Living Lab Fund
Receive funding for your innovative Living Lab project!
What is a Living Lab (also known as a “real lab”) at the ZHAW?
The ZHAW aims to be a Living Lab in which its staff and students conduct real-world experiments together and with the participation of other relevant stakeholders. Living Labs take real issues at the ZHAW as a starting point, contribute to sustainable development at the ZHAW and beyond, and generate and transfer context-specific system, target and transformation knowledge. The focus is on learning in an experimental environment and research in an applied context.
About your project
- Living Lab projects enable practice-orientated projects that combine research and teaching in order to address real issues at the ZHAW or the surrounding area.
- A total of up to CHF 200’000 per year is available to fund 5-7 Living Lab projects, with each project submitting an application based on its specific needs. Projects with a high budget can be considered in exceptional cases.
- The project budget can include salary costs (according to the ZHAW cost rates) and material costs.
Prerequisites
- The project manager is employed by the ZHAW until the end of the project.
- The School is contributing an additional 20% of the sum financed by the Living Lab Fund.
- The project integrates applied, practice-orientated and/or experience-orientated teaching and research components in its implementation.
- The project is a Living Lab (definition above) and takes place on the ZHAW campus or in the surrounding region.
- Your project promotes sustainable development in at least one of the three dimensions environment, society or economy and relates to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Once funded, Living Lab project must be registered with the ZKSD and carry out at least two to three activities (e.g. project meetings, events, lectures) on site at the centre or in the Kulturpark. This serves to make the project more visible and to promote the exchange of Living Lab projects between the universities of the Canton of Zurich.
- Find out more about the evaluation process and the criteria.
2025 Deadlines
- 22 January 2025 - for projects with budgets from 2025 onwards
- 05 October 2025 - for projects with budgets from 2026 onwards
Do you have any questions? Emma can help you!
Previous projects
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What does it mean to have both teaching and research components when carrying out the project? | A project that contains both teaching and research components must integrate these two aspects in such a way that they complement each other. For example, a project that is primarily focused on teaching should also include an element of applied research or knowledge transfer (e.g. a field trial or survey), regardless of its scope. Similarly, a research-orientated project should incorporate its findings into the teaching activities of the project members and/or transfer the knowledge to society or the private sector (e.g. activities in the classroom, adaptation of modules). |
| What happens if my project is selected? | Then comes the exciting part! After you have received an email from ZHAW sustainable with practical information, you can start your project and receive funding according to your project plan. |
| Can you tell me more about my School’s 20% contribution? | As the project leader, you must prove that the ZHAW Schools involved are contributing at least 20% of the financing from the Living Lab Fund. For example, if you receive CHF 10’000 from the fund, your department must contribute an additional CHF 2’000. This contribution helps to embed the culture of sustainable development in the departments. Once you have submitted your application, please send confirmation from your line manager to sustainable@zhaw.ch. An email from your supervisor, an email with your supervisor in CC or a signed statement from the School or institute will be accepted. |
| What is included in the financing? | The grant covers all project costs, from the pen for the project plan to the train you take to an important meeting. All we ask is that you are transparent and responsible and keep us informed about the progress of your project. Without exception, flight costs will not be covered. |
| Can I apply for other internal or external funding for the Living Lab at the same time? | In addition to the Living Lab Fund, you can also apply for other funding programs and opportunities. For reasons of transparency, you must indicate all other funding programs in the application form. The SIP Board will give preference to projects that do not already benefit or intend to benefit from other programs. |
| What is considered a sustainability issue? | Sustainability has a broad spectrum: we accept submissions for all environmental, social and economic projects - and any combination in between. We like to be surprised! |
| Sustainability has a broad spectrum: we accept submissions for all environmental, social and economic projects - and any combination in between. We like to be surprised! | Yes, you can apply again. However, make sure that you have taken into account the feedback you received with your first application. |
| How do you decide which projects you want to support? | With the support of a broad-based Evaluation Board, we pursue a balanced evaluation process based on a series of transparent criteria. |
| Can I submit several projects? | Yes - As long as the projects you submit are different from each other, you can submit as many applications as you have ideas for! |
