Tools for smart policy development

Today, there is a great awareness of the need for new ways of developing and adapting regulation - with the need owner in focus. Here you will find tools that can help with smarter policy development - and examples of best practice internationally.

This web page has been machine translated. If there are any uncertainties, please refer to the Swedish text.

In a time of major and rapid changes in the world, rules and policies that are related to their time are required. Therefore, many different initiatives and efforts are underway around the world to find new ways of developing and adapting regulations and policies. Different concepts are used to describe these efforts. Vinnova has chosen to call it Smart Policy Development. Forskningsinstitutet RISE uses the concept of Governance innovation, Comet uses attempts for technological innovation, the EU uses Innovation Principle while World Economic Forum uses Agile governance. Although there are nuance differences, it is mostly a semantic difference.

Police 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 for changing 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 basis in a policy lab is the ability to experiment with the user in the center. Targeting, aim and methods can vary.

Vinnova co-organizes, follows up and finances temporary policy labs (policy lab cases) with authorities in particular. This is intended to both create demand for government policy methods and build capacity among ourselves. Parallel work is also underway to evaluate the way of working and to work for a more lasting and powerful structure for policy development.

Examples of national and international policy labs

Government mission "Creating a coherent innovation process between authorities"

Regulatory sandbox for experimental activities

By regulatory sandbox (according to the English concept of regulatory sandbox) is meant experimental activities, limited in time and space, with the aim of simultaneously developing technology and regulations for safer and faster learning. The level of knowledge is increased both by the person conducting the experiment and by the regulator. This increases the conditions for developing rules in smaller steps. Initially, sandboxes have been used in financial regulation, but several countries have widened this to energy, health and transport. Singapore, South Korea and Germany are examples of countries that work strategically with sandboxes.

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

Experimental policy - an evidence-based learning

Experimental policy is to test 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. For example, Innovation Growth Lab (IGL), a branch of NESTA, 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, innovation and experimental policy

Ethics in technological innovation

The Committee for Technological Innovation and Ethics (Komet) works with policy development for the development and dissemination of new technology is done safely, securely and with a long-term social perspective. The comet is working 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 to the government to handle an accelerating development of technology.

Vinnova is assigned to support Komet in their work. We participate in both reference group and expert group and carry out joint efforts.

This is how the Comet works