mindlab

Mindlab is a design agency/government innovation unit. WHAT?! I was thrilled to find these two seemingly independent themes wrapped under one creative umbrella.

Since its inception in 2002, Mindlab has evolved into a vehicle for bureaucratic reform.

"We work with the civil servants in our three parent ministries: the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of Employment. These three ministries cover broad policy areas that affect the daily lives of virtually all Danes. Entrepreneurship, climate change, digital self-service, citizen’s rights, emplyment services and workplace safety are some of the areas they address.

MindLab is instrumental in helping the ministry’s key decision-makers and employees view their efforts from the outside-in, to see them from a citizen’s perspective. We use this approach as a platform for co-creating better ideas."

You can find some great case studies on their website, many concerning the Danish government's "Away With Red Tape" plan. It's interesting to read and compare the citizen/government disconnect in Denmark to that experienced here in the US.

In the June 2011 issues of Monocle magazine, Mindlab's Christian Bason gave some insightful advice...

"The key to longevitiy is having the self-awareness to ask yourself a difficult question: 'Are we still relevant?' If not, you must take your own medicine."

(They have a MindBlog too!)

via Monocle and MindLab, all images via MindLab