Lab Notes - July edition

The July edition of Lab Notes brings together inspiring news, articles, toolkits and other content for public sector and social innovators around the world, including India's announcement to build 1,000 new innovation labs in schools, new research into constructing effective climate change narratives, a toolkit for designing rigorous policy trials, and more ...

This month's key lab picks

1. The National Institution for Transforming India has announced 1,000 additional innovation labs to be created in schools before the end of this year to boost young people’s creative and problem-solving skills. Read More from YourStory

2. Whether you are an experienced researcher or a policymaker seeking inspiration for new ideas, the new Innovation Growth Lab Experimentation Toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to designing and delivering a policy trial.

3. Global Narratives is a new approach to training community level organisations to run low-cost, rigorous qualitative research into the communication of climate change. Read more about the approach, along with findings from the first project pilot, from Climate Outreach.

4. Detroit is creating America’s largest land bank, transforming thousands of the city's neglected properties into liveable, tax-paying homes. Read more in Politico Magazine.

5. Voxdev outlines new evidence from Sierra Leone suggesting a positive relationship between voters watching political debates and levels of democratic accountability.

6. This working paper and shorter blog from Open Africa Innovation Research proposes a way to deliver the social and economic benefits of pooling agricultural data while protecting sensitive information among farmers.

7. How can collaborative mapping help city dwellers to democratically shape, manage and own the spaces in which they live? This article from Shareable points to examples in Berlin and New York.

8. This essay, featured in Big Data and Society, calls for greater awareness of the consequences of big data in different cultures, socio-economic groups and political systems across Asia.

9. Read this National Observer article about how ‘art hives’ in Montreal are helping to foster stronger and more inclusive communities through free access to art.

10. How do public sector organisations innovate? The OECD offers a summary of policy options and strategies, while this Nesta blog introduces a new framework outlining the skills and attitudes for successful public problem solving.

11. A new case study from The Brookings Institution describes how Copenhagen has achieved successful urban regeneration through institutional innovation and smart land management, and how this might provide a blueprint for cities worldwide.