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, visualise 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.
Design for policy tools
Design tools make policies more tangible and collaborative, turning abstract ideas into experiences that can be explored and improved with users:
- Co‑creation workshops bringing policymakers, scientists and stakeholders together to frame problems and imagine alternatives.
- Prototyping of policy options, services or interfaces to test feasibility and usability early.
- Visual and participatory methods (journey maps, system maps, mock‑ups) to align diverse actors around shared solutions.
These approaches are used in initiatives like Futures Garden, the EU Harmonised Waste Sorting Labelling System, Intergenerational Fairness or the Water Resilience Experiment to bridge science, creativity and governance.

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Design for policy (35)
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Find out how the EU Policy Lab has been co-creating Europe’s harmonised Waste Sorting Labels: lessons from our workshop series.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights
- Design for policy

Imagine a Europe where the voices of the young, the old, those yet to be born, and even the living world (animals, plants and ecosystems) are all heard and valued equally around the same table.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights

What if, instead of just preparing children and young people for ‘the future’ we could hand them the tools to shape it?
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy

What happens when policymakers and designers come together to rethink how we shape the future?
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy

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

A series of reflections on EU Design for Policy
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy

Chasing unpaid taxes weighs on administrations as it is time- and resource-intensive.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Behavioural insights
- Design for policy

An EU Policy Lab exploration of transformative actions for adaptive water governance
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights
- #OURFUTURES

A new tool for policymakers helps to explore the effects of polycrisis on their policy area
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy

We've just launched the process to design the next EU Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness. Found out more about how we did it.
- EU Policy Lab tags
- Foresight
- Design for policy
- Behavioural insights