In Real Lab - Urban ICT Arena - A Free Zone where the opportunities of digitization are explored

Purpose and goal

We conducted a pre-study on building a regulations tech “free zone” in Kista in which companies can test new technologies without facing regulatory or legal consequences. Interviews and desk benchamark helped us define the challenge at hand, going back to the root of the problem, contextualising and narrowing it down. This provided us with a base on which we developed solutions on how to run a "free zone". The growing international number of Policy Labs strengthened our will and action plan. We are prepared to proceed and will take a next step regardless of the outcome of this application.

Expected results and effects

Building on the Urban ICT Arena, we decided to focus on disruptive ideas around Smart and Connected Sustainable Cities and IoT - an area that screams for room for experimentation. Policy uncertainty causes companies to delay innovation activities, whilst flexible social regulations could stimulate innovation due to their disruptive nature. This presupposes an strengtened innovation culture within regulatory bodies or government who come on board. Also, there is a need to help companies navigate the legal landscape as they often misinterpret regulations and get discouraged.

Planned approach and implementation

In a first step, desk research was conducted to paint the landscape within which we situate ourselves. We sought relevant initiatives across the globe, as well as current research on the links between regulations and innovation. In a second step, qualitative data was collected via interviews. We interviewed the Dutch government on their Green Deals initiative, the Faculty of Law at Stockholm University, KTH´s Integrated Transport Research Lab and Nobina Technology. This helped us identify the opportunities and obstacles of building a tech regulations free-zone.