Two events in support of evidence-informed policymaking

Last week, we held two events in Brussels in the context of the #TSI project “Building capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in public administration and governance in a post-pandemic Europe”.

Between 22-23 January 2024, we organised an “International capacity building workshop for policymakers” that specifically aimed at increasing the capacity of 30+ participants from the public administrations of the seven participating Member States to engage in practices of evidence-informed policymaking (EIPM) and act as ambassadors for EIPM in their national context.

On 24 January, we hosted 30+ public officials from the seven TSI Member States as participants in the “Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Foresight”. This MLE provided plenty of opportunities for networking and exchange of good practices, allowing foresight specialists and those interested in this practice to identify opportunities and challenges in institutionalising it in their home countries.

What are some of the key insights gained from these intense three days:

·?????? Administrations across Europe face similar challenges in mainstreaming practices of evidence-informed policymaking.

·?????? These challenge include competences and skills among staff members but? importantly also issues such as depth of institutional support and quality of inter-ministerial coordination. This highlights the importance of a(n) (eco)system’s approach to building capacity.

·?????? Exchanges of practical examples of how these challenges have been addressed in different Member States and opportunities for cross-country networking are extremely useful to identify solutions. ?

Equipped with these insights, especially the latter one, we look forward to continue fostering exchanges and creating networks across and beyond the seven participating Member States in this multi-country project.

The two events were co-designed and jointly delivered by the JRC and the OECD, with the support by DG REFORM. The JRC's contribution was inspired by the work undertaken around the Competence Framework for Innovative Policymaking and the wider work around enhancing #Science4Policy ecosystems.

Special credit to Anastasia Deligkiaouri Paul Smits Stephane Jacobzone Silvia Picalarga as key developers of the capacity building workshop and to Erica Bol Laurent Bontoux Piret T?nurist Elias Kock as architects of the mutual learning exercise. Special thanks also to Marie Sophie Mayer Francesco Moratelli for their support.

Many thanks to the external experts offering insights from their own practices: Xavier BONNET John McCarthy Eirini Andriopoulou Lauri Kajanoja Owen James Nienke Cornelissen Sigita Trainauskiene Peter De Smedt Paulