Innovation Tag: Public Policy

Dutch Reach Project (DRP) closes a serious gap in existing road safety efforts to prevent “dooring,” a common, feared & at times fatal crash caused when exiting motorists - using their near hand - suddenly throw open their car door into the path of a bicyclist or other vulnerable road user (VRU). To prevent dooring, DRP promotes the Dutch Reach (DR): reaching across to the door with the far hand to open - a much safer method. The DR project is already gaining increasing attention and being…

The Arlington Restaurant Initiative (ARI) is a voluntary accreditation program which aims to increase safety and economic viability for restaurants and special events in Arlington County, VA. The Police Department has partnered with County agencies to establish a holistic approach to nightlife management and raise standards of restaurants that serve alcohol. ARI has been successful in reducing alcohol-related violence and building mutually-beneficial relationships with stakeholders.

SciTech DiploHub is a pioneering nonprofit public-private partnership backed by leading research centers, universities, non-profits, startups, corporations and public institutions that deploy Barcelona's science and technology diplomacy strategy. It has the mandate to elevate the role of science, technology, and cities in foreign policy and make Barcelona a more influential player on the global stage through its contribution to sustainable development and the global public good.

In 2016 the NEB launched the Data Visualization Initiative to face the challenge of producing usable and useful data to go beyond using new technologies to deliver better service to citizens. It created multiple products from the same information to expand public participation in the energy dialogue and enable evidence-based decision-making. These products include interactive data visualizations and other materials, such as high school lesson plans, as a new way to engage experts and nonexperts.

The Australian government is transforming employment services to improve how the system works for job seekers, employers and the community. Transformational change requires genuine consultation to capture the diversity of views of stakeholders affected by changes, identifying pain points, testing ideas and laying the groundwork for sustainable policy reform. A citizen centric approach helps to understand the real-world impact, leading to better outcomes and greater acceptance in the community.

Community Connects is a pilot project that came out of the Transportation Innovation Lab. Problem/Opportunity: Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is a region with high levels of poverty and unemployment. Innovation: Taxi service, doorstep pick-up, defined drop-off points, flat rate: $7 seat. Why innovative? In short, the approach (social innovation lab) and those that were engaged (first-voice participants).

A multistakeholder partnership created a regional indicators-based monitoring system to track pro-poor health policy change across the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a low-income region beset by socio-economic costs of a high disease burden. This stimulated SADC’s Result-Based Regional Monitoring and Evaluation initiative. Extending to all SADC priority areas, Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME) enables real-time tracking of regional performance, documentation of…

As part of the engagement process on the redesign of Canada’s homelessness program, Employment and Social Development Canada engaged directly with people with lived experience of homelessness. Dedicated tools and mechanisms were developed to ensure the meaningful participation of people with lived experience, the removal and mitigation of financial barriers to engagement and recognition of the unique expertise and knowledge of people with lived experience.

Canada has an obligation to protect and inform migrant workers of their rights while in Canada and to support employer compliance with the conditions of its Temporary Foreign Worker Program. To this end, it launched the Migrant Worker Support Network pilot initiative. The Network is a collaborative and migrant worker-informed platform for migrant workers, employers, governments, and civil society to develop and implement solutions to better protection and support of migrant workers in Canada.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) led the design and implementation of a national poverty reduction strategy public engagement process. We offered Canadians multiple ways to share their views, from public town hall events to online discussions, to a youth contest, to an in-depth research project. The engagement process successfully reached thousands of Canadians in a short time frame on a low budget. The plan is now used as a Government of Canada model for effective civic…