On Tuesday 19 May 2026, Fieldlabs@Scale hosted an online masterclass on developing experimental environments, bringing together practitioners, policymakers, and fieldlab managers working to scale innovation.

Led by Fieldlabs@Scale project leader Hans Berends, the session drew on insights from a large-scale study of fieldlabs to explore some of the most pressing questions in the field.

Why experimental environments matter

Fieldlabs offer a wide range of users — including entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions, and public organisations — the opportunity to jointly experiment with innovations that can help address societal challenges. But getting a fieldlab off the ground raises fundamental questions: when does it make sense to develop a separate experimental environment, and when can you work "in the wild"? And how do you ensure a fieldlab can continue to evolve and renew itself over time?

From research to insight

In the Fieldlabs@Scale project, a large number of fieldlabs have been studied in depth. The masterclass translated these findings into an interactive discussion covering four key dimensions: the development of experimental environments, the experimentation process itself, facilitating reuse, and the resources needed for long-term sustainability.

Key takeaways

• Initiators of fieldlabs need to carefully consider whether to develop a purpose-built fieldlab or leverage an in-the-wild environment.
• Experimentation in an ‘in-the-wild’ environment may lead to faster implementation, but usually a more limited scope and timeframe.
• Purpose-build fieldlabs can serve a broader set of innovative experiments by a larger group of users, but require continuous renewal and resource acquisition.

Watch the recording

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20447593