The Citizens’ Lab

The need for establishing the Citizens Lab, (C-Lab) was an acknowledgment that our current world order is in trouble. There is increasing exclusion, economic, political and environmental crisis. Our current governments, leaders and European Institutions, are struggling to find answers. In nature Innovation seldom comes from the centre, it comes from the edges where ecosystems meet. This is already evident throughout Europe, where alternatives are being created by citizens. People in their local contexts are discovering new innovations. These are dispersed and not easily visible, because they are local responses to the imperative of ensuring that their rights, basic needs and liberties are not withdrawn. Therefore, the C-Lab was initiated in response to this need, using a social lab approach, with the intention of bringing citizens, who are innovating together, to create the conditions to prototype trans locally and most importantly connect small scale solutions as a way of creating the potential for new systems to emerge.