# Senior Living Lab: An Ecological Approach to Foster Social Innovation in an Ageing Society
## 4 Methodology of the SLL
### Ecological Approach  
Since the ecological approach is crucial in the functioning of the Senior Living Lab, we discuss how we implemented this approach in this sub-section. Ecological models have gained relevance in studies in many disciplines and fields (e.g., public health, sociology, biology, education, psychology, etc.) [30]. Several studies, such as [31; 3], demonstrate the positive impact that can be obtained creating programs that act on multiple determinants and targets. In particular, inside the scientific community for several years now, there is a broad consensus that programs based on ecological approaches are more effective than traditional ones [2; 30; 32]. Nevertheless, existing programs for health promotion for older adults tend to adopt a traditional approach targeting individual determinants, instead of more innovative approaches that consider the target population and the related ecosystem [33]. This is mainly because programs based on ecological approaches implement multiple goals, require very different know-how and are therefore typically harder to design and realize in practice. In fact, ecological approaches need to consider multiple determinants of health and, therefore, necessitate a transdisciplinary team of researchers and partners. Ecological approaches should be able to act on: (a) the individuals; (b) their immediate local context; and (c) the larger context where they live, such as their community or social context. A living lab design methodology naturally facilitates the implementation of an ecological approach. In particular:  
* Living labs deal with the target users in their environment. In this way, it is possible to acquire knowledge that was not accessible in classical laboratory settings. * A living lab is a public-private-people partnership. Therefore, it has by design the capability to provide multi-level actions and interventions around the target population. Therefore, the Senior Living Lab distinguishes itself from the other living labs working in the same area for the involvement in its activities, and from the beginning, of all of the stakeholders around the problematic of healthy ageing. The involvement of the different stakeholders is strictly dependent on the political, societal and economic conditions of the Swiss society. For this reason, during the first year of operation, the Senior Living Lab conducted a survey of existing older adult stakeholders in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The purpose of the survey was to identify potential partners, gain access to the older population and investigate project opportunities where the Senior Living Lab could offer its transdisciplinary competencies. Each SLL founding partner, in particular the School of Nursing Sciences La Source, which is already in contact with several older adults' stakeholders, collected a list of potential entities that could become partners within the Senior Living Lab. During a Senior Living Lab meeting with all of the founding partners, lists of potential partners were collected. Entities belonging to the same categories have been regrouped, and a mind-map has been created. The different entities identified as possible partners within the Senior Living Lab have been labelled in eight different categories:  
* Associations: There are several local and national associations that offer a varied support for older adults: some of them offer specific support related to older age diseases (e.g., Alzheimer and Parkinson); other associations support local leisure and cultural activities; others defend older adults' rights or gather volunteers for older age support. * Medical-social entities: Several public and private entities offer specific medical and social support to older adults.