Case Study Library

The Scenario Exploration System was developed to facilitate the application of futures thinking to policy-making originally geared at engaging EU policy-makers with foresight scenarios very easily. The tool operates as a multi-role board game that makes participants naturally grasp complex opportunities and constraints in a future-oriented perspective. Never before had a tool been able to facilitate the uptake of foresight for policy-making and systemic thinking to such an extent.

New Zealand has developed the Emergency Caller Location Information (ECLI) Service. The Service enables Public Safety Organisations (PSOs) to receive automatically generated geographical information about the location of a caller when an emergency call is connected to a mobile cellular network, from any mobile device. ECLI saves lives by decreasing the time taken to verify location and reduce the average dispatch time to incidents, with controls in place to protect callers’ personal…

Recruit Smarter is a multi-sector initiative of the Victorian Government and Melbourne University to develop inclusive recruitment practices and address unconscious bias in recruitment. Internationally, Recruit Smarter is the first initiative of its kind, contributing findings to a growing body of research demonstrating the benefits of inclusive workplaces. 46 organisations across the public, private, non-government, and research sectors contributed to Recruit Smarter and its findings.

“TAKO – Moms” is the result of a project with the goal of developing a Minimum Viable Product to help tax administration service workers with customer service. TAKO is an online overview of all customers, which was created by the service workers themselves in collaboration with programmers. This process resulted in both exceptional improvements in the payment of VAT’s as well as large evolutions in the skills of the workers, without launching a high-cost project.

BrazilLAB is an innovation hub conceived to connect startups with the public sector and accelerate their solutions with a focus on improving public services. It stimulates urban innovation by supporting high-impact entrepreneurs searching for solutions to complex city challenges. BrazilLAB is also a key driver of Brazil´s GovTech movement by leading a government advocacy coalition. Besides, it has launched a GovTech Seal through which startups can be easily accessed by the government.

The "miDGT" mobile app allows citizens to carry a digital version of their driving license and vehicle's registration and technical certificates, as well as receive alerts and news of interest, make payments of fines or taxes and access digital services. It is the first time a digital mobile driving license or registration certificate is issued in Spain, and it helps create an ecosystem for personalized mobile services for citizens to interact with, thus simplifying bureaucratic procedures.

Approaches to corruption are generally negative and ineffective- focusing on the problems and the wrong-doers rather than the solutions and the do-gooders. Integrity Icon is a global campaign run by the Accountability Lab organisation to "name and fame" honest government officials, change the narrative around graft and rebuild trust in government through lifting up role-models. It is innovative not just in the citizen and media driven campaign itself, but in the creative ways the campaign then…

In the Northern Ireland Civil Service, over 70% of absence days are due to staff on long-term sick (absences lasting 20 working days or more). Using behavioural insights, the Lab designed a new suite of letters to support employees when they go off sick. The letters reject traditional formal approaches of absence management in favour of empathy, clarity, and empowerment. Both line managers and staff feel the letters are a huge help in providing the support they need when off sick.

Nudge Türkiye undertook a project to increase the uptake of government subsidies by SMEs. Analysis showed our subsidies were used by a limited number of big companies, and government could reach the SMEs who need financial support the most. By interacting more closely with the firms, they clarified the pain points for the SMEs. Based on firms' feedback, organisers created a user-friendly website for explaining subsidies, and sent over 30,000 emails that used behavioural messages to nonapplicant…

SPILNO is a participatory digital democracy platform for citizens, organizations and local governments. It was created to improve communication of active citizens, acceleration of ideas, initiatives, implementation of socially important projects. A platform of interaction between government and community through the tools of e-democracy.