At Vinnova, we regard a testbed as a physical or virtual environment in which companies, academia and other organisations can collaborate in the development, testing and introduction of new products, services, processes or organisational solutions in selected areas. In our survey of testbeds in Sweden, it's also important that the testbeds be open to users outside the individual organisation and be available for use for lengthy periods by a variety of different actors.
Testbeds can involve almost any type of environment. To make matters easier, they generally are divided into three levels: laboratory environment, simulated environment and real environment. The first two environments are used primarily in academia and institutes and by industry, while the third largely involves the public sector.