Living Labs

Living Labs image

We make new things happen.

Living Labs (LL) develops and supports creative projects in art, design and media.

We collaborate with faculty and partners to produce projects with a focus on emerging and ascendent technologies.

A living lab is a research concept. It is a user-centred, open innovation ecosystem, often operating in a location-based context, integrating concurrent research and innovation processes within a partnership.

In 2018, we launched Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship to act as a hub for activities relating to entrepreneurship at Emily Carr University with the aim of establishing a place where creative practitioners can find community and knowledge, as well as a connection to the resources they need to launch, fund, and organize projects across the spectrum of contemporary art and design activities.

In 2022, we established AI Futures for Art + Design to catalyze dialogue about the evolving impacts of AI technologies on the fields of art and design.

Past and current partners include HIGHLINE, GrowLab, Microsoft, the Beedie School of Business (SFU), Mozilla, the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Shelfie, Drive BI, Koho, Retsly, Spark CRM, Callings, Discovery Media House, Pressboard, Cognilab, Print2Peer, Control, Foodee, Silkstart, Farm at Hand, A & K Robotics, Curatio, Cassia Research, NearTuit, Downtown Prince George, Two Rivers Gallery, Citystudio, and the City of Vancouver.

Some Living Labs Projects

Living Labs applies art and design methodologies to projects at the intersection of the following key areas:

New ideas that work: Investigating partnered research as a form of creative praxis that establishes frameworks for art and design entrepreneurs to innovate, fostering the creation of “new ideas that work”.

Organizational models: Exploring emergent organizational models in business and technology by creating innovative partnerships that allow for both theoretical observation on the level of the model and the practical integration of students into real-world frameworks. What organizational constructs in business and technology are emerging now, and how can the art and design university work with, in and through them to achieve broader relevance?

Let's Do Something Together.

Inquire

Research welcomes inquiries from industry and community groups who wish to partner. Contact livinglabs[at]ecuad.ca regarding partnerships, collaborations, and how to initiate access to our subject matter experts, leading edge technologies, and next generation talent.

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Access Funding

Partnership with Emily Carr Research enables industry partners and collaborators to access government funding available for innovation and the advancement of research. Review your funding opportunities on the Research page.