Real laboratory
Real laboratories ( English Real-World Laboratories ) are a new form of cooperation between science and civil society , in which mutual learning is in an experimental environment in the foreground. Actors from science and practice come together there to develop and try out scientifically and socially robust solutions based on a common understanding of the problem. The concept of the laboratory is expanded here beyond its classic scientific and engineering meaning to include a social context . In the absence of a control group , the validity of the knowledge gained is difficult to assess. Nevertheless, the approach has been developed considerably in the last 20 years, because today science can only work out solutions to important questions of the future together with society.
It is expected that the scientific knowledge developed through real-world laboratories will be more easily taken up by politics, civil society and business and that society will become more capable of acting in questions of sustainable development.
“A real laboratory describes a social context in which researchers carry out interventions in the sense of» real experiments «in order to learn about social dynamics and processes. The idea of the real laboratory transfers the scientific term laboratory to the analysis of social and political processes. It ties in with the experimental turnaround in the social and economic sciences. There are close connections to concepts of field and action research . "
Core components of a real laboratory
Real laboratories are characterized by their contribution to the transformation of sustainability , real experiments , a transdisciplinary approach and social and scientific learning and reflection processes. In addition to these largely undisputed characteristics, the literature suggests a detailed list of core components that more precisely delimit real laboratories from other scientific work modes:
- Contribution to sustainable development as a normative framework;
- Generation of context-specific system, target and transformation knowledge ;
- real-world problems as a starting point;
- spatial and thematic delimitation of the laboratory;
- transdisciplinary cooperation (co-leadership) with clear roles for science and practice;
- real-world interventions (so-called real experiments );
- cyclical learning processes through reflection and variation;
- Empowerment of change agents and capacity building.
Real laboratory process
Real laboratories are often established in third-party funded research projects (see below) and are process-oriented as a form of expression of transdisciplinary and transformative science. The core of the real-world laboratories, the real-world interventions (real-world experiments), are framed as a phase of so-called co-production by the phases of co-design and co-evaluation. Ideally, a real laboratory and the real experiments carried out in it run in the following process steps:
- Co-design: formation of a transdisciplinary team from science and practice; joint problem definition and representation; thematic and spatial delimitation; System analysis; Generation of ideas for interventions ( real experiments )
- Co-production: decision for and implementation of intervention idea (s); cyclical reflection and adjustment of the intervention idea (s) being implemented; if necessary, immediate application and use of interim results in practice
- Co-evaluation: recording of concrete results; Co-interpretation; Transfer to science and practice.
In practice, the process steps are often run through multiple times and in a flexible sequence.
Real laboratory strategy of the Federal Ministry of Economics
The real laboratory approach is now used in different forms. The Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi) uses a modified approach of real laboratories, which is geared towards testing digital innovations, as test rooms for innovation and regulation (English: regulatory sandbox ). New technologies and business models that are only partially compatible with the existing legal and regulatory framework should be able to be tested in experimental rooms that are limited in terms of time and space. By using experimental clauses, experience should be gained before a final legal framework is established. The BMWi strategy pursues three goals: promoting regulation open to innovation, networking and information as well as initiating and supporting real-world laboratories.
See also
Web links
- Free spaces for innovations - The manual for real laboratories of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Accompanying research for real laboratories in Baden-Württemberg , Institute for Social-Ecological Research, undated
- ↑ a b c Michael Rose, Matthias Wanner, Annaliesa Hilger: The real laboratory as a research process and infrastructure for sustainable development. Concepts, challenges and recommendations. In: NaWiKo Synthesis Working Paper No. 1. Sustainable Management, 2018, accessed on December 14, 2018 .
- ^ A b The contribution of science to dealing with major societal challenges , Rainer Lange, Office of the Science Council, Cologne, June 18, 2014
- ↑ City of Stuttgart as a real laboratory , research project on new forms of knowledge transfer and citizen participation, October 28, 2014
- ↑ Reallabor Spacesharing ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart, undated
- ↑ Urban real-world laboratories - a look at the current research workshop, planning new thinking (pnd) online, March 2014
- ↑ Climate protection as a global citizen movement , special report by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), p. 93, 2014
- ↑ Niko Schäpke, Matthias Bergmann, Franziska Stelzer, Daniel J. Lang, Guest Editors: Labs in the Real World: Advancing Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability Transformation: Mapping the Field and Emerging Lines of Inquiry. 2018, accessed on December 14, 2018 .
- ^ A b Matthias Wanner, Annaliesa Hilger, Janina Westerkowski, Michael Rose, Franziska Stelzer, Niko Schäpke: Towards a Cyclical Concept of Real-World Laboratories. A Transdisciplinary Research Practice for Sustainability Transitions. In: disP - The Planning Review 54 (2). Taylor & Francis, 2018, pp. 94–114 , accessed December 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Annaliesa Hilger, Michael Rose, Matthias Wanner: Changing Faces - Factors Influencing the Roles of Researchers in Real-World Laboratories. In: GAiA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 27 (1). Oekom-Verlag, 2018, pp. 138–145 , accessed on December 14, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Real-world laboratories - test rooms for innovation and regulation , BMWi, August 28, 2019
- ↑ The Handbook for Real Laboratories , BMWi, July 2019
