Innovative policy design

In any contemporary complex policy landscape, it is practically impossible to devise that singular ‘silver bullet’ policy that will then go on to address all major public issues quickly and efficiently. The implausibility of ever being able to invent that one stunning piece of perfect public policy underscores the viability of cultivating an innovative attitude towards policy design.

To understand innovation better, it can be quite insightful to look closely at the work of Thomas Edison. Edison is recognized as a very successful innovator and his work has helped in providing practical solutions to many difficult real-world problems. Some of Edison’s major achievements include contributing to the development of the incandescent light bulb, the gramophone and the motion-picture camera.

Edison established his industrial research laboratory in 1876 in Menlo Park, New Jersey, USA, and during his lifetime held more than 1000 patents. Interestingly, Edison is recognized for both his great inventions and his successful innovations. Though the words invention and innovation are sometimes used interchangeably, strictly speaking an invention is the creation of a totally new product or process and an innovation is improving on an existing product or process.

One important innovation by Edison is developing the incandescent light bulb. Electric lighting was a significant improvement over illumination using gaslights, oil lamps and wax candles. In the process of coming up with an improved incandescent light bulb, Edison experimented with using many different materials for the filament. The filament needed to be of a material that would not burn out easily, would not consume a high quantity of electricity and would not be too expensive. Earlier attempts had tried a variety of materials for the filament, including precious metals such as platinum, but had not been able to produce a viable product.

Edison tried a range of materials in his quest to find the appropriate filament. Eventually, in 1879, he arrived at a viable solution by using a carbonized very thin strip of bamboo. According to some accounts, during the course of his experiments Edison tested thousands of iterations of the light bulb. When asked about his persistence in the face of repeated failure, Edison is reported to have said “I didn’t fail a thousand times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”

Edison achieved success by designing products using a very practical and innovative process. His process was practical in different ways, including that it focused on actual use; and that it catered to human needs and, therefore, whenever its products were commercially launched, they were usually popular with the general public. Drawing from Edison, we can characterize an innovative policy process to involve a sound understanding of the problem, user-centered orientation to finding a solution, use of an iterative process, and capacity for quickly learning from what did or did not work.

Many of the characteristics of an innovative policy process are interconnected and interdependent. For example, understanding and defining the problem appropriately is contingent on being user-centered. This attitude necessarily privileges the end-user of a policy and is participatory and, therefore, is diametrically opposed to top-down policy prescriptions.

In promoting innovative policy processes, there is a need to instill a healthy dose of empathy, particularly in those who sit at the helm of the decision-taking and policymaking endeavor. Without being able to clearly understand the motivations of a particular population, it is very difficult to design policies that will appropriately address the needs of that population. Here is where understanding and compassion can come together in the devising of better policy solutions.

The views and ideas of the population who are the primary end-user of a policy instrument, product or service, if meaningfully incorporated in the process, will then open up the possibility of new and non-traditional ideas to emerge. The policy process has to cast a wide net to haul in the creative and divergent understandings of the problem. An inclusive and skillfully conducted process of involving populations and soliciting their ideas needs to be deliberately designed and conducted. Along with differing views or understandings of the problem, there will also emerge differing and creative possible solutions. The selection of the best policy options again needs to be arrived at through a process that is inclusive and carefully thought through.

An iterative process is important at all stages of the policy formulation and policy implementation. Here a back-and-forth process can be used in better understanding the problem with junctures for sharing the collated understanding with the groups or stakeholders who had previously given input into the process. Also, testing of the most viable solutions is important because then the functioning of the product or service can be seen in real-world conditions.

It is essential to learn lessons from the testing of the product or service and, based on the testing, making changes. Here the principle of participatory processes or empathy with the end-user is best seen as an ongoing and continuous process. The view that looks at the process of getting feedback from the end-user, as being a one-off activity is unfortunately the dominant one, and conceptualizing feedback as a continuous process can be difficult for many to fathom and support.

Incorporating innovation as an important and effective element of the policy process will involve striving to understand the problem better, approaching the process of policymaking with a user-centered orientation, using an iterative design though the policy process, and valuing and promoting creativity and inclusion. Further elements include, testing the most viable solutions, learning from what did or did not work, and going back and making revisions.

The building of a process of continually learning from experience and subsequently revising policies is conducive to good policymaking. No country, be it developed or developing, is above making policy miscalculations. Once the policy mistake has been made, it can either be viewed in a defensive manner or in a constructive manner. Edison highlights a constructive and innovation-promoting attitude towards mistakes when he says: “I never view mistakes as failures. They are simply opportunities to find out what doesn’t work.” This attitude, when further combined with a persistent desire to act to improve things, can contribute significantly to eventually arriving at better policy solutions.

A distinct and deliberate shift is necessary to foster a more innovative attitude towards policy design. Cultivating this innovative attitude involves acting in a user-centered, inclusive and iterative manner. Additionally, there is a need to quickly learn from policy missteps and to incorporate this learning into redesigning improved policy solutions.

The writer heads a university-based policy centre in Islamabad.