LIST OF PANELS

Note: This Panel is eligible for the GCPSE (UNDP) Grant.

Governments around the world have been experimenting with policy design and seeking innovative approaches, as they try to increase the value for money they get from their limited funds, while simultaneously addressing intractable policy problems. In recent years, governmental interest in innovation, experimentation and measurement has spawned a multitude of policy design labs and government innovation teams. These ‘policy labs’ take a variety of forms, applying different methods and focusing on a range of issues – sometimes developing a high profile (e.g. Denmark’s MindLab), and at other times disappearing not long after they emerge (e.g. Australia’s DesignGov).

Despite their differences, policy labs predominantly draw on and reflect contemporary interest in behavioural insights, design thinking and evidence-based policy making, and there is a growing body of grey literature describing and promoting policy labs. Some are located within government; and some are autonomous but sponsored by government, not-for-profit organizations, or some combination of both. Others are located within universities. Some appear to be ‘re-branded’ units, while others are clearly new initiatives. And while some specialise in particular policy sectors, others have a very broad area of interest. Yet there is still relatively little academic research on the specific form, practices and influences of these ‘innovative’ policy-making/evaluating units. If policy labs are themselves experimental, what are we learning from these experiments in policy design?

This panel aims to better understand the emergence and spread of the policy lab as a distinct institutional form, as well as the particular concepts and methods being applied and promoted by these units, and their influence on policy design, implementation and evaluation.

We propose a panel that sheds light on the following questions, among others:

• What explanations are there for this rise in policy labs?
• Where do policy labs come from? To what extent are they an example of policy transfer or an instrument constituency?
• What forms of knowledge and expertise do policy labs draw on and promote?
• What methods and tools are they using?
• How do policy labs interact with existing institutions and interests?
• Are there particular institutional locations, models of governance or policy realms in which policy labs thrive?
• What impacts are policy labs having on policy processes and outcomes?

The aim of the panel is to bring together researchers from diverse disciplines and geographic locations with a common interest in understanding the origins, practices and impacts of policy labs.

Governments around the world have been experimenting with policy design and seeking innovative approaches, as they try to increase the value for money they get from their limited funds, while simultaneously addressing intractable policy problems. A growing interest in innovation, experimentation and measurement has spawned a multitude of policy design labs and government innovation teams. These ‘policy labs’ take a variety of forms, apply different methods and focus on a range of issues.

Despite their differences, policy labs predominantly draw on and reflect contemporary interest in behavioural insights, design thinking and evidence-based policy making.  Yet there is still relatively little academic research on the specific form, practices and influences of these ‘innovative’ policy-making/evaluating units. If policy labs are themselves experimental, what are we learning from these experiments in policy design?

This panel aims to better understand the emergence and spread of the policy lab as a distinct institutional form, as well as the particular concepts and methods being applied and promoted by these units, and their influence on policy design, implementation and evaluation. We want to bring together researchers from diverse disciplines and geographic locations with a common interest in understanding the origins, practices and impacts of policy labs.

We are calling for submissions that shed light on the following questions, among others:

• What explanations are there for this rise in policy labs?
• Where do policy labs come from? To what extent are they an example of policy transfer or an instrument constituency?
• What forms of knowledge and expertise do policy labs draw on and promote?
• What methods and tools are they using?
• How do policy labs interact with existing institutions and interests?
• Are there particular institutional locations, models of governance or policy realms in which policy labs thrive?
• What impacts are policy labs having on policy processes and outcomes?