UL and Limerick City and County Council’s Citizen Innovation Lab at UN Summit

The innovative work of the Citizen Innovation Lab (CIL), a collaboration between University of Limerick (UL) and Limerick City and County Council (LCCC), was highlighted at the 79th United Nations General Assembly Science Summit in New York.

A team from UL and LCCC were invited to the summit to showcase the lab’s success in bringing citizens, researchers, and local government together to drive innovative climate action. The CIL team participated in a session alongside representatives from the office of the UN Secretary General and the New York Civic Engagement Commission.

As part of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), the CIL team joined an ENoLL delegation, which highlighted the work of European living labs working on climate action.

Representing UL at the Science Summit were Dr Madeleine Lyes, Living Lab Coordinator, and Javier Burón García, Director of Fab Lab. They were joined by Kieran Reeves, LCCC Climate Action Officer.

During the Summit, the team shared insights on the lab’s ongoing projects, including:

1. SMARTLAB – a living lab project involving participants from 70 Limerick city buildings equipped with energy and environmental sensors.
2. Síolta Glasa – a project that uses creative arts to engage communities in climate-related activities.
3. Clean Air Together Limerick City – a citizen science project run in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recruiting 400 participants to record local air quality.
4. City Studio – a collaborative space for citizens, local government, and UL, focused on using design to support Limerick’s climate action plan.

Dr Lyes said: “The Citizen Innovation Lab exemplifies how local government, academia, and citizens can come together to tackle climate challenges. At the Science Summit we were delighted to be able to take inspiration from living labs in other countries to further our mission of achieving a climate-neutral Limerick by 2050. The Summit also reinforced our confidence in the high standards of our CIL projects.” ”

Kieran Reeves added, “We were thrilled to present the innovative work of the Citizen Innovation Lab at the UN General Assembly Science Summit. Our projects demonstrate the power of community engagement and creative collaboration in driving meaningful climate action.”

The team also visited the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations, where they met with Dónal Cronin, a Limerick native and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Irish Permanent Mission in New York.