Public Value Lab

Collaborative Innovation for Value and Institutional Change

Public Value Lab is committed to improving know-how and practices that encompass public management, public policy and cross-sector collaboration (including private and non-profit organisations).

Mission

In an era where complex societal challenges (economic and social inequality, demographic changes and migration, urban transformation and unaffordable housing, the digital revolution and increasing budget constraints throughout Europe and beyond to name but a few) call for innovative and collective answers, Public Value Lab explores:

how governments, businesses and civil society can work together to create and sustain public value;
how to assess and measure public value creation;
how the public administration can be made more robust, revolutionised and reorganised to meet emerging challenges;
how a new generation of public leaders can drive transformational change.

Why Public Value Lab

To bridge the gap between management theory and practice, public and private sector, present and future, value and values.

Who is it for

Public Value Lab was conceived for organisations and leaders committed to creating, managing and sustaining public value, such as:

International organisations
Central, regional and local governments
Public agencies and state-owned enterprises
Foundations, NGOs, and philanthropic organisations
Educational and research institutions
Cultural and heritage organisations
Private companies and investors committed to social innovation and public value creation

Research activities

Through rigorous research, applied projects and executive education, Public Value Lab fosters new models of governance, leadership, and service design and delivery that enhance both efficiency and social impact. Lab's activities aim to address key public policy and management challenges across different policy areas, as outlined in the table below, while also disseminating results to the scientific community, policy-makers, practitioners and the general public.

Research challenges for public value creation

Public Value Lab gathers and analyses the main challenges that affect the ability of institutions, companies and civil society to generate public value. Adopting a comparative and multidisciplinary approach, the research explores how different thematic areas - from government and public leadership to education, economic development and environmental sustainability, digitalisation and international cooperation - contribute to transforming policies, services and governance practices. The diagram below offers an overview of these areas of study, highlighting the range and relationship between the challenges on which the Lab focuses its research and innovation activities.