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.
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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
As the EU moves forward on its pledge to put Intergenerational Fairness (IGF) at the heart of its policymaking, the visioning phase has become an inspiring journey, filled with creative aspiration, honest dialogue and the practical tools we’ll need to build a Europe where every generation thrives.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights
What if policymakers could step into each other’s shoes, experiment with real-world scenarios and test collaborative strategies before making decisions? Find out how a serious game can help!
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy
How will today’s democratic shifts shape the Europe of tomorrow? What new paths might develop in the EU's democratic landscape and how can these imagined futures equip policymakers to act more decisively today?
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
How do we better protect the natural world when biodiversity is under unprecedented threat? If we want to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we need to address the behaviours that drive it and how we design policies. To do this, all actors in society are key.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights
- Design for policy
- Foresight
Find out more about the foresight methods informing this year's Strategic Foresight Report!
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
Looking back at one year since we launched the design for policy community.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy