Government-as-a-Platform: Reglab Operating Model

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Government is often the single largest employer, funder, and influencer in any society. The purpose of this new series is to explore  - “the government’s role, whereby government entities are no longer mere operational units, but rather centers for planning the future and catalyzing global innovation” (HH Sheikh Mohammed); what government (with a little g denoting the functions of government) could or should be; how to create practical support, models, solutions, programmes, and entities that enable these new roles; and answer the question of how might we shift from government as a provider to government as a platform?

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In the previous posts, I shared that the Reglab is one practical vehicle in enabling Government-as-a-Platform strategy, as well as how it cultivates shared mindsets on speed, co-creation and scale. 

Our approach to the development of the reglab is to turn what is typically a ‘black-box’ into a ‘transparent-box’. We endeavour to share our assumptions and hypotheses, open up our learning and iterations in real-time, be humble with our mistakes and stumbles, and show, not just tell, out aloud. 

In this post, I unwrap the operating model.  The operating model is organised in six ‘D’ phases - demand, design, develop, decide, deploy and democratise. 

Before going through each of these stages, it is helpful to visualise this model and the relationships between each of the stages:

• Funnel: One way of visualising the operating model is with the lens of a funnel. At any one point there are many projects at each stage. We need to optimise for the funnel, tweaking it as we pass more and different types of regulation-breaks. 

More importantly, it is about building both a wide and a deep the funnel. 

A ‘wide’ funnel is required because given the scale of the need for new regulations to keep with new technologies, we eventually need not just a handful, but hundreds of regulations in this pipeline.

A ‘deep’ funnel is required because it is not just about moving regulations down the funnel, based on the immediate ROI of independent requests. It is also about enabling the collective, cross-fertilisation, and co-creation of new regulation requests between the different actors.

• Non-linear: Some regulation breaks, which have already been tested in other contexts or locations, may move straight from Demand to Develop (link: please see first blog post). Some regulation breaks may enter ‘Deploy’ mode and the subsequent learning may yield the need for another dependent regulation, which can be expedited through to ‘Develop’ stage. That is to say, this operating model is non-linear, and designed with feedback loops. 

Now, let’s dig into each of the stages:

DEMAND

• Problem: The ‘Demand’ stage is solving the problem that traditional government rarely operates at the edge of new technologies. Therefore, it is all too often it is slow to understand the potential; slow to build internal capacity and capabilities; and slow to develop empathy for existing regulations which are failing to help for-profit and not-for-profit (universities, other ministries, etc) to do their job better. 
• Testing: Desirability. We are testing ‘what is the demand’ for a particular regulation-break. As we answer this question, we unpack this demand - is it coming from one entity or is it across entities, cross-sectoral and cross-borders. 
• Role: The Reglab’s role is to build ‘Regulation Programming Interfaces’ with organisations from the global ecosystem - X-labs, think tanks, incubators, governing bodies, R&D units, and corporates. The Reglab creates incentives for organisations to test their technologies faster, cheaper, easier and better.  It also includes, but is not limited to, creating thought and action leadership via a Global Regulation Council.  
• Criteria: A deliberately lean criteria is required to source experiments and experimenters from across the world. The criteria includes a clearly defined problem, a laser focused use-case, a tangible value case on how it contributes to their industry (not just themselves), and is future technology focused. 
• Mindsets: Speed (processing applications should be shorter than 5 days). Co-creation (at least 5+ partners involved). Scale (at least 10+ global partnerships to source the best experiments).
• Inputs: Once an application is submitted they participate in a ‘divergent’ thinking workshop that brings multiple actors together to better define not just their but the industry’s problem. 
• Output: A written application with an accompanying video that is approved to move to the next stage. 

DESIGN

• Problem: The ‘Design’ stage is solving the problem of qualifying, quantifying, and prioritising the significant interest that is anticipated during the ‘Demand’ stage. 
• Testing: Viability. The focus is on testing viability - that is to say, is the regulation-break an opportunity to create value at the country level? 
• Role:  The Reglab’s role is to evaluate shortlisted applications according to 3 areas: social,  economic, and innovation impact on the UAE. The Reglab operates as an interface, a broker, a go-between - offering a neutral space to collaborate with minimal disruption to their day to day operating models, strategies or agendas.
• Criteria:  A detailed look at the regulation-break from the perspective of the technology, prototype maturity, existing data, IP, global comparative studies, safety and risks, strength of local partnerships, potential of disruption, and crucially the learning goals set out. 
• Mindsets:  Speed (less than 15 days). Co-creation (at least 3+ entities involved in the design stage). Scale (leverage the learning from international contexts).  
• Input:  During this stage the Reglab runs a ‘think fast, decide faster’ workshop, where the focus is on convergent thinking, to align many different stakeholders on what are the preferred solutions to the problems identified in the previous stage. 
• Output:  A 10 page actionable report + video story of end ‘beneficiaries’ of the new regulation + web page on the Reglab’s website dedicated to the specific regulation break. Of course, not all regulation breaks will move automatically to the next stage. The goal of this stage is not to create one-time case, with winners or losers, but to create a collective-case that is continually being added to, refined, redefined, and improved - until it or the market timing is right for the regulation-break to the next stage. 

