Prior studies have argued that the value that living labs are providing is blurry. Grounded on the living lab experts’ opinions, the study defines the key value proposition elements for living Labs. An online workshop was arranged in which 22 experts provided a total of 208 value proposition suggestions for the researcher, policy maker and public authority, and SME/company customer segments and for the different Technology Readiness Level (TRL) phases. As a result, the following seven main value categories including a total of 31 different value items were identified: 1) Enhanced collaboration and networking possibilities, 2) Validity and reliability, 3) Improved innovation, 4) Financial and process benefits, 5) Benefits for the users and society, 6) Safe environment for RDI and 7) Increased skills and capabilities. The results also suggest that living lab value argumentation is partially context-dependent. Value proposition suggestions are proposed for companies, researchers, policymakers, and public authorities.

Medical education escape rooms are emerging as a viable technological resource for pedagogy-first, learner-centric educational activities. This work presents the evaluation results of the first flipped classroom implementation in medical education, thus utilizing a mobile-driven augmented reality (AR) escape room. A total of 21 first-year medical students attended a flipped classroom educational activity that aimed to acclimate the students with the workflows of basic life support. Knowledge acquisition and user perceptions were evaluated. Knowledge acquisition was evaluated with an ad hoc relevant instrument at three timepoints: (a) baseline at recruitment, (b) preclass after students had prepared for the episode, and (c) after class. Learner perceptions about the activity and the AR escape room were recorded at the activity’s end using a previously designed evaluation instrument. The results demonstrated sufficient knowledge acquisition only after completing the whole educational activity, while learners found the experience interesting, and the AR escape room challenging, thus reflecting an activity that was well formulated in structure and content. The challenges identified were the limited out of class collaboration capacity of the digital application and the highly gamified approach that at points counteracted the educational scope of the activity. Overall, these positive initial results demonstrate the potential of collaborative, escape based, activities for self-directed, learner-centric medical education.