• LAB CONNECTIONS . Policy labs in Europe, for Europe
LAB CONNECTIONS . Policy labs in Europe for Europe


On the 17th and 18th of October 2016 the EU Policy Lab hosted the first meeting of European policy labs. The event was the first opportunity to generate a community of practitioners and policy-makers at several levels of governance.

Here you can find information on the event, the ongoing activities and some resources about policy labs.

THE EVENT

LAB CONNECTIONS started as an event held in Brussels at the Berlaymont on October 17th and 18th, 2016. The event was part of a Pilot Project initiated by the European Parliament in collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

User-centred approaches increase the involvement of citizens in policy-making and provide an opportunity to respond better to policy challenges.
Lab Connections aims at creating an open space for collaboration between policy labs and policy-shapers at local, regional, national and EU-level by

  • discussing the role of policy labs in public sector innovation
  • experimenting and testing through concrete actions how policy labs can contribute to address concerns of pan-European relevance

Conversations
SETTING THE SCENE: CAN LABS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

DAY 1 MORNING

The first part of Lab Connections offers two open conversations to better understand the context of policy labs.
The first conversation will focus on experiences from Finland, Estonia (tbc), France and Portugal to spot tendencies, explain good experiences and highlight hurdles in the path towards innovation and modernisation in the public sector. What is fundamentally new in the framework conditions and what is new in terms of approaches?
The second public conversation will enter the practical dimensions of establishing lab-like structures, ensuring and demonstrating impact, while sharing positive and negative experiences, organisational models, etc.

Hands-on sessions
HANDS-ON LAB SESSIONS
CONNECTING, EXPLORING, REFRAMING

DAY 1 AFTERNOON AND DAY 2

Policy Labs are “do-tanks”.  We believe that the best way to demonstrate that labs can make a difference is by “do-sessions”, i.e., table workshop sessions addressing real issues in a working setting. That is why the focus of this part of Lab Connections is on practical work rather than presentations.
The starting point is a list of challenges of European concern, coming from policy units within the European Commission:
The challenges are open for exploration and need to be reframed according to the participants’ experience. There will be a table per challenge animated by a lab with the assistance of the EU Policy Lab. Each table will generate visual representations of the challenges, using markers, paper, stickers and 3D-props. The objective is to highlight ideas for action where there can be a significate contribution from the participants.
At the end of this session we will collect all the ideas for action. On day 2 the most promising of these ideas will be transformed into plans for collaborative action.
By the end of the second day we should have a good idea what the first steps could be to implement such collaborative actions and who would be willing to take part.

Connections and exhibition
EXHIBITION AND EXCHANGE

In addition, exhibition and networking time will be available for labs to present themselves using graphic panels. A space for one-to-one conversations in the permanent coffee corner will also be available.

LAB CONNECTIONS . Agenda

OVERVIEW OF THE LAB MOVEMENT

OVERVIEW OF THE LAB MOVEMENT
Marleen Stikker, President and co-founder, WAAG Society
Twitter: @marleenstikker

 

Policy labs for public innovation

POLICY LABS FOR PUBLIC INNOVATION
EXPLORING NEW WAYS OF MANDATING CHANGE
Jesper Christiansen, Senior Programme Manager, Nesta
Twitter: @JesperC_

 

THE COMMUNITY

The LAB CONNECTIONS community is formed by several working groups dedicated to exploring and solving specific policy challenges. The groups are composed by labs and policy-makers active at European, state, regional and local level. The first set of policy challenges were proposed during the event and the work is now focusing on defining the “kickstarters”. If you see a topic of interest you are welcome to follow the conversations or to join.

Connecting digital, physical, natural and social solutions for citiesCulture and creative sectors in youth employmentImprove practice and policy for youth employment Against segregation in mainstream educationAddress public perception on migrationMobilise employers for the integration of refugeesAssist European start-ups A EU-wide Once-Only Principle (OOP)A citizen charter for digital public services

RESOURCES

View larger map

Results of the first mapping exercise

The map displayed on the left is based on the first mapping exercise performed by Conseil & Recherche and the 27th Region. It will be periodically updated based on user feedbacks and new submissions. If you would like to be included in the map, please complete a quick survey.

To access the original report, please click on the link below.

Mapping of policy labs in EU member states

Under construction

HOW TO JOIN

Your lab is not on the map? Are you interested in joining the community? Please complete a quick survey. If you are not a lab and you would still like to keep in touch, please contact us using the regular contact form.