DEVELOP

• Problem: The ‘Develop’ stage is solving the problem that traditional requests for regulation changes are complicated and time-consuming because they intersect domain of multiple regulators. A different type of permission needs to be granted, one that is not weighted heavily on all the predicted and unpredicted consequences of the regulation itself, but also gives due weight to the learning that the regulation enables.  
• Testing: Feasibility.  The focus of this stage is on testing feasibility - can we achieve the outcomes set out in the ‘Design’ stage, under agreed constraints of time and risks.
• Role: The Reglab’s role is to investigate the legal risks, draw up the ethic guidelines, create the constraints on the scope of the pilot, document the biases and interests of parties, and demonstrate the opportunity cost of not doing.  The key thing to note here is that the Reglab is not creating a new regulation, per se. It is the creating a regulation-break. Therefore, this is stage is not focused on inviting those that seek the regulation break to tell the Reglab what they need. Then, the Reglab’s job is to decide the constraints under which their needs are acceptable. 
• Criteria: The criteria needs to include: scope (less than X people impacted); risk (less than X value in Dirhams); limited to X number of partners; time duration (1 year or less), insurance (of any failure, if required); and break clauses (under which conditions can the regulation break be revoked or paused).
• Mindsets:  Speed (less than 30 days). Co-creation (with the legal team of General Secretariat of the Cabinet).
• Input: 5-page legal framework detailing the permission and constraints of the regulation-break.
• Outputs:   ‘Regulation Canvas’ for the cabinet to approve

DECIDE

• Problem: The ‘Decide’ stage is shortening the gap between the bottom up needs of society (organisations, universities, regulators, citizens) and the top-down vision of the Cabinet.
• Testing: Futurability. The focus of this stage is testing the future version of the country that the leaders are seeking to create. As Jeff Bezos neatly describes that the job of  “the executive leadership’ should not be dealing with operations, the here and now, but making decisions that are impacting 2 years into the future. Likewise, the Cabinet is testing the future of country with specific regulation-breaks. 
• Role: The Reglab’s role is to present an unbiased view to the Cabinet, how this regulation break is key enabler to the already approved strategies of the nation, and find sponsors at the highest levels of government that can take ownership of the regulation break.
• Criteria:  Alignment across ministers to permit the regulation break, despite the consequences on revenue and budgets, on the mandate, or on the strategic objectives of any one ministry. 
• Mindsets: Speed (less than 30 days). Co-creation (between General Secretariat, Ministerial Cabinet and the Cabinet itself). 
• Input:  Ministerial Cabinet approve it first before going to the Cabinet ministers for approval. 
• Output:  Regulation-break approved.

DEPLOY

• Problem: The ‘Deploy’ stage is solving the problem that too many regulation decisions are a ‘black-box’. It is important to provide transparency of the journey - to show the start and the middle - and not just the ending.
• Testing: Efficacy. The stage is focused on testing what are the intended and unintended outputs and outcomes from the regulation break. 
• Scope: The Reglab’s role is to monitor the impact of the use-case, prevent the original scope-creep, and give light to the learning. The Reglab acts as a story-creator. Whilst it doesn’t own the story, it creates the opportunity for shared stories to be identified, created and propagated.
• Criteria:  Level of engagement with the Reglab and transparency of reporting of impact (positive, negative, intended, unintended, seen and unseen).
• Mindsets: Speed (less than 1 year). Co-creation (at least 3 organisations granted the regulation break, therefore not giving unfair advantage to any specific entity). 
• Input: Reglab incubator program that gives support to the entities, tracks monthly measures, and ensures subsequent conversations and collaborations are enabled to ensure impact from the regulation-breaks. 
• Output:  MoU signing + videos stories the human impact (not the technology) from the regulation break.  

DEMOCRATISE

• Problem: The ‘Democratise’ stage is solving the problem of opening up the regulation break not just to a handful of organisations but to everyone - to create a level playing field.
• Testing: Scalability. The focus on this stage is testing which other regulations are required and which other government actors are required to scale this regulation.
• Role: The Reglab’s role is similar to that of a transistor, to amplify the signals, to help turn a regulation-break into a law, and ensure there is clear ownership of scaling by a specific regulator who can ensure the system behind the regulation can also scale, from the issuing of (new) licenses to ongoing evaluation of  adherence to new laws. 
• Criteria:  Becomes an effective law. 
• Mindsets: Speed (less than 3 months). Co-creation (between local regulators and federal ministries).
• Input: Clear evidence on value generated by the new regulations. 
• Output:  Creation of new capacity (time) and capabilities (skills) inside existing regulators, or where required, the creation of entirely new entities. For example, ‘market incubators’ (link to the next post)  may be created to help shift the traditional, reactive role of regulators to a proactive role where they are responsible for not just the regulation but also many other ‘projects’ which enable the creation of whole new markets. 

In summary, this is an exciting time for new regulations in the UAE. The Reglab doesn’t have a traditional view of regulation from a protective stance. It has been created for a higher purpose, that is less about securing the future and more about scaling the future.