Report summary: Safe(r) spaces for the public sector

**Report name **

Safe(r) Spaces for the Public Sector? An Assessment of Public Sector Innovation Labs in Berlin

Who wrote this report?

Maria-Jose Juarez Rodriguez, Program Lead at Hasso Plattner Institute School of Design Thinking and Mariel Sousa, Policy Advisor at iRightsLab. This article is based on their master’s thesis ‘Safe(r) Spaces for the Public Sector? An Assessment of Public Sector Innovation Labs in Berlin’.

Best quote

The nature of innovation is inherently uncertain and risky. Projects in PSI labs might give rise to innovative ideas that do not fit “policy as usual” and challenge the public sector “immune system”. Whether an innovation works is usually clear only at a late stage, creating unpredictable positive or negative outcomes sometime in an unforeseeable future.

Key takeaways:

• Labs should communicate their impact: One of the reasons why PSI labs cannot expand the reach of their efforts is because there is no uniform measurement for their impact. This encourages the organisations PSI labs work for to see them as an uncertain structure. Translating their work into a measurable value will promote the understanding of their efforts.
• Communication through open data:** Open data on PSI lab case studies, research, and reports should be available. For example, through a network in which all PSI labs can be in contact and share knowledge to increase impact and success rates.
• It is worth it to invest into PSI labs: For the public sector, we recommend that it is worth it to invest into PSI labs because there is a need for testing, failing and learning on a lower scale before implementing policies. However, PSI labs need the opportunity to make an impact. They cannot be isolated from the rest of the public sector structures without the opportunity to communicate their work.
• Government and labs need to improve their collaboration: Public sector innovation is not an imperative anymore. A new approach to policymaking is necessary for which we need more innovation capacity. Policymakers and bureaucrats of different management levels should build capabilities, collaborate and engage with PSI labs to break out of the turf-mentality.

What’s in this report?

The great academic attention that innovation labs in or for the public sector (PSI labs) have received recently indicates the growing interest in this form of organisation. The discourse around PSI labs is directly related to older public sector innovation discourses such as New Public Management, New Public Governance and models of co-production. Based on a qualitative analysis of five PSI labs in Berlin, conducted as part of a master's thesis, we argue that PSI labs can have sustainable impact depending on the uncertainties regarding their mission, resources and strategy. A number of scholars already point to the lack of data on the impact of PSI labs (Williamson, 2015; Carstensen & Bason, 2012). This article aims to contribute to the PSI literature by providing a framework for analysing the impact of PSI labs.

Why should you read this report?

Policy Innovation Labs are scaling. In this research, we assess their impact by focusing on four examples/case studies from Berlin. Two years and a pandemic have passed since we conducted the study and currently, we see that human-centred policymaking is becoming increasingly relevant for Germany. It also seems to be scaling in other countries and transnational organisations. We see the relevance of our recommendations and this motivates us to publish our findings on impact in PSI labs, the difference between independently run and government owned PSI labs and possibilities to increase the likelihood of their success.

Who is this report for?

This report is for public innovators working in or wanting to open up a PSI lab. We want to uncover developments of organisational success and failure and promote interdisciplinary cooperation between public servants/ policymakers and citizens, start-ups and other stakeholders affected by policies. This report is also for policymakers and decision-makers in the public sector trying to find ways to innovate and test, find backing and input for policy ideas. We want to show how a dialogue-based, co-creative and transparent approach to policymaking can increase the legitimacy of decisions.

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