At AMS Institute Aranka works on developing the AMS living lab methodology. Living labs are multi-stakeholder open innovation processes focusing on real-life experimentation. With a background in sustainable and temporary architecture and with hands-on experience with Festival Living Labs, Aranka brings a practical and holistic approach to the AMS Living Lab methodology. Moreover, she brings her knowledge on the methodology to practice as task leader in the Horizon2020 project ATELIER, which focuses on transforming the neighborhood of Buiksloterham in Amsterdam and the neighborhood of Zorrotzaurre in Bilboa into Positive Energy Districts.
Paralel to her activities at AMS Institute she is also involved at Het Groene Brein where she supports the set-up of multi-stakeholder innovation projects involving universities, business, government and citizens for a.o. the Circular Economy Transition Agenda of Consumer Goods (Transitieagenda Consumptiegoederen) of the minisitry of IenW.
For Aranka living labs are a place where sustainable innovation come into reality. Integrating new sustainable innovations in life’s existing infrastructures is where sustainable innovations become reality and get to have real impact. At AMS Institute she hopes to develop her expertise on the approach of Living Labs together with her colleagues and support the city of Amsterdam in becoming more sustainable and becoming a sustainability example for other cities to follow.
“I love that living labs grab the complexity of system innovations that are so needed for sustainable transition.”
Aranka Dijkstra
Former Program Developer Living Labs at AMS Institute
Aranka studied Architectural Engineering at the Technical University of Delft where she graduated on the design of a relocatable, modular and self-sustaining pavilion. During her studies she pro-actively developed the interdisciplinary master elective ‘Sustainable Innovation into Practice’ at TU Delft. After graduating she continued this work as a freelance entrepreneur and focused on organizing various events and conference based on co-creation. One of them being the DORP Summer School in which students, entrepreneurs and artists develop and test sustainable innovations at the festival Welcome to The Village in Leeuwarden and which is the foundation of her personal research on (Festival) Living Labs as approach for sustainable innovation.