2016 brought a few surprises. We don’t know what 2017 will bring, but that hasn’t stopped us from putting together a few predictions based on the things we have seen in our various projects over the last year.
Now that I have finally, finally left Government (after a few unsuccessful attempts), I thought it would be good to reflect on how policymaking has changed over those 12 years.
Trains are my favourite mode of transport. My favourite thing about trains is that you can gaze out of the window and see the countryside rolling by. Imagine if you could exaggerate that so that all of the walls were …
Last Monday, the Prime Minister announced £20 million funding for local areas to test new approaches to preventing homelessness. These will draw on the insight and ideas that Policy Lab have generated with DCLG, local authorities and charities over the …
Bringing data into the design studio; and design into data projects: by Cat Drew, Dr Lucy Kimbell & Stephen Bennett A couple of weeks ago, we took part in a ‘data studio’: an experimental workshop hosted at an arts university …
Six months after graduating from an MA in design from London College of Communication (LCC), I was fortunate enough to be invited for dinner with the Vice Chancellor of my university (UAL) and the Head of my College (LCC). As …
Cities can be excellent laboratories for innovating and developing new ideas. When Foresight asked cities about the challenges they were facing, retaining a high skilled labour pool emerged as a key issue. Using evidence on graduate mobility and productivity the Foresight team created a project between cities, universities, employers and national government departments to develop of five initiatives to help deliver local and national priorities of productivity and regional rebalancing.
On Saturday, I went to UK Govcamp 2015, an all-day event where 200 people interested in innovation, data and digital in the public sector (among other things) get together to talk about - well, whatever they want to talk about …
When the Head of the Policy Profession, on this blog, states that ‘open policy making is about bringing expert thought, challenge, and innovation into our policy processes’ it seems churlish to say ‘yes, but what does that mean?’. Expertise, and …