Are living labs adequate open innovation intermediaries for rural territories

This text aims to analyze a new organizational form, the living lab (LL) and its ability to foster territorial innovation in rural or peri-urban areas. Through a review of literature and the mobilization of the actor-network theory (Callon, 1986, Latour, 1987), we position living labs as open innovation intermediaries whose characteristics make it possible to integrate many heterogeneous actors such as public institutions, private companies, associations and citizens, on innovation projects. The case study of a rural LL highlights the capacity of such a structure to reconfigure networks of actors to propose a series of third-places adapted to the specificities of the territories on which they are located. This research makes it possible to enrich the reflection on the sustainability of rural third-places and their specificities in comparison to urban spaces.JEL Codes: O35, R00, L31