Integrating Design in Living Labs and Policy Labs
Background
According to la 27e Région and
Nesta, there are 65
Policy Labs across Europe and
over 100 worldwide. Policy
Labs are dedicated teams
developing public policy using
innovative methods involving all
stakeholders in the
design process. Policy Labs are
contributing to the EU
objective to reinstate the
legitimacy of policy-making
through greater citizen
engagement.
Similar approaches are also
being used by Living Labs to
engage users in jointly
developing new products and
services in communities and for
enterprise. The European
Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)
estimates that there are
over 400 Living Labs worldwide
with around 360 in
Europe.
In France, Design for Europe has
mobilised a large
network of actors across Policy
Labs and Living Labs to
engage citizens and users in
jointly developing their
own solutions.
“The design and living lab
communities have not always
been in close contact. The first
challenge in
collaboration was to find a
jargon-free common language
between academia, business and
design. As a result of
developing guidance and
methodologies on design 23
experiments were successfully
conducted to support
businesses to develop new
products, services and
solutions that are ‘fit for
all’. Being Design for
Europe Ambassadors was a way for
us to capitalise on the
results and further share good
practices.”
Dr Isabelle Vérilhac, Head of
Business and Innovation,
Cité du design, Design for
Europe Ambassador, France
Building on the success of
IDeALL, Design for Europe was
able to draw together a larger
network of stakeholders
active in labs focused on
innovation in both the private
and public sectors including
ENoLL – the European
Network of Living Labs, La 27e
Région and Nesta as
partners and Cité du design,
Issy Média and Brie'Nov as
Ambassadors.
We would like to use digital technologies to help people to improve their behaviours, particularly on mobility, and let them understand the advantage that a better use of existing services can have on their daily lives.
“There is a big drive in France
to move to digital
public services and design
thinking plays a huge role in
that. Issy works through Living
Labs methodologies to
shape services on people’s needs
and involve them in
jointly developing solutions. We
are currently working
on mobility solutions project,
called So Mobility, that
works on an Open Innovation and
Living Lab basis. It is
fundamental to engage citizens
in the services and
solutions shaping process. We
would like to use digital
technologies to help people to
improve their behaviours,
particularly on mobility, and
let them understand the
advantage that a better use of
existing services can
have on their daily lives.”
Matteo Satta, EU Project
Manager, Issy Média part of the
City of Issy, Design for Europe
Ambassador, France
How Design for Europe helped
Through Design for Europe, La 27e Région, an action-tank on public policies ran two workshops, Immersion in Public Design in Paris June 2015 and Lab Builders in Marseilles in June 2016. Immersion in Public Design connected public authorities from France to national and international experts. The participants created project journeyswhich enabled them to identify bottlenecks and pitfalls as well as routes to effective and inclusive public engagement in the policy process.
Building capacity for design within these labs is fundament because design is a human-centred process and at their core public services and policies must correspond to the desires, aspirations and needs of citizens.
“As in many other fields,
labs have become seen as a
silver bullet for change in
public administrations and
governments. According to
Nesta, there are over 100
local, regional or national
governments around the
world with public service or
policy labs. But the
question is how many will
survive, provoke real change
and remain disruptive in the
long term? Government
labs represent a safe space
to innovate, experiment,
fail and reconstruct public
services and public
policies. Building capacity
for design within these
labs is fundament because
design is a human-centred
process and at their core
public services and policies
must correspond to the
desires, aspirations and
needs
of citizens.”
Stéphane Vincent, director,
la 27e Région, action-tank
on public policies, France
The two-day workshop brought
together the three
stakeholder groups: Lab
Experts - those with
experience of government
labs, Lab Builders -
governments and
organisations in the process
of
setting up innovation labs,
and Lab Explorers -
governments and do-tanks
hoping to establish public
innovation labs. This was
the second gathering of Labs
under Design for Europe
examining internal and
external public
administration processes.
Our cooperation with Design for Europe, ENoLL and the association of rural mayors of France has allowed us to test and transmit technical design methods. We work more precisely on mobility issues. It opens a real opportunity for exchanges and co-construction, especially between the public and private sectors.
“It was not only a workshop
but also a ‘walk-shop’
where participants conducted
fieldwork on public
services provisions in the
city of Marseilles. This
culminated in a benchmarking
exercise to exchange good
practices and cross
fertilise but to preserve
richness
and acknowledge diversity
and not to uniform the
Labs.”
Francois Jegou, SDS -
Strategic Design Scenarios,
Belgium
"Building on the concept of
Living Labs, Brie'Nov is a
network of stakeholders in
Seine-et-Marne aimed at
finding solutions to
territorial development
especially in rural areas.
Our cooperation with Design
for Europe, ENoLL and the
association of rural mayors
of France has allowed us to
test and transmit
technical design methods. We
work more precisely on
mobility issues. It opens a
real opportunity for
exchanges and
co-construction, especially
between the
public and private sectors".
Didier Galet, President of
Brie'Nov, Design for Europe
Ambassador, France
Outcome
Design for Europe was able to
create traction in
France by empowering local
networks and building
capacity for public sector
innovation through design.
“The significant impact of
Design for Europe has been
community building. The two
workshops have
strengthened the national
and international community
of local, regional and
national governments, labs,
professional designers,
researchers and think/do
tanks. The value of
knowledge sharing should not
be
underestimated. The
workshops established a
‘state-of-the-art’ in public
design labs including
controversies and solutions
to overcome them.
Governments at the early
stages of the design process
have really benefited
including the City of Paris,
City of Lille and French
Ministry of Environment in
particular.”
Stéphane Vincent, director,
La 27e Région, action-tank
on public policies, France
With the multitude of expertise throughout the Design for Europe network, we have been able to integrate design methods into the Living Lab practices of ENoLL members.
“With the multitude of
expertise throughout the
Design
for Europe network, we have
been able to integrate
design methods into the
Living Lab practices of
ENoLL
members. We have been able
to connect ENoLL members to
design expertise in
particular business sectors
to
drive competiveness and
change.”
Paolo Aversano, Development
Manager, ENoLL - European
Network of Living Labs
Design for Europe, through
the work of La 27e Region,
Nesta, Cite du Design and
ENoLL, was able to introduce
local and regional
governments in France as
well as
small businesses and social
enterprises to new design
methods actively involving
their core stakeholder
groups, citizens or
customers, in jointly
developing
and testing solutions.