Coach Patience Mguni reflects on using the Articulating an Initiative as a TIP Experiment tool on a project for water resilience in South African cities

Universities in Catalonia using TIPC’s Pentagonal Map tool for the development of social and transformative innovation labs

This week, researchers and professional services staff from the University of Sussex Business School launched a new web platform for policy learning, consolidating six years of co-production and deep engagement with innovation agencies on sustainability and transitions.

The new TIP Resource Lab translates over 400 outputs from Sussex staff and partners in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America into a curated collection of multimedia learning materials and interactive tools.

For example, the Multi-Level Theory of Change tool uses theory to help identify spaces for intervention within, for example, a food, health or energy system; while the Transformative Innovation Policy Radar, was developed with the Latin American Hub to help funders and policy makers think about an initiative (such as a project, programme or policy) as a Transformative Innovation ‘experiment’. Narrative guides support the bridge between theory and practice.

Over 300 people registered for launch of the Lab from 53 countries. These included representatives from national research, innovation and development agencies in Austria, China, Colombia, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia, the Netherlands and South Africa, alongside global research institutes, NGOs, and intergovernmental organisations including the European Commission, OECD, UNDP and UNECE.

In opening remarks, Imraan Patel, TIPC Board member and Deputy Director-General for Research Development and Support at South Africa’s Department for Science and Innovation, introduced the rationale for the Lab:

‘These theoretical concepts are important and require direct engagement with practitioners working in the policy sector, along with materials that can be used with a wider audience… The idea was to produce a dynamic set of resources that can grow as we do more policy experimentation in the next phase of TIPC.’

SPRU researchers Bipashyee Ghosh and Paloma Bernal Hernández shared insights into the theory behind the Lab and the process of co-creation with regional hubs.

Communications lead Geraldine Bloomfield later chaired a panel, in which coaches and users of the Lab reflected on how they were using the tools. Panellists Patience Mguni, Janaina Pamplona da Costa and Sandra Boni discussed how TIPC resources were helping work in Catalonia on local knowledge regions; in South Africa on water sensitive cities; in Brazil on health policy responses to Covid-19; in Colombia on regional science, technology and innovation systems; and in Sweden on transforming the food system.

 ‘The response to the platform shows how many governments around the world are grappling with the question of how to make projects, programmes and policies more transformative,’ said Victoria Shaw, Programme Director for TIPC. ‘The next steps for us are to strengthen the network of coaches and knowledge community, and to design a participatory learning programme that embeds this work deeper in policy practice.’

Eleven staff from the University of Sussex Business School have worked on the Resource Lab development team: Paloma Bernal Hernández; Geraldine Bloomfield; Pip Bolton; Francisco Dominguez; Bipashyee Ghosh; Christina Miariti; Claudia Obando Rodriguez; Andrea Padilla Cuevas; Victoria Shaw; Chandra Singgih Pitoyo; Ed Steinmueller; and Imogen Wade.