ULALABS Multiplier event and Transnational Meeting in Enschede

From 14 to 16 May 2025, representatives from the four ULALABS partner institutions gathered in Enschede, the Netherlands, for a Multiplier event and Transnational Meeting hosted by the University of Twente. Alongside project partners, ULALABS regional stakeholders including the Municipality of Stavanger, Municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallès, Municipality of Enschede, Nordic Edge, and ChallengeLab Twente, among others, took part in the discussions and collaborative sessions.

The program began with a Multiplier Event at Connect-U (and online), a vibrant innovation hub in Enschede that brings together education, research, entrepreneurship, and the public sector under one roof. The results of the project so far were showcased through a presentation and incorporation of a poster-session elements, providing the participants an overview of the progress and key outcomes. The highlight of the event - organised in a hybrid format - was a roundtable titled “Tackling Urban Challenges: How do Urban Experimentation Spaces develop learning communities?”, where stakeholders and experts shared their experiences and insights on fostering learning ecosystems through living labs and regional collaboration. The event concluded with an open discussion and networking opportunities.

As part of the Transnational Meeting, the following days focused on deepening the collaborative work of the ULALABS project. Sessions explored further the developed regional ecosysem mapping, identifying and prioritising shared strategic urban challenges, and co-creating a shared R+D+I agenda, as part of the Work Package 3 activities. Additionally, one of the workshops used a Futuring approach to explore further on learning community building and engaging stakeholders, collaboratively co-defining and discussing the key steps needed to identify, articulate, and activate learning communities within diverse European contexts, and clarifying the roles of different stakeholders in supporting or initiating these efforts, both at the regional and European-level (transregional) learning ecosystems.

We also focused on Work Package 4 (WP4), advancing the development of learning toolkits designed to support local and regional innovation ecosystems. The meeting concluded with a forward-looking discussion on Pilot Phase, Work Package 5 (WP5), outlining its objectives, both regarding the Cross-case Learning, as well as Distributed Learning components, next steps in preparation for the upcoming Pilot launch processes.

Participants also had the opportunity to visit the DesignLab at the University of Twente, as well as the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and its building, recognised for its innovative and sustainable design.

To learn more about the Twente region and the Municipality of Enschede innovation ecosystem, labs and other urban experimentation spaces, you can read our publication ´The Emerging Lab of Labs: Practices and Experiences of European Urban Experimentation Spaces´ here.

Stay tuned for more reflections and insights from our events in Enschede, coming soon!