Living labs are promoted as an effective open innovation approach that accelerates the adoption of innovations. However, there remain knowledge gaps about factors that influence their effectiveness, success, and application to sustainability transitions. Through a scoping review on the evaluation of living labs, we identified 43 enablers and 37 barriers to effectiveness and success of living labs organised around the themes of governance, processes, features of living labs, characteristics of participants, adaptability, social dimensions, training and research, technology, and elements beyond the living lab (e.g. conditions for transition to the real world). Key enablers included strong collaborative and iterative processes with networks and partnerships, while key barriers included issues with supporting technology, the time and cost of collaboration, and challenges ensuring the longevity of living labs. We also reviewed study objectives, knowledge gaps, and future considerations to identify priorities for future research about living lab effectiveness and provide recommendations for their implementation. We recommend the development of frameworks for measuring and monitoring the success of living labs, and explore other considerations to promote their effectiveness based on the enablers and barriers identified. Lastly, we discuss how our findings on living lab effectiveness and success related to this special issue. This paper contributes to the body of research by our team (Beaudoin et al. Citation2022; Bronson, Devkota, and Nguyen Citation2021) that aims to explore living labs in the context of conservation, environmental, and agricultural sustainability to facilitate transformative social-ecological change.
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