaben.wikipedia.org

  After approximately four years of restoration, the former Can Suris textile factory in Cornellà de Llobregat became Citilab’s headquarters in November 2007.

A civic and participatory digital innovation laboratory that connects citizens, researchers, businesses, public agencies, and community organizations to develop and test technologies, services, and business ideas in real-world settings.

• Civic technology and innovation

  Citizen innovation programs

  Citilab’s central offering is a platform for citizens to initiate and develop technology-oriented projects. The programs are intended to encourage active participation in digital creation and to connect community members with researchers, entrepreneurs, companies, and public institutions. Rather than representing a single software product, this offering consists of collaborative activities, project support, and access to an environment for experimentation.

• Research and development

  Living Lab experimentation

  Citilab applies the Living Lab approach by involving users and other stakeholders in the development and evaluation of technologies, services, and business models in real-world contexts. The model allows ideas to be tested with communities and everyday users instead of being developed exclusively in closed research environments. It is a core part of Citilab’s institutional identity and innovation methodology.

• Education and skills development

  Digital training and education

  Training is one of Citilab’s principal activity areas. Its educational role supports citizens who want to understand, use, and create with digital technologies and the internet. The training function complements research and project work by helping participants build the practical knowledge needed to take part in collaborative and audiovisual digital initiatives.

• Entrepreneurship support

  Entrepreneurship and digital project support

  Citilab combines entrepreneurship with citizen innovation and research. Its platform gives project creators a setting in which to refine technology-based ideas, collaborate with other stakeholders, and consider possible services or business models. Available reference material does not specify a separate accelerator brand or the terms of any financing program.

1. 1Citilaben.wikipedia.org
2. 2Citilab official websitecitilab.eu