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LAAS
Life as a service‘Improving the way we live together in a physical and digitised world through advanced services with quantum leap value’
Sonja Berthold, principal and founder
We are in the midst of significant transformations, not unlike the generation who lived through the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. Concurrent transitions, with major impacts on our lives, can be found in the transition from personalised control over devices to automation through machines (artificial intelligence and the Internet of things), from a three-stage life trajectory to multiple-stage lives (increased longevity), and from linear economies to circular economies (ecological turn). How we work, how we educate ourselves, when and with whom we decide to settle down with and when we have children, and how we spend our leisure time will all see profound developments.
Building on its existing expertise and capabilities in the construction industry and related sectors, LAAS links home-grown innovators with other leading figures in related and unrelated fields to join minds and hands in this novel innovation laboratory. The mission of LAAS’ highly diverse research teams is to revolutionise the way we live together by embracing transformative innovations around digitalisation, society, and the physical world.
Investors, developers, operators, and occupiers will work together with scientists to understand the potential impact of these trends on activities like transportation, education, health, and work, not only to avoid pitfalls but – more importantly – to leverage the benefits for their future undertakings. With this programme we create a global network of innovators with hubs in Europe, Asia, and North America, which will enable us to benefit from regional viewpoints and expertise.
The LAAS programme will complement academic units, industry partners, and government agencies. Its intent is to apply outcomes of the joint innovation process in paradigmatic real-world projects. An application experiment (later pilot) project can be an innovative typology of a district, a neighbourhood, or a new building. It can also describe an advanced education service or a radically different process model. Life as a Service is an international programme that carries out research, education, and outreach activities worldwide. It asks how advanced, digitally augmented services can improve life in urbanised areas and cities, as well as its society, culture, environment, and physical space. Therefore, it understands itself as an instrument to design and ask questions that open the door to dialogue and discovery.
Madrid, Spain and Essen, Germany - Commisioned Research