Viikki Food Design Factory Develops New Campuswide Viikki Living Lab Activities together with Advanced Sensory Science course

As part of our local activities in Viikki, the Viikki Food Design Factory has begun building a new type of experimental environment to engage local residents and people working and studying in the area into research and development activities. is a multidisciplinary platform for co creation and participatory science for research and solutions in food systems and wood and forest thematics. It is developed and managed together by the two innovation ecosystem hubs on the campus; .

Viikki Living Lab aims at offering a real-life experimentation and innovation environment located on the Viikki campus of the University of Helsinki. It brings together researchers, students, local residents, and companies to collaboratively study, develop, and test sustainable solutions in everyday settings. The Living Lab is set to act as a platform for participatory research and co-creation, enabling new products, services, and practices, especially related to food systems, wood materials, forestry, bioeconomy, to be piloted in a real urban environment.

This spring, Viikki Food Design Factory supports the in their efforts to recruit local people as participants in consumer testing of food products through the Viikki Living Lab. On this course students learn to apply advanced approaches to real test products, such as profiling methods, rapid consumer-insight tools, and multi-sensory data techniques that help food product developers refine formulations, test concepts earlier and strengthen product–consumer fit beyond the limits of traditional tasting sessions.

The student groups design and conduct their own sensory research projects. Recruitment through the Living Lab supports these teams by enabling access to a broader and more diverse participant pool beyond the university classroom.

Viikki Living Lab offers the student groups:

• Participant recruitment through our volunteer registry and communication channels, including Instagram (via VFDF), our website and targeted email outreach.
• A more diverse test audience, not just students, resulting in richer, more reliable consumer data for the projects.
• A ready-made recruitment process: student teams will provide their study topic, timing, participant needs and optional images. The Living Lab handles publishing the call and all participant communication.

The course teaches students to plan and execute sensory studies, analyse results and report them scientifically. The Living Lab’s role is in the recruitment and communication support - students remain fully responsible for the research itself. The first consumer test launched for test participants is a with more student-led studies coming up during late March and early April.

Check out the in 2026 and the to stay tuned and participate!