Policy labs challenges in the public sector: the value of design for more responsive organizations

Abstract

Design has emerged as a discipline equipped to tackle the complex problems of the 21st century, primarily for its human-centered and experimentation approach and participative qualities. Through the discussion of a case study of a government design lab, formerly inside the Finnish Immigration Service, the question of how design can help public sector organizations better respond to their pressing needs is addressed, in an attempt to explore the value of design as it is being used by the increasing population of policy labs in governments across Europe. While these labs have been charged to bring innovation to government, there are several factors that hinder their roles as “challengers” of the system. Given the temporal constraints and limited decision-making power of policy labs, cultivating a culture of design has been identified by the authors as a promising outcome, acting as a generative tool for organizational change through its capacity to mediate between the production and consumption of products/services.