In this report, we have compiled our learnings and experiences of working with Policy Lab. Policy Labs have come about as an answer to the question "Can you work with policy and regulatory development in a better way than today?". Our answer to the question is a yes. Our hope with the report is that others will become interested and start their own Policy Lab. Abroad, there are many Policy Labs, but in Sweden there are only a few, which is why we believe there is room for more. There is not a given way to work with Policy Labs once and for all, but each Policy Lab is unique based on its context. Sweden's innovation agency Vinnova defines Policy Labs as follows: "Policy Labs can be explained as a group of actors with different competencies who want to develop a regulatory framework. In the Policy Lab, they use a set of user-centric methods and competencies to test, experiment, and learn in policy development."1 In our Policy Lab, we have worked in various research projects to: 1. analyse challenges/problems that arise between innovations, technology, market, and regulations, 2. develop one or more workable solutions and 3. interact with relevant actors to determine the next steps. What distinguishes our Policy Lab is that we never “own” the issue or solution. We must therefore always work with other actors who can take the results further. Our goal is to enable and skill people. This means that for us it is important to work concretely with real problems and needs owners and preferably test different solutions. We focus on the here and now perspective and not on what the future will look like in 10 years. It is about taking the next step forward towards the future, not creating the best rule, but instead creating the next rule. We also work consistently agile and use design as a method for problem solving. This means that the way we organize our work in the Policy Lab is circular and not linear. When it comes to using design as a method for problem solving, we use the concepts of "design thinking" and "double diamond". For us, it is also important that the members of the Policy Lab have different backgrounds and skills depending on what is needed in the individual project....

Futures Literacy is the capability to imagine and understand potential futures to prepare ourselves to act and innovate in the present. This pilot study aims to understand how artistic methodologies and speculative design can support the collaborative exploration of futures in the context of work and contribute to developing peoples' capability of futures literacy. Our premise is that technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of things can augment people and support their needs at work. To illustrate this process, we have presented a collaborative method that integrates an artistic intervention with speculative design activities. We tested the method in a full-day workshop with seventeen (17) participants from a Swedish academy responsible for enabling learning and competence development at work in the healthcare sector. The results indicate that the artistic intervention, combined with the speculative design activities, can challenge current participants' perspectives and offer them new ways of seeing futures with technologies. These new ways of seeing reveal underlying premises crucial in developing the capability of futures literacy. © The Author(s)

Swedish Shipping Policy Lab

Smart ships, or Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships as they are also known, have a great potential to advance shipping and sustainable development through optimisation of operations and maintenance. In situations that pose a risk to humans or where humans tend to lose their concentration, smart ships can also contribute to increased safety onboard and for the environment. In short, smart ships are suitable for operations that are dirty, dull and dangerous. The Swedish Shipping Policy Lab was an initiative to support on-going projects within smart shipping with policy-developing activities with the ambition to strengthen Swedish competitiveness. The project has actively strived for a systematic approach to how shipowners, technology developers and authorities among others can foster policy development and innovation in relation to smart ships. As an outcome the project has identified three policies related to the investigated cases (see Appendix G for more details): 1. Navigational assistance from land – A shared statement by the Swedish Maritime Administration and the Swedish Transport Agency on the role of navigational assistance from land and the need to further investigate the service before it can be regulated in more detail. 2. The Ljusterö Ferry – Certification of ferries is commonly done in relation to an established and consistent set of technical requirements. For smart ships such as the new road ferries procured for the Ljusterö-connection it is reasonable to complement traditional certification with a safety case to ensure that the ship is seaworthy. 3. Smart maritime drones – Ships less than five meters long that do not carry passengers are excluded from national rules regulating the supervision performed by the Swedish Transport Agency. As long as there is no explicit need to inspect a specific ship, the probability of a supervision is low. If an inspection were to incur, it is necessary to show how the smart ship and its operation complies to applicable regulation in terms of laws and collision avoidance. Despite the maritime sector having a long tradition of international governance there are still no international instruments explicitly for smart ships. A conclusion from the policy lab is that while such work is ongoing, there is room for the flag states and their authorities to develop and operate smart ships in accordance with national policies. Or, to paraphrase, smart ships seem suitable for operations that are dirty, dull, dangerous and domestic.

The Swedish policy lab for maritime autonomous surface ships, or smart ships, explored three use cases for developing policy in practice. The policies regard smart ships on national waters: one short-term written policy identifying the next shared step for two authorities to position remote navigational assistance as a new service, giving the maritime ecosystem one official position to relate to; one informal policy relying on a mutual trust, where information sharing between an operator of small, unmanned ships and the supervisory authority enables critical competence building; and one evolving policy on the process of certifying autonomous or remote operated functions using non-standardized technology. In conclusion, despite shipping being explicitly regulated internationally we found that there is substantial leeway for national policies regarding smart ships on national waters.

The Swedish policy lab for maritime autonomous surface ships, or smart ships, explored three use cases for developing policy in practice. The policies regard smart ships on national waters: one short-term written policy identifying the next shared step for two authorities to position remote navigational assistance as a new service, giving the maritime ecosystem one official position to relate to; one informal policy relying on a mutual trust, where information sharing between an operator of small, unmanned ships and the supervisory authority enables critical competence building; and one evolving policy on the process of certifying autonomous or remote operated functions using non-standardized technology. In conclusion, despite shipping being explicitly regulated internationally we found that there is substantial leeway for national policies regarding smart ships on national waters.

Increasing interest in the use of design thinking (DT) in innovation has called into question its integration in organizational settings. We draw upon literature on management innovation and new practice implementation that highlights potential cultural conflicts between the values and assumptions underpinning the new practice and the culture of the organization that adopts it. We investigate the cultural fit between DT and the adopting firm through qualitative studies of 13 cases of DT implementation in large established firms complemented with data collected during eight workshops with DT practitioners and scholars. We abductively propose a cultural archetype of DT comprising eight dimensions: subjective and aesthetic ways of knowing, long-term and nonlinear views about time, intrinsic motivation and sense of purpose, flexibility and change, relationships, empathy, and emotions at work, collaboration and inclusion, team autonomy and informality, and external orientation. We identify challenges and consequences associated with cultural misfits encountered in the implementation of DT: lack of legitimacy, lack of depth, disengagement, incrementalism, poor teamwork and alienation, collaboration lip service, micromanaged processes, and lack of external orientation. We thus (i) develop a characterization of DT by providing a detailed cultural archetype that we discuss relative to previous literature on DT and (ii) enrich the research on the recursive relationship between organizational culture and DT implementation, contributing to research on emotions in management and innovation culture. We also (iii) contribute to research on the challenges encountered by firms when adopting DT, extending the research on difficulties linked to cultural misfits when implementing new practices. Finally, we (iv) contribute to research on practice implementation and management innovation by highlighting the interplay between cultural fit, legitimacy, and the implementation climate.

Complexity is everywhere. It is in my body and between us. It is in the web of the organization and in the turmoil of the world. When we experience complexity as a problem, something that is overlooked, wrong or misunderstood, it is rare that we immediately know what it is. Complexity as possibility is not something different from complexity as a problem, it is just another quality that needs to be unpacked and understood.[...]

When the #metoo movement became viral in the world, women in shipping in Sweden started their own appeal that raised a large number of issues concerning the social work environment on board which became the starting point for the initiative Fair Winds in 2018.

Fair Winds is a collaboration between collaboration between industry association/ employers´organisation, trade unions, academia, authorities, student associations and non-profit organisations in the Swedish shipping sector with an objective to create a shipping sector with world class work environment with a zero vision of harassment and discrimination for everyone working in the shipping sector in Sweden.

Supported by the Fair Winds, research project REDO (Recruitment Equality & Diversity Opportunities) started in January 2020 in a collaboration between RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and the Swedish Maritime Administration with a vision to improve the social work environment from a gender equality perspective.

The purpose of REDO is to create a safe and inclusive shipping industry where more women will want to apply for jobs at sea, and feel motivated and inspired to stay. It is an approach that needs to include everyone, from top management to every employee.

In this project, we have applied ‘Design Thinking’ as the overarching, user-centered problem formulation and solving approach. To identify driving forces and obstacles for increasing diversity and recruitment of more women in the shipping industry, we have conducted surveys, interviews, and workshops with women that are currently or have previously worked in the shipping industry at different roles. A benchmark study of other male-dominated industries and their diversity strategies through marketing and communication, mentorship and networks, and challenging existing norms and work cultures has provided inspiration for how the shipping industry can address equality and diversity to improve the social work environment.

This report intends to summarize the results and insights generated through the course of this project and to offer recommendations for how the shipping industry can continue to promote diversity by offering a social work environment which is built on three cornerstones of safety, inclusion, and motivation. More detailed documentations of results from the different studies conducted are supplemented to this report as four appendices. 

At Kaiser Permanente, design thinking found its way into a relatively risk-averse, data- and evidence-driven healthcare nonprofit. Nevertheless, this is the story of a very pragmatic approach driven by a small enthusiastic team. The initiative's objective was to prove the value of a human-centered approah and build capability using storytelling and training. Accordingly, the projects and the people involved were critical and deliberate. Kaiser Permanente chose projects that featured diversity in locations and business units, a direct impact on customers and front-line staff, and a possibility to share results within and outside the organization. The small team in charge of design thinking considered the sscale-up of the initiative as a design challenge. It was open to adopting other methodologies, including behavior design and behavioral economics, Agile and Lean Six Sigma. The importance of using external communication to fuel an internal fire and gain legitimacy helped to grow the "movement" and the central role of leadership for design-thinking implementations helped to build it into a legitimate trail-blazing practice.