Experimenting with Meaning: Reallabor as a Travelling Concept in Germany’s Innovation Landscape

The concept of Reallabore (real-world laboratories) has undergone remarkable semantic evolution in Germany - rooted in the experimental turn in social sciences, shaped in sustainability research, and culminating in national innovation policy. This paper frames Reallabore as a travelling concept: a term that shifts in meaning as it moves across institutional, disciplinary, and political contexts. Drawing on perspectives from economic geography, it traces four distinct phases in the evolution of the term, highlighting the tensions and strategic translations that have shaped its development. Understanding such conceptual trajectories is key to interpreting the performative power of innovation discourse in regional policymaking.