I was given 10 minutes. I kept talking for at least 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, I got to share some of our work on \u2018implementing change\u2019. That was also the title I picked for the input I gave at the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Digital Services (DIGIT) in Brussels. It was part of an excursion to the Commission\u2019s Digital Innovation Lab \u2013 or iLab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were a small-ish group of international visitors welcomed to their physical innovation space. The iLab team shared their work of the past few years: resources and training for policymakers to launch innovative initiatives themselves. The EU colleagues were curious to receive feedback on their Innovator\u2019s Playbook, a digital resource packed with methods and artefacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Complementary to their overview of work, I was asked to mirror it with ours. My input was well received, and I was immediately asked if I would consider returning for another format. So I might return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As always, my slides are on GitHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is policymaking in Germany so stuck in the present? Why can\u2019t we seem to work with longer-term timeframes and think in broader horizons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been wondering this for a while. Seeing talks about the work at the European Commission\u2019s Policy Lab by Ottla Arrigoni<\/a> and David Martens<\/a> over the past 2 years further pressed this question. When we co-ran a \u2018Design for policy\u2019 event last summer at Digital Service, the contrast between our policy design work and the EU\u2019s couldn\u2019t be greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear: I am tremendously impressed by the work my colleagues are doing in policy space. Our multidisciplinary policy design task force team has been supporting various ministries across a broad range of topics during the legal drafting stage. We bring a user-centred, leave-the-building lens to the policy development process; for example, by conducting qualitative research or visualising things that were only ever text-based until then. At the same time, we mostly respond to the government\u2019s very immediate needs and work on issues outlined in ministerial position papers, party manifestos, or coalition agreements. What we haven\u2019t done so far is look at much further timeframes \u2013 something I learned at Laurea University during my MBA studies and from the UK Policy Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Monday to Wednesday, I have had the chance to broaden my perspective on forward-looking policy practice. The EU Policy Lab had invited some 200+ people to Brussels for the first edition of Poly Futures. The event brought together experts from the public, third and private sectors as well as academia. Most of them had either a background in behavioural science, foresight or design. They all shared an interest in better policymaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new format invited to \u201cexplore how participatory, creative, future-oriented and actionable approaches can inspire better policymaking\u201d. And it so delivered on that promise! There were 5 keynotes, 24 workshops and experience sessions, a panel discussion and various excursions to Directorate-Generals. It was an event crafted with so much care and dedication that you could sense the organisers\u2019 intrinsic motivations. They curated the event content around 4 themes: trusting, sensing, experimenting, and daring. In hands-on sessions, indoor and outdoor, they came to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first breakout session I picked, UNESCO colleagues Christine Kavazanjian<\/a> and Clare Stark<\/a> looked at the futures of trust. What AI-powered conversations with the future can look and feel like was demonstrated by EU Policy Lab members Marta Malesinska<\/a> and Erica Bol<\/a>, who literally let us call people in the year 2040. Chelsea Mauldin<\/a> and Isabelle Bradberry<\/a> from Public Policy Lab<\/a> offered us tools for dual-timeframe policy innovations. They suggested looking at the \u201cneglected middle child of future horizons\u201d \u2013 5 to 12 years. There was much food for thought. I will need time to digest.<\/p>\n\n\n\nExamining future-proof policymaking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n