The Entopia Living Lab provides a collaborative open innovation platform to accelerate the adoption of solutions and innovations in the built environment.
Through enhanced collaboration, demonstration and validation of solutions with routes to real world impact via academic insight, industry practice and policy engagement, we aim to make the Living Lab a catalyst for change.
From the outset, the Entopia Building project set out to challenge the status quo in building design and delivery. By showcasing in practical terms how delivering better buildings is possible through leadership, collaboration and innovation, the project set an exemplar for the industry as a whole.
The deep sustainable retrofit of Entopia is unique in achieving multiple sustainability standards through Passivhaus, BREEAM and Well. As part of an ambitious client brief, we set additional measures including the sourcing of bio-based materials, embodied carbon metrics over 100 years and ‘circularity’ in design. With the incredible support of a determined project team, industry experts and innovators and our wider network, in 2022 we opened the doors to the Entopia Building.
Today, Entopia provides an office, collaboration and innovation hub for CISL’s staff, network and members of the Canopy, our community and workspace for entrepreneurs, startups and innovators pioneering sustainability innovation.
The Entopia Building now acts as a Living Lab, where innovators, academics and pioneering companies in the built environment can come together to pilot and test new interventions in the design, operation and use of lived spaces – and to communicate and share the results for public benefit. Our goal is to provide a space that replicates what the buildings of tomorrow will look like, so that experimentation can meet the needs of future building design for people, nature and climate.
What we can do with the Living Lab
The Living Lab will initially harness the exemplar retrofitted Entopia Building as a platform for:
- Experiments and validation pilots towards a sustainable built environment
- Collaboration, learning and capacity building across disciplines and value chains
- Supporting the evidence base for ambitious retrofit practices, policies and technologies
- Informing new standards and protocols for open data sharing and collaboration
- External communication and engagement with policymakers, industry and professional bodies.
The Lab provides for our community:
- access for industry to collaborate and learn from CISL, academics, peers and innovators
- the use of Entopia data to test and validate solutions in the real world
- access for academics to contribute to the evidence base, access data and validate solutions.
Support the Living Lab or become a member
CISL’s Living Lab aims to be an effective and ambitious catalyst for positive change which enables innovators, academics, policymakers and industry decision-makers to come together. Pioneering new building practices and innovations could unlock the step change we need for a sustainable transition. Partnerships are available as indicated below.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact George Johnston at livinglabs@cisl.cam.ac.uk
Living Lab Membership
Access to the Entopia Building and CISL’s network of senior sustainability decision makers and cutting-edge global innovators, as well as the tools and data that support the Entopia Building to deliver to its ambitious sustainability standards.
Knowledge and Dissemination Partner
Work with us to create a partnership in kind proposal that revolves around knowledge sharing to and from our community.
Data/facilities access
Access our database of built environment datasets for your project. Continually refreshed from both live projects, as well as synthetically-generated data models.
Innovation pilots
For industry partners looking at flexible real estate environments to pilot their solutions and integrate with our digital twin. Includes the creation of a branded case study.
Living Lab as a service
Complement your existing construction project with a full bespoke technology specification built on open-API standards and a post-build operational plan to enable innovation communities to connect to your sustainable building.
Accelerating sustainable innovation in the built environment: Living Lab Summit
31 July 2025
Our upcoming Summit will give attendees firsthand insight into CISL's Living Lab’s facilities, access to its growing data lake and a unique opportunity to shape the research, partnerships and investment priorities that will define the future of built environment innovation. Full event details
