Urban innovation labs, hubs, coworking spaces… Which one to choose to boost your innovation?

Innovation is vital for organizations to grow and succeed in today's changing landscape. Corporates are facing challenges to make innovation happen due to the changing market dynamics and demographics. To support their highly creative thinkers and foster innovation, corporates are turning to innovation intermediaries, which can help them connect to various actors of diverse and dynamic urban ecosystems. These intermediaries include corporate R&D labs, facilitated innovation methods, collaborative workplaces, living labs and innovation hubs/lofts/garages, and even FabLabs and maker spaces. This article provides recommendations for corporates to select the right intermediary depending on the stage of the innovation process, including discovery, ideation, and execution. The article also introduces a new concept of innovation boot camps, which combines the best features of innovation intermediaries.