A real-world laboratory is an innovative facility that acts as an interface between science and civil society. Experimental environments are created here that make it possible to work together on solutions to problems for present and future society and to learn from each other. Unlike traditional laboratories, a real-world laboratory involves various actors from science and practice and extends the concept of the laboratory to the social context.

In a real-world laboratory, applied, interdisciplinary research and development projects are carried out with the aim of conducting consumer, user and sustainability experiments in a specific social environment and initiating transformation processes. The aim is to combine scientific findings with social action and to promote both research and learning processes.

The resulting findings and solutions should be easier to take up by various social actors such as politics, civil society and business. This should make society as a whole more capable of taking action, particularly with regard to issues of sustainable development.