Tools for smart policy development

There is today a great awareness of the need for new ways to develop and adapt regulation - with the owner of the need in focus. Here you will find tools that can be helpful for smarter policy development - and examples of international best practice.

This web page has been machine translated. If there are any uncertainties, please refer to the Swedish text.

In a time of major and rapid changes in the world around us, rules and policies that keep up with the times are required. Many different initiatives and efforts are therefore underway around the world to find new ways to develop and adapt regulation and policies. Different terms are used to describe these efforts. Vinnova has chosen to name it Smart policy development. Forskningsinstitutet RISE uses the term Governance innovation, Komet uses trials for technological innovation, the EU uses Innovation Principle while World Economic Forum uses Agile governance. Although there are nuanced differences, it is mostly a semantic difference.

Policy lab to develop agile working methods

A policy lab is a temporary or permanent group of actors with different skills who use and develop innovative methods to change regulations. The aim is to develop an agile way of working to develop regulations that stimulate rather than hinder innovations for sustainable development. An important foundation in a policy lab is the ability to dare to experiment with the user at the center. Orientation, aim and methods may vary.

Vinnova co-organises, follows up and finances temporary policy labs (policy lab cases) primarily with authorities. This is intended to both create demand for policy lab methods with authorities and build capacity among ourselves. Parallel work is also underway to evaluate the working method and to work for a more permanent and powerful structure around policy development.

Examples of national and international policy labs

Government assignment "Create a coherent innovation process between authorities"

Regulatory sandbox for experimentation

Regulatory sandbox (after the English term regulatory sandbox) refers to experimental activities, limited in time and space, with aim of developing technology and regulations in parallel for safer and faster learning. The level of knowledge is raised both by the person carrying out the experiment and by the regulator. It increases the possibilities to develop rules in smaller steps. Initially, sandboxes have been used in financial regulation, but several countries have broadened this to energy, health and transport. Singapore, South Korea and Germany are examples of countries that work strategically with sandboxes.

Attempt! - Report with proposals to the government

Experimental policy – an evidence-based learning

Experimental policy is testing new things within a framework that results in learning and evidence-based policy development. I Storbritannien, there are several organizations that actively work with experimental policy. Innovation Growth Lab (IGL), a branch of NESTA, for example, works with so-called "randomized controlled experiments" to gain knowledge about how well different policy measures to support innovation and fast-growing companies work.

NESTA describes experimental policy

Rapporten Navigera under uncertainty - entrepreneurship, innovations and experimental policy