Helping policymakers build a future-ready Europe
We combine creative problem solving and scientific rigour to tackle Europe’s most complex, interconnected challenges: from technology to sustainability transitions, strengthening preparedness for future risks and more.
Working with policymakers, experts and citizens, we help institutions navigate uncertainty and design resilient, future-oriented and evidence-based policies.
In the spotlight
An event by the EU Policy Lab.
PolyFutures is an invitation to explore how participatory, creative, future-oriented and actionable approaches can inspire better policymaking. Over two days, participants will exchange ideas, share experiences and reflect on how foresight and design approaches are...
Time is not a neutral backdrop to policymaking – questions of pace, timing and horizons have become central to what we govern. Learn more about our conversation at PolyFutures.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- EU policy lab
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights
Shaping a fairer Europe for all generations: discover how the EU Policy Lab helped the co-creation of the first EU Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness with citizens, experts and institutions — and explore the tools to put it into practice.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights
- EU policy lab
The EU Policy Lab way
We work through ‘policy labs’: collaborative spaces where we combine foresight, behavioural insights and design for policy to rethink how policies are conceived, tested and implemented.
Each project is a tailored journey. We bring together civil servants, researchers, stakeholders and citizens, using a custom mix of methods and evidence to identify root causes, question assumptions, stress‑test options and co‑create effective, inclusive responses.
Our impact
Our latest stories
What does a good future look like when young Europeans describe it themselves? Across 670 stories written by 12-25-year-olds a clear message emerges: young people are hopeful about the futures they can build, while remaining deeply concerned about the pressures shaping their lives.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- #OURFUTURES
A fairer society. Healthier communities. Clean energy. Technology that serves people. Peace, cooperation and a sense that no one is left behind. This is the future described by thousands of people across Europe through Our Futures.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- #OURFUTURES
What might Europe look like in 2040? For some citizens, Europe in 2040 is greener, more united and democratic: able to harness technology while protecting people and the planet. For others, it is a continent facing climate disruption, widening inequalities, institutional distrust...
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- #OURFUTURES
The Labelling Knowledge project is an internal organisational transformation initiative by the EU Policy Lab to support the development and implementation of labels as policy instruments and to create a space for critical thinking on their use.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy
As part of the Labelling knowledge project, the EU Policy Lab conducted an exploratory literature review to better understand the state of evidence-based information design on labels.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy
How can democracy cope with the combined pressures of digitalisation, AI, shifting citizen expectations and changing institutions? These are some of the questions at the heart of a new foresight study on the future of democracy.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
Time is not a neutral backdrop to policymaking – questions of pace, timing and horizons have become central to what we govern. Learn more about our conversation at PolyFutures.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- EU policy lab
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights
Our idea for this "off-site day" was simple: to bring those shaping EU policies and institutional processes into the same room as design experts working in innovation, human-centred transformation, and futures thinking.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- EU policy lab
- Design for policy
How can policymaking become more rooted in how people think and decide? This was the starting point for the Discover Behavioural Insights for Policymaking workshop at the PolyFutures conference.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights