A-Lab is at work right now, engaging people and organizations working in the electricity sector and generating new initiatives. Through A-Lab, people work together towards an affordable, reliable and low-carbon electricity ecosystem of the future. A-Lab maintains the momentum of ARENA’s work and is sparking a mutual commitment to progress projects that, to date, have been pending or stalling. Initiatives being progressed by A-Lab have the potential to benefit Australians and citizens worldwide. Collaboration is at the heart of the transformation of the energy sector through genuine, systemic innovation. By bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, projects that are developed through the A-Lab are innovative, collaborative and connected. A-Lab fosters new ideas to reach the renewable energy future faster.

ThinkPlace and its partners to help it build an ongoing innovation capability, to enable it to be the most effective agent for change. A-Lab was designed and built through a 12-week co-design phase; this was followed by a real-world pilot of A-Lab and the innovation process. For the co-design phase, ThinkPlace led a team of innovation and energy experts and provided co-design strategies that allowed different users to be heard and to contribute to the design of A-Lab. There was a need for deep collaboration within the electricity sector to completely redesign the way the system works and to drive innovation across every part of the sector. The co-design process included deep stakeholder research interviews and a pilot study, both of which were carried out in close collaboration between ThinkPlace, ARENA and its stakeholders. The project team also designed detailed communication and engagement strategy, along with key recommendations to ensure successful implementation of the A-Lab.

Through the co-design process, we identified six areas where A-Lab could have the greatest impact on transforming the electricity sector. Based on this, we then designed the innovation process and recruited the best possible network of people ready to make a change in their fields. We used a knowledge-sharing approach to allow the broader industry to benefit from A-Lab’s progress and insights. The 12-week project culminated in a two-day intensive innovation lab focussed on a strategic topic for the renewable energy sector. This aimed to build new ideas and bring together a cross-section of thinkers and stakeholders in the energy sector. The main output of the A-Lab co-design stage was a structured innovation process that leads to a diverse range of people and ideas through a best-practice innovation methodology: ideation, incubation, and acceleration.

ThinkPlace then conducted a pilot as a real-world trial of the A-Lab that allowed the team to evaluate the service, methods, and tools, and improve through an iterative learning process. The key validation arising from the A-Lab Pilot was that there is a strong appetite for change, a commitment from people to drive this and A-Lab can be the vehicle to achieve genuine sector-wide transformation. The energy, enthusiasm, and feedback of participants and their insistence to drive towards outcomes formed a promising foundation for the next phase of A-Lab’s work.

A-Lab is a first within the electricity sector to provide a forum for targeted, strategic conversations and problem-solving. Importantly, it is the result of a large consortium of stakeholders – government, private and public sector – who are trying to collectively transform Australia’s energy sector. The success of the initiative is shared, as is the work that underpins it. What’s different about our collaboration is that we didn’t just focus on people in the industry or sector. We brought in the outside perspective of customers (which, for electricity, is everyone!) and other sectors. By bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, projects that are developed through the A-Lab and funded by ARENA will be innovative, collaborative and 'joined up’ with responsibility distributed across the electricity system to deliver a balanced and diverse set of projects rapidly progressing towards the future vision.

A-Lab is a first within the electricity sector to provide a forum for targeted, strategic conversations and problem-solving. Importantly, it is the result of a large consortium of stakeholders – government, private and public sector – who are trying to collectively transform Australia’s energy sector. The success of the initiative is shared, as is the work that underpins it. What’s different about our collaboration is that we didn’t just focus on people in the industry or sector. We brought in the outside perspective of customers (which, for electricity, is everyone!) and other sectors. By bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, projects that are developed through the A-Lab and funded by ARENA will be innovative, collaborative and 'joined up’ with responsibility distributed across the electricity system to deliver a balanced and diverse set of projects rapidly progressing towards the future vision.

Climate change is a global challenge. A-Lab is driving systemic change to create a sustainable energy ecosystem, starting with Australia’s 24 million people. ThinkPlace designed the A-Lab Service Model with the intention to innovate toward a preferred future of a customer-driven future energy system. To translate the future, we developed the concept of innovation frames, tangible and tactical programs of work that aim to solve an issue tied to the future. These were developed as an approach for a diverse group of people, many of whom have opposing views, to explore opportunities and find new and creative solutions. The structured innovation process of the A-Lab service is unique to the whole electricity sector and acts as a platform for transformational change. It leads to a diverse range of people and ideas through a best practice innovation methodology of ideation, incubation, and acceleration. Within a fragmented sector, maintaining momentum and getting a mutual commitment to make progress on projects had been elusive to date.

A-Lab is a new forum for all electricity sector stakeholders including energy users to generate new capacities, approaches, and initiatives. It provides a space for people to work together towards an affordable, reliable and low carbon electricity ecosystem of the future. The A-Lab process perceives collaboration at the heart of the transformation of the sector through the integration of renewable energy and looks to drive genuine, systemic innovation. ARENA’s A-Lab is now a platform through which innovative solutions and projects are beginning to emerge. These include:

• A wholesale energy market for renewables – https://arena.gov.au/blog/alab- nem/

• Wollert Solar – the great Aussie rubbish tip has come a long way. Now we’re adding solar panels. https://vimeo.com/227659693?ref=em-v-share

• BattLab – a world-leading battery testing facility that will provide its real-time, independent evidence online. https://vimeo.com/230403120?ref=em-v-share

We initially encountered a ‘healthy skepticism’ to methods and approaches that were very new for both ARENA and industry partners. It was a challenge for everyone to get to grips with working differently. Initially, we overcame this through extensive user testing and engagement with industry partners; the co-design process further allowed us to define our scope, pilot ideas and get rapid feedback. Sector-wide changes can scale and accelerate innovation. Major policy reviews (eg the Finkel Report) and climate events (eg blackouts caused by storms) have created a ‘burning platform’ for the sector. Now there’s real momentum and use of ARENA as a forum to drive change, as there is more widespread demand for, and permission to, start thinking about systemic change. A-Lab is now described as ‘the perfect thing at the perfect time’. However, in practice, the project has been underway for 18 months and began well before there was a perceived need for it in industry or policy.

-Interest: getting people into the room, and maintaining engagement through the process, is essential to good design and delivery.

-Expertise: experts cannot be substituted. This includes technical experts, as well as experts in design and innovation, workshop facilitation and policy analysis.

-Energy and follow through: A-Lab has been a long-term initiative which is looking to the future of energy in Australia. It has continued to grow and succeed through the ongoing energy and persistence of those involved in the project.

-Political conditions: these are critical about making things work. In the Australian energy sector, there’s now more recognition that change needs to occur in a substantial way. The stimulus of environmental events (eg SA blackouts) and high-profile political debates has been significant as A-Lab has moved from design to implementation.

Other sectors could definitely use systems design methods to achieve similar results. This requires the right combination of factors: resourcing, the right partners and participants, willingness to take risks, and persistence. The design of A-Lab drew on other sectors, especially public policy areas that have required new ways of dealing with complex problems. This includes health, human services, sustainable food production, Indigenous affairs, and other areas of public policy making. Broadly, these labs are places where we can harness the energy and create momentum for change.

-Invest appropriately and avoid cutting corners. Infrastructure, materials, and people are all key to success.

-Focus on building human relationships towards a common cause.

-Act-on expertise and anticipate the future need.

-Co-design with a wide range of experts can assist to create innovative action, drive cultural change and proactively prepare.

A-Lab has taken 18 months to mature, but the ‘burning platform’ for change has only recently emerged. This has made A-Lab ready to capitalize on systemic changes and events and continue to drive innovative change.

-Iterate constantly. There is not yet as much push-through of projects as we would like to see. There are some possible reasons for this: it takes time to pull together a project; it is possible that people perceive it as difficult to get money out of ARENA; or, we aren’t getting people along the track far enough to develop an application. We are very conscious of the issue and are now developing solutions for it.