The current call for the flagship initiative will see a number of initial projects given funding over the next few years to set up five living laboratories in Austria. These are to cover a wide range of different regions and the elements of the solution required in each case. Comprising an overall concept, a lead project and/or an innovation laboratory, the initial projects will lay the foundations for the living laboratories.
 
On the next few pages, we present nine exploratory studies from the previous round of bids that were geared towards identifying initial approaches and concept ideas for establishing living laboratories in various parts of Austria.

Elements of the overall concept

Within the energy and stakeholder landscape, the current conditions in the region are to be illustrated alongside the potential that it offers in relation to the targets for 2030 and 2040. The intention here is to devise region-specific solutions that can be applied to other regions of the same type and/or scaled up. The living laboratory is to create a space for experimentation in which system solutions can be trialled and RTDI-related questions answered. As a basic principle, all the BMK’s support services can be drawn on to make the living laboratory vision and the comprehensive living laboratory concept a reality.