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.
Foresight
Foresight explores long-term futures and creates shared visions for policy-making.
Our lab supports EU policy-making 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 policy-making by identifying behavioural elements in policies and testing behavioural levers to increase policy effectiveness.
Our latest posts
Championing Sustainable Mobility: Enhancing Electric Vehicle Adoption through Behavioural Insights and Living Labs
The EU Policy Lab has recently unveiled an exciting new project with the Living Lab for testing Digital Energy Solutions. The idea is simple yet powerful: decipher the behaviours and choices of electric vehicle (EV) owners when presented with different incentive schemes at workplace charging station
Reference Foresight Scenarios: How to Futureproof EU Policies?
How can EU policymakers ensure that their efforts today are futureproof and adapted to the constantly changing realities of our world?
A Vision to Support the Digital Transition of Agricultural & Rural Communities
What does the future hold for farmers and rural communities? What will agriculture look like in 2040? More importantly, how can we ensure that rural communities reap the benefits of digital technologies, while staying true to their values and needs?
Unlocking the Path to a Sustainable EU: The Science behind the 2023 Strategic Foresight Report
Discover the foresight process the EU Policy Lab undertakes every year to inform the European Commission’s Strategic Foresight report. Join us as we take you behind the scenes and unveil the innovative methodologies we have used in the process.
Future forward and...beyond
In our fast-paced world, every day, policymakers face the critical challenge of making informed decisions that will shape the future. To meet this challenge head-on, the cultivation of foresight and anticipation skills are essential.
Technology foresight: anticipating the innovations of tomorrow
Technologies are not the future. However, the future is shaped by our capacity to anticipate them.