Living Labs
The ENERGISE Living Labs are collaborative innovation spaces where researchers, students, communities, policymakers, municipalities, and industry partners work together to develop, test, and scale practical solutions for a Just Energy Transition (JET) in South Africa.
Rather than limiting research to laboratories or classrooms, the Living Labs provide real-world environments where new technologies, policies, and business models can be co-created and evaluated under actual conditions. By combining technical innovation with social learning, policy development, and entrepreneurship, they help bridge the gap between knowledge generation and implementation.
The Living Labs form a cornerstone of the ENERGISE Center's transdisciplinary approach. They enable stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds to jointly address pressing energy challenges while ensuring that solutions are socially inclusive, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable.
The mini-grid rural area Living Lab is managed by the University of Venda (UNIVEN).
Building on UNIVEN’s extensive experience in renewable energy deployment, rural community development, and participatory approaches, this Lab will demonstrate how decentralized mini-grid systems can provide affordable, reliable, and clean energy access in underserved regions, and coaldependent local economies (in and around Lephalale). It will build on UNIVEN’s track record with projects such as biogas-to-fertiliser integrated systems and second-life solar initiatives, using community co-design to ensure local ownership, economic opportunities, and long-term sustainability.
The mini-grid peri-urban Living Lab is managed by the University of the Witwatersrand.
This Lab will test innovative, decentralized clean energy solutions that address the unique challenges of dense, rapidly growing urban environments with informal settlements and dynamic local markets. It will explore affordable, flexible mini-grid models that combine renewable generation, storage, and digital energy tools, with particular emphasis on informal market dynamics, affordability, and community co-governance.
The Policy Living Lab is managed by the University of Johannesburg.
It will serve as an open, collaborative space where policymakers, regulators, independent power producers (IPPs), municipalities, researchers, and civil society actors come together to test and refine practical policy measures that can unlock South Africa’s energy transition in a fair, inclusive, and realistic way.
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Living Lab, hosted at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), will act as an integrated physical and virtual platform that brings together students, early-stage entrepreneurs, researchers, local businesses, and community partners to co-create, test, and scale sustainable business models that drive a Just Energy Transition.
This website is currently under development. Some sections may be incomplete and additional information will be added as the ENERGISE Centre’s activities progress.