We are the EU Policy Lab
The EU Policy Lab is a space designed to foster creativity and engagement. It develops interactions, processes and tools which bring innovation into European policy-making. Our work is articulated around three complementary dimensions:
Foresight, Design (for Policy) and Behavioural Insights.
As in other policy labs, our emphasis is on testing, experimenting and co-designing, by using tailored made frameworks with a strong visual focus. We like to think about the Lab as both a physical and conceptual space to open up the conversation and facilitate collaboration between policy-making and stakeholders. Here, we explore, we connect and we find solutions for better policies.
Foresight
Foresight explores long-term futures and creates shared visions for policy-making.
The Competence Centre on Foresight 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
The Design team is the creative catalyst of innovation in policymaking.
We provide content, processes, and support to policymakers to tackle complex problems in a collaborative way. We run qualitative research, ask fundamental questions, challenge assumptions and test ideas that can lead to innovative solutions.
We synthesize and make sense of information, visualize systems and interactions, give form to policy concepts and make them tangible and relatable. We identify user and system needs, engage stakeholders and facilitate cross-teams, sciences and policy collaboration and experiments to bring new practical and radical perspectives to current and future challenges.
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
Future of Government 2030+
The role and form of government are changing. Identifying requirements for future governments allows us to rethink their structures and processes and explore what they might look like in the future.
Farmers of the Future
The aim of the study is to identify possible future professional roles of farmers in 2040 and to explore potential implications for relevant EU policies. The study will combine different methodological approaches and is exploratory in nature
Last Bootcamp of DLT4EU Accelerator: DLT-solutions for public and social sector soon ready
The Bootcamp of the DLT4EU programme, a major milestone in this Accelerator programme supported by the DLT4Good project, with focus on the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) in social and public sectors
The Canvas for Social Economy, a design method for regenerative economies.
The Social Economy Canvas is a visual sense making framework inspired by design and by complex-adaptive systems theory. It intends to provide policymakers with an ongoing, bottom-up, macro-assessment of social economy in Europe
Forward-looking reflection on the future of EU environmental policy and the 2050 sustainability transition
This foresight study developed long-term visions for eco-industries (Horizon 2035), identifying relevant trends and drivers, highlighting implications for EU policies and describing realistic and desirable possible futures.
Experiencing possible customs futures before taking the plunge
The top rungs of customs administrations across the EU explore future scenarios at the Helsinki High-Level Seminar on Strategic Foresight and the Future of the Customs Union.