We are the EU Policy Lab
The EU Policy Lab is a space for cross-disciplinary exploration and innovation in policymaking. We apply collaborative, systemic and forward-looking approaches to help bringing the scientific knowledge of the Joint Research Centre into EU policymaking.
We experiment with the new, the unprecedented and the unknown. We seek to augment our understanding of the present, challenge and reinvent the way we think about the future.
The EU Policy Lab is also a mindset and a way of working together that combines stories and data, anticipation and analysis, imagination and action. We bring new practical and radical perspectives to tackle complex problems in a collaborative way. Together, we explore, connect and ideate to create better policies.
Stay up to date with our latest work, events and initiatives, sign up for the
EU Policy Lab newsletter >
Foresight
Foresight explores long-term futures and creates shared visions for policymaking.
Our lab supports EU policymaking by providing strategic and future-oriented input, developing an anticipatory culture inside the European Commission, continuously experimenting and developing different methods and tools to make foresight practically useful for decision-making processes.
Design for Policy
Design is the creative catalyst of innovation in policymaking.
In our lab we use design to research and gain insight into the problem, to create and test alternative solutions and to collaborate and co-create with policymakers, scientists and stakeholders all along the process.
Behavioural insights
We generate behavioural insights through an empirical approach, gathering contributions from various behavioural sciences.
Our Lab uses behavioural insights to support EU policymaking by identifying behavioural elements in policies and testing behavioural levers to increase policy effectiveness.
Our latest posts
European education is currently standing at a (digital) crossroads, where the promise, as well as their pitfalls are real.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights
Building resilient communities in the face of disasters requires more than issuing warnings or providing information.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights
What happens when policymakers and designers come together to rethink how we shape the future?
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy
Future-oriented policymaking is not about "predicting” what comes next, but an approach that equips institutions to look beyond immediate pressures, actively explore alternative futures, and develop policies that are robust, inclusive, and adaptable.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
The Signal Cards come out of the ESPAS Horizon Scanning activity, in which we present and analyse emerging trends, technologies or generally signs of new which we identified through the horizon scanning process.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
Here is a sneak peek into some of the results of the scoping phase which has yielded valuable insights and lessons that could shape the future of policymaking in Europe.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights