Innovation spaces: Transforming humanitarian practice in the United Nations

This Oxford Refugee Centre working paper zooms in on the rise of humanitarian innovation spaces, such as innovation labs and hubs. It recognizes that the complex bureaucratic structure of the UN is often seen as a barrier to efficiency and innovation and thus explains and analyses how UN bodies are creating dedicated spaces to engage with new tools and approaches to respond to new and increasing humanitarian demands.

Link: http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/innovation-spaces-transforming-hum…

Authors: Louise Bloom, Romy Faulkner

Excerpt: What form do innovation labs in UN agencies take? What motivated their initiation? What are their aims and objectives? What impact have they had and how is the impact being measured? As innovation practice gains momentum, we reflect on the future of innovation spaces as a way to foster innovation within the UN system. We conclude with six key recommendations.

These recommendations are:

1) To balance the dual innovation imperatives of organisational change and community support;
2) To ensure that labs in the future do not remain siloed from their agencies;
3) To view them in the short-term as a necessary ‘halfway house’ to experiment with new humanitarian solutions;
4) To see labs as just one tool in the innovation toolbox, and to ensure that innovation labs are not treated as a panacea;
5) To find creative ways to measure the impact of innovation lab activities;
6) To recognise the need for labs to maintain flexible funding sources which allow them to continue to experiment outside the box.