Engaging with citizens online: civic apps must offer dynamic interactions in order to be truly effective

In this era of fake news and misinformation, it is good to be reminded of how the internet is being used to improve the ways in which the ideals of democracy are translated into action. One such example is the use of digital technologies to enable people to engage with urban challenges in their neighbourhoods via civic apps. Sarah Giest and Ansgar Koene describe how the success of civic apps depends on how effectively they facilitate the dynamic elements of citizen engagement and the citizen-to-citizen dimension in particular. This is a new post in the Data and Society series

Designing policies in uncertain contexts: Entrepreneurial capacity and the case of the European Emission Trading Scheme

The paper focuses on enterprising agents in policy formulation and design by looking at their capacity of dealing with different levels of uncertainty. In climate policy specifically, different degrees and types of uncertainties pose a challenge to policymakers. Policy entrepreneurs and the combination of their analytical, operational and political compe- tences are a relevant component in reducing ambiguity in policy design and translating broad policy goals to operational programmes and specific policy instruments. Using the case of the European Emission Trading Scheme, we suggest that the success of policy entrepreneurs in catalysing policy change is determined by their capacity to work against multiple kinds of uncertainty. This ‘uncertainty mitigating’ capacity on the part of policy entrepreneurs rests significantly on balancing managerial expertise and political acumen. We conclude that entrepreneurial capacity goes beyond current definitions in the literature, involving the balance among analytical, operational and political compe- tences to navigate a politicized policy context.

Behavioural Insights Teams (BITs) and policy change: An exploration of impact, location, and temporality of policy advice

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

Behavioral instruments in renewable energy and the role of big data: A policy perspective

There has been a surge in the application of behavioral insights for environmental policymaking. It is often presented as an easy and low-cost intervention to alter individual behavior. However, there is limited insight into the cost effectiveness of these attempts and the impact of inserting behavioral policy instruments into an existing mix of traditional tools in a particular policy sector. Furthermore, there has been little focus on the intersection of large behavioral datasets and how they could complement behavioral insights. We present a conceptual overview of how the intersection of big data and behavioral knowledge would work in the renewable energy sector. We indicate that inserting behavioral insights into the energy instrument mix is complex due to technological trajectories, path dependencies and resistance from incumbent industries to change production patterns. We also highlight the underutilized role of large behavioral datasets that can inform not only policy implementation, but also policy design and evaluation efforts. Drawing on these findings, we introduce future research streams of government capacity in combining behavioral insights and data, the compatibility of this information with existing policy instruments and how this affects policy change.The politics and administration of institutional chang

Big Data Applications in Governance and Policy

The editorial sets the scene for this thematic issue on big data applications in governance and policy. It highlights the lack of engagement in the current literature with the application of big data at the cross-section of governance of data and its utilization in the policy process and draws out aspects related to its definition and future research agenda. The contributions highlight several aspects related to big data in different contexts, such as local and national government as well as a variety of policy areas. They converge on the idea that big data applications cannot overcome existing political and structural limitations that exist in government. This leads to a future research agenda that looks at the disconnect between data production and usage as well as identifying policy issues that are more or less suitable for data analytics

Resolving the paradox of location in a global economy: cluster facilitation and network management in the biotechnology sector

Cluster policy is at the crossroads as governments widely support the local agglomeration of companies and research institutes, but success or failure seems arbitrary for those ‘Silicon Somewheres’. Faced with limited proof of ‘what works’ for clusters, frustration is spreading among policy makers and stakeholders. The study offers a comparative analysis of high-technology clusters around the globe with the objective of finding a generalizable mechanism for making cluster policy successful. Interviews conducted with officials, researchers and industry stakeholders in Chicago, Copenhagen, Singapore and Vancouver reveal that networks have found a novel way of cluster support by having a ‘facilitator’. This network management institution or individual is able to connect and support cluster stakeholders while simultaneously linking them to government with the goal of better tailored policy and ultimately more successful innovative processes. The dissertation offers a new theoretical framework for investigating the facilitation mechanism based on intersecting science and technology policy, network management and innovation systems literature. The study highlights the fact that the key to success is the creation of capacity for networking (collaborative capacity) and identifying useful knowledge, knowledge gaps and future developments (absorptive capacity) rather than focusing solely on output. The central findings are threefold: Not only does facilitation exist in different parts of the world, it also enhances performance and varies depending on location. The variations include a government- and stakeholder-funded model in most European countries, an independent model in North America and finally, a government-financed model in Asia

Introduction to special issue algorithmic transparency in government: Towards a multi-level perspective

The editorial sets the stage for the special issue on algorithmic transparency in government. The papers in the issue bring together transparency challenges experienced across different levels of government, including macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. This highlights that transparency issues transcend different levels of government - from European regulation to individual public bureaucrats. With a special focus on these links, the editorial sketches a future research agenda for transparency-related challenges. Highlighting these linkages is a first step towards seeing the bigger picture of why transparency mechanisms are put in place in some scenarios and not in others. Finally, this introduction present an agenda for future research, which opens the door to comparative analyses for future research and new insights for policymakers