What does smart policy development do?

As society becomes more complex, laws, rules and established working methods of public actorsare challenged. There is a risk that public organizations prioritize stability and avoiding mistakes instead of prioritizing the benefit of citizens or companies. Smart policy development is an initiative to create modern and efficient rules of the game for markets and the public sector, by, for example, using innovation methods such as design thinking.

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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.

Why smart policy development?

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How can we use smart policy development?

Smart policy development can be used in many ways. Here are some examples

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.

Examples of national and international policy labs

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.

Report from Komet on how to work with regulatory sandbox and experimental activities.

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

Ethics in technological innovation

The Committee for Technological Innovation and Ethics (Komet) works with policy development to ensure that the development and spread of new technology is safe, secure and with a long-term societal perspective. Komet works on behalf of the government so that Sweden can be a leader in responsible development and use of new technology. The work will provide support for the government to manage accelerating technology development.

Vinnova is tasked with supporting Komet in their work. We participate in both reference groups and expert groups and carry out joint efforts.

This is how the Kometworks