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Approach
Background

Lab elements

Elements of the Lab's approach

A helpful way to understand the Service Innovation Lab is to think about the elements that made up its purpose, how it works and what it focused on.

These elements help to frame how the Lab is both similar and different to other labs and innovation teams.

  • Located inside government - Located close to decision-makers, policy and operational teams. Supporting cross-agency working backed by shared funding and governance arrangements.

  • Cross agency collaboration - Bring teams together to find better ways to deliver the joined-up services. Creating new resources, knowledge and networks.

  • Digital focus - Advances in digital technology and access to it are a crucial enabler for integrating services in particular digital identity. It can help people to undertake online what they have traditionally completed manually.

  • Life events - Bring together the information and services of different agencies which relate to the same life event into one place to make access easier for people.

  • Integrated services - Joining up and automating services around key events in people’s lives (life events) to make it easier for citizens to access government services.

  • Experimentation seeds innovation - Make innovation through experimentation a core part of service design and delivery.

  • Cross agency governance - Senior engagement from across agencies. Buying from senior leaders supports a culture of collaboration.

  • Lab as a space - Offering a neutral physical space for teams to host projects and access coaching and advice.

  • Lab as a team - Interdisciplinary with experience of working with complexity, agile development, design, stakeholder engagement and working across government.

  • Human-centred design - Putting people at the centre of developing more integrated services. Better understanding their experiences and what can make public services more accessible.

  • Agile development - Using tools and techniques that support open, iterative and collaborative working with a focus on delivering value and working quickly.

  • Open-source - Committed making work open, accountable and responsive to other government teams and citizens. Shares tools, data, insight and code.