Blog articles

Universities in Catalonia using the Lab for the development of social and transformative innovation labs

Applying the tools in Indonesia with The Circular School Program Partnership

The Transformative Innovation Policy radar interactive tool

Making an Impact

The Transformative Innovation Policy Resource Lab (TIP RL) translates research outputs and insights from six years of cooperation between the Business School and global partners into tools and learnings for policy action.

Victoria Shaw, Programme Director, and Geraldine Bloomfield, Communication Manager, explain how policy makers and other groups can use the TIP Resource Lab.

A partnership hub for knowledge and learning

The TIP RL draws on over 400 original articles, blogs, exercises, case studies, graphics, reports, and recordings coproduced with science, technology and innovation agencies in China, Colombia, Finland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, and Sweden.

The Lab is a collaborative platform, delivered in partnership with the TIP Hubs in Latin America and Africa, and with academic partners at Utrecht University, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria.

The Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC) created the Lab for use by funders, policy makers, analysts, practitioners, consultants, and researchers working to change systems for meeting our basic needs – e.g. for food, mobility, energy, or water – in a sustainable direction. These users may be designing or evaluating programmes, projects, or policies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals in their countries. They can apply the resources in the Lab to design new transformative initiatives or to stretch the transformative potential of existing activities.

Audience and purpose

Public policy makers and funders have a vital role to play in helping and guiding transformation processes. The Lab tools provide them with ways of thinking about the processes of change within a system and the opportunities to consider how their interventions might make a significant difference to systems change.

To provide a few examples:

• the pentagonal map and systemic change game help users to understand a system and unpick the existing, often unsustainable ways of doing things;

• the multi-level theory of change tool encourages users to identify more sustainable practices already happening within a system and considers how these can be supported by funders and policy makers;

• the policy radar supports users in considering the transformative potential of a project, programme or policy; and

• the co-creation for policy tuner provides a self-assessment checklist for the design of policy co-creation processes to create an environment favourable to dialogue, exchange of ideas, trust, motivation and change.

There are many more interactive tools in the Lab, as well as case studies and research outputs to share learning across different geographical contexts.

Global impact

The platform is already making an impact on projects, policies, and programmes. It has become a go-to resource for Consortium members, and, further, is also open access with hands-on learning sessions provided by the TIPC open learning programme to connect hundreds of practitioners and researchers working with these approaches.

The TIP RL has an active network of coaches with more in-depth knowledge of the Lab, many of whom are using the tools and materials in project and programme work as part of a wider knowledge community.

Real-world application

Assistant Professor, Dr Patience Mguni from the Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen has used the Lab in their Pathways to Water Resilient South African Cities (PaWS) project. This initiative is run by the University of Cape Town’s Future Water research institute in conjunction with the University of Copenhagen and is funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project focuses on nature-based solutions and ecological infrastructure for water security and provision in Cape Town, South Africa.

The PaWS project incorporated the Lab’s ‘Structured Brainstorming Tool’ to facilitate discussion on producing greater experimental project design with a consistent shared understanding of project aims. As Dr Mguni explains the tool accelerated the project development process:

“In the first phase of the project, it took us about six months to get going, because we had engineers, geographers, anthropologists, water quality specialists and engagement specialists. So, we had to get to a common understanding on what we were trying to do and how we could get the project to be transformative for real societal impact. It was a bit difficult in the beginning, but with the structured brainstorming tool, we went through that process within the first month. We were able to map everything from who’s responsible for setting up engagements, to what tools we are going to use. We argued things through but in a very structured proactive way. We would recommend the tool.”

A further example of how the Lab is being brought to life across global transformative work, is in Indonesia with The Circular School Program Partnership, an initiative that brings forth the Indonesia Green Principal Award - an annual programme organized by the Centre for World Trade Studies (CWTS), the Universitas Gadjah Mada and JBI Education Consulting.

This partnership promotes circular economy principles in education at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. The programme addresses the pressing environmental challenges and economic development needs in Indonesia.

Suci Lestari Yuana, from the project research team based at the Department of International Relations, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia outlined her conclusions on using the Lab:

“The evaluation workshop utilizing the TIP tools provided valuable insights into the impact of the circular economy program and its contribution to transformative change in Indonesian schools. The modifications to the tools, participant engagement, and knowledge exchange exemplified the potential for creating a community of practice dedicated to transformative change. By continuously refining our evaluation processes, engaging in critical reflections, and fostering a culture of collaboration, we can collectively work towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.”

The launch of the TIP RL is seeing impact across the global and with the next stage of TIPC, known as TIPC 2.0, this will continue to scale and grow in significant as new partners, practitioners and policymakers begin to use the platform for engaging in transformative system change towards a just and sustainable world.

Find out more about the TIP Resource Lab.

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