CENGN Living Labs

Canada’s tech innovation is a critical pathway to revitalizing the economy, enhancing Canada’s traditional sectors’ global competitiveness, and driving sustainable economic development.

Seeing this need for tech growth and adoption, CENGN is launching 8 Living Labs across Canada designed to accelerate innovation across multiple sectors, help overcome the current economic headwinds, and position Canada at the forefront of emerging technological advancements.

What is a Living Lab?

A living lab provides real-world environments where researchers can test, refine, and scale their technological solutions. This allows stakeholders to understand how technologies such as networks and applications, and the end users who use them, work together in a natural but complex setting.

Living labs often bring together communities, researchers, companies, academia, and government agencies to co-create, experiment, and prototype new ideas in real-life settings. Public-private partnerships sometimes play an important role, but collaboration between stakeholders is key to enhancing innovative outcomes.

Testbeds vs. Living Labs: Why the Move?

CENGN’s previous programs used its testbed infrastructure to test and validate innovative tech solutions from startups and scaleups.

For example, Ukko Agro, a Toronto-based smart agriculture business, used CENGN’s testbed to scale-test its platform in a simulation. This gave them confidence that their platform could handle over 600 IoT sensors with 100 farmers. Knowing this information, they went to market to meet their business objectives.

Testbed environments like CENGN’s provide controlled and simulated experimentation in an isolated setting to evaluate technical capabilities such as scalability, interoperability, functionality, resource requirements, and stress capacity.

This testbed approach allows organizations to assess how their technology functions in a controlled environment before real-world deployment.

Living Lab and Testbed Differences

Living labs, however, experiment in real-world environments to understand how technologies (and the people who use them) will function in real-life settings. This allows organizations to actively involve end-users and create an iterative development process to collect real-time feedback and constantly refine ideas.

Going back to the Ukko Agro example, if their project were in a living lab environment, they wouldn’t have tested with simulated data. Instead, they would have been provided with a 5G-connected farm to scale test 600 real IoT sensors.

By testing in a real environment like this, Ukko Agro could analyze scalability and user experience with actual end-users on a real farm to further understand potential development opportunities.

Each CENGN Living Lab will leverage the newest networking technologies in cloud, 5G, and edge computing to ensure startups and scaleups can access the most up-to-date testing environments.

“We’ve seen great success from our testbed services over the past several years, helping over 230 startups and scaleups with their commercial goals and contributing to the creation of over 11,000 jobs in Canada.

However, there’s been a clear increase in the need to test how these technologies function in real-world environments.

Given this, CENGN has decided to expand its service offerings to physical living lab environments. These facilities will allow innovators to validate their solutions in realistic settings to reduce market-entry risks, showcase credibility to end users, and accelerate technology adoption in Canada’s strategic sectors.”

– Boris Mimeur, Senior Vice President of Technology and Engineering Operations, CENGN

Living Lab Benefits

Beyond real-world validation, the living lab approach offers other significant benefits.

Collaborative Innovation

Living labs create a collaborative community that includes technology providers, industry experts, academic researchers, government agencies, and end-users. This diverse network of partners brings different perspectives, resources, and expertise to the innovation process.

For example, academic partners might contribute cutting-edge research methodologies and theoretical frameworks, while industry partners provide practical insights about market needs and operational challenges. Government agencies can offer policy guidance and funding support while end-users deliver important feedback about real-world applications and usability. When all these partners work together in the same space, they create a powerful synergy that enhances innovation.

A collaborative approach also helps organizations share resources more efficiently. Instead of each organization investing in separate testing facilities, equipment, or expertise, partners can pool their resources and access shared infrastructure. This reduces costs and creates opportunities for unexpected collaborations and insights that might not emerge in more isolated development environments.

This collaborative ecosystem offers technology providers a unique advantage: they can simultaneously refine their innovations with input from multiple stakeholders. Rather than receiving feedback in separate stages from different groups, they can integrate diverse perspectives throughout the development process. This comprehensive feedback loop helps ensure that new technologies work well technically and align with market needs, regulatory requirements, and user expectations.

The result is a more robust and efficient innovation process, accelerating the journey from initial concept to market-ready solution. By bringing together different partners in a shared space, living labs create an environment where technical validation, business development, and market adaptation can occur simultaneously, leading to better solutions that are more likely to succeed in the real world.

User-Feedback and Improved Technology Adoption

Living labs also create a unique environment where technology providers can work directly with potential customers during the development and testing process. Rather than developing solutions in isolation, providers demonstrate their technology’s real-world impact in the customer’s working environment. This hands-on approach transforms the traditional buyer-seller relationship.

When customers see a new technology solving their specific challenges in their operational setting, they develop an understanding and confidence in the solution. For example, a manufacturing company testing a new predictive maintenance system can immediately see how it helps prevent equipment failures and reduces downtime in their facility. This direct experience makes the benefits tangible and concrete rather than theoretical.

At the same time, technology providers gain invaluable insights by observing how customers interact with their solutions. They can identify pain points, discover unexpected use cases, and refine their technology based on honest user feedback. This iterative improvement process, guided by customer input, helps ensure the final product truly addresses market needs.

As solutions become more refined and better aligned with customer needs, adoption barriers decrease, and technology uptake accelerates. This results in faster, more successful commercialization that delivers genuine value to end users.

Reduced Research and Development Costs and Improved Return on Investment

Sharing infrastructure and resources reduces testing costs while minimizing standalone research and development costs, improving the overall return on investment of product development.

Sharing infrastructure and resources dramatically lowers the financial barriers to innovation. Given that most startups and scaleups don’t have the resources to invest in their own testing facilities, equipment, and expertise, sharing infrastructure and resources allows smaller organizations to access state-of-the-art testing environments, further reducing barriers to innovation.

Think of it like a woodshop class in your local high school or an engineering lab at a university.

However, the savings extend beyond just physical infrastructure. Startups and scaleups also benefit from the shared expertise of building user-based environments, reducing the need to hire specialized staff or consultants for short-term projects.

For instance, if an organization wants to test its solution, it doesn’t have to set up a cloud-based network on its own. Instead, it can use the network and industry technology experts on-site to configure its solution to the living lab’s machinery/infrastructure and connect it to the network. This makes set-up easier and less costly, freeing the startup/scaleup to focus on its project testing objectives.

When these reduced costs are combined with the accelerated development timeline that living labs enable, organizations see a much more substantial return on their R&D investment. They spend less money overall while bringing their innovations to market faster.

Reducing Risks Before, During, and After Market Entry

Before

Before entering the market, testing during early validation helps identify technical flaws, usability issues, and market fit problems when they’re inexpensive. Companies can iterate their products based on real user feedback rather than assumptions, reducing the likelihood of costly product failures later.

The collaborative nature of living labs also connects startups with potential partners, customers, and advisors early in the development process. This network effect helps businesses understand market needs more accurately and can lead to strategic partnerships that reduce go-to-market risks.

During

As businesses transition from development to commercialization, living labs are stepping stones for gradual market introduction. Rather than launching and hoping for success, companies use living labs to demonstrate proof-of-concept to early adopters and investors. This staged approach provides credible evidence of market traction, making it easier to secure funding and partnerships.

After

Post-launch, living labs provide value through ongoing testing environments for product improvements and new feature development. They offer a space for continuous innovation without disrupting existing customer relationships. Scale-ups can experiment with updates, gather performance data, and validate new directions before rolling them out more broadly.

The ecosystem connections fostered in living labs also translate into lasting business relationships, creating ongoing opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and market expansion that help sustain long-term growth while managing competitive risks.

Accelerated Development

Overall, the combination of real-world testing, stronger collaboration practices, user feedback collection, reduced R&D costs, and risk mitigation accelerates innovation quicker than ever, allowing faster iterations, streamlined processes, and effective entry into the market.

CENGN’s Sector-Based Living Labs

Seeing the benefits of living labs, CENGN’s new approach is designed to support over 100 Canadian startups and scaleups looking to test and validate their innovative solutions, which are ready to scale and commercialize.

Each CENGN Living Lab is sector-focused, providing customized testing environments with the right tools, technologies, resources, and management to meet the needs of Canadian startups and scaleups and drive innovation outcomes.

As each living lab is launched, new sector-based testing opportunities will be added.

What Sector-Based Technologies Can Be Tested with CENGN’s Living Lab Initiative?

Smart Agriculture-Based Technologies

Smart agriculture innovation is changing farming practices with technologies that increase productivity, reduce operational costs, improve crop quality, and enhance sustainability while addressing global food security challenges and climate change adaptation.

Living Lab Testing Examples:

• Autonomous Planting and Seeding Systems

• Weed Management and Precision Cultivation

• Pest Detection and Targeted Treatment

• Autonomous Harvesting Operations

• Greenhouse and Vertical Farming Operations

• Data Integration and Farm Management

• Precision Irrigation Management

• Yield Prediction and Harvest Planning

• Field Mapping and Infrastructure Assessment

Robotics

Although not a sector, robotics innovation transforms pre-programmed machines into intelligent, adaptable systems capable of operating in dynamic environments. This creates more efficient and flexible automation solutions while opening new possibilities for human-machine collaboration across various industries.

Living Lab Testing Examples:

• Robotic System Monitoring and Coordination

• Autonomous Delivery Robot Navigation

• Human-Robot Interactivity Testing

• Unmanned Aerial Systems Testing

Natural Resources and Forestry

Innovation in natural resource management and forestry is transforming the field with advanced technologies and sustainable practices that optimize resource utilization, address environmental challenges, and ensure long-term resource availability.

Living Lab Testing Examples:

• Autonomous Planting and Seeding Systems

• Precision Cultivation

• Pest Detection and Targeted Treatment

• Forest Health Monitoring and Disease Detection

• Precision Irrigation Management

• Multi-Platform Data Integration

• Field Mapping and Infrastructure Assessment

How Will These Living Labs Impact Canadians and Canada’s Economy?

Beyond helping startups and scaleups transition technologies from testing to commercialization, the CENGN Living Labs are about driving innovation in Canada.

These living labs will:

• Increase Canada’s GDP

• Increase and safeguard tech jobs in the Canadian marketplace

• Help traditional sectors remove barriers to technology adoption

• Bring innovative Canadian products and patents to the marketplace

• Accelerate Technology Readiness Levels for Canadian companies

• Encourage organizations to use these new technologies to benefit Canadians

CENGN’s Living Labs aren’t just a tech testing ground but a strategic investment in Canada’s future. By creating sector-specific environments that bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization, these labs are set to accelerate technological adoption, create jobs, and position Canada as a global leader in emerging technologies.

About the Author

Being the Content Marketing Lead at CENGN, Richard researches and shares information on emerging technologies such as 5G, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence.

Through his experience in writing and support for technological growth, he’s always interested in sharing how new technologies are shaping the lives of fellow Canadians.

More by Richard Galazzo