Int. J. Product Development, Vol. 17, Nos. 1/2, 2012 23 Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Concurrent process coordination of new product development by Living Labs – an exploratory case study Bernhard R. Katzy Center for Technology and Innovation Management, Leiden University, Plantsoen 97, 2311 KL Leiden, The Netherlands Email: bernhard.katzy@cetim.org Guido H. Baltes and Jérôme Gard* Management of Technology Faculty, Lake Constance University, Brauneggerstraße 55, 78462 Konstanz, Germany Email: gbaltes@htwg-konstanz.de Email: jegard@htwg-konstanz.de *Corresponding author Abstract: The risk of New Product Development (NPD) investments is that they are wasted if users and customers do not accept their results. Living Labs set out to involve users early on in the process to reduce this risk. The paper tells the story of how Coliquio discusses the contribution of Living Labs to NPD. User acceptance is a well-known performance indicator for new product success and user-involvement an indicator of development process maturity. As the story suggests, the nature of Living Labs as innovation intermediary is coordination of NPD processes in open-network settings. The paper provides a framework of Living Lab capabilities including team mobilisation and idea scouting, match making, product development, user validation and market positioning, project financing and venturing for future growth. Their concurrent coordination is a capability by itself. Living Labs are entrepreneurship capabilities. Keywords: open innovation; NPD; new product development; concurrent engineering; cross-functional teams; process coordination; Living Labs; entrepreneurship; user-centricity. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Katzy, B.R., Baltes, G.H. and Gard, J. (2012) ‘Concurrent process coordination of new product development by Living Labs – an exploratory case study’, Int. J. Product Development, Vol. 17, Nos. 1/2, pp.23–42. Biographical notes: Bernhard R. Katzy is Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at University BW Munich, Germany and Leiden University, The Netherlands. He is founder and director of CeTIM the Center for Technology and Innovation Management. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from RWTH Aachen University of Technology and a second PhD (habilitation) in Technology Management from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His research interest is about entrepreneurial management of fast growing high-tech firms and the management of strategic change in the transition to the information age.