Review on Living Labs Their predecessors, their principles and the diversity of their applications.

In this paper, we are going to present the Living Lab concept. Through the last few years, many researchers have been arguing about this controversial term. Thus, there is a plethora of definitions been given to them and many case studies have been conducted, so as to conclude to a generally accepted explanation of this marketing phenomenon. The Living Lab (LL) theory is based on an Open Innovation ground and it co-exists with other marketing and production strategies such as Mass Customization, Open Source, Open Evaluation, Lean Production and so on, aiming to cover customers desires as much as possible. More and more organizations are confronted with highly dynamic external ecosystems. This notion is not an optional activity, but it stems from the fact that consumers seem to be more sophisticated and demanding about what fits their needs better. Colossal companies apply or even, are willing to adapt, these new ways of thinking. Moreover, European countries have already detected the emerging needs leading to the establishment the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). In periods of economic recession, innovation prevails and companies need to change their minds and be more "open" and conciliatory. The purpose of this shift is to utilize the majority of information deriving from all kinds of users. Till now, Marketing departments emphasize in approaching only the lead-users. Due to the fact that neither personalization nor customization was discerned, a vast amount of customers were unsatisfied. To conclude, users should have a dual action: they should be both innovators and developers. This will assist products and services to become more adaptive in real markets.