The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the specific lessons that
were learnt when Tanzanian and South African Living Labs (LL) collaborated to
support one another. It was a scientific collaboration which focussed on Living
Labs and co-creation with stakeholders, between Tanzania and South Africa and
this provided new insights on innovative mechanisms and success elements that
can be applied to make LL more self-sustainable in an African context. The
research methodology which was applied was qualitative research and multiple
case study as the strategy to exploratory how the SA LLs viewed success
elements compared to the Tanzania LLs. Two workshops were used to collect
data on success elements and innovative mechanisms and this resulted in data
which was triangulated and analysed to provide results. The main challenges
facing these LLs were funding and to become a legal entity especially in
Tanzania in order to be able to apply for funding using European mechanisms or
calls. The main success elements were that LLs should be relevant in their own
contexts and should make use of external experts to support their vision,
business plan developments and revenue streams. The most popular innovative
mechanisms that were applied by LLs from both countries are reflection
sessions, co-creation workshops and the creation of innovation spaces to
support creativity and new innovative ideas.