Building a Living Lab Network to Support Technology Innovation Within the Australian Aged Care Sector

Demographic transitions increase the importance of finding effective technology-supported aged and community care solutions that can be used in many contexts, such as rural and urban environments. Living labs apply innovation approaches that have produced useful innovations in the aged care sector, but there are concerns about the ability to translate place-based technology innovations. Our research asked “how can a network of aged and community care living labs provide the benefits of embedded technology innovation whilst overcoming the limitations of translation and scaling in the Australian context?”. A co-design approach with international and local living lab experts and aged care providers was used. We found that a purpose-built network and process model could overcome the issues with place-based approaches. Furthermore, innovations in aged care reviewed through the joint effort of a multistakeholder network could address both issues of care and the viability of the sector.