Living Labs and designed serendipity: collaboratively discovering the UDUBSit & Mfunzi emerging platforms

Recent investigations into the paradoxical notion of designed serendipity position the concept within the research fields of design science, creativity and to a lesser extent digital innovation. In this study we contribute to the work on designed serendipity by analysing the role of the Living Labs methodology in facilitating and enabling serendipity. We specifically investigate that role within the context of two Higher Education cases within an African context. The two cases describe the development of emerging digital platforms co-created within their respective contexts. The UDUBSit mobile application (developed at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa) and Mfunzi mobile application (developed at Mzumbe University, Tanzania) are analysed to determine the extent to which the Living Labs approach enabled observable instances of designed serendipity. This study presents a brief analysis of the causal mechanisms and contextual factors that combine to create designed serendipity within the context of the cases evaluated and within platform design. The study links these causes back to Living Labs as a design methodology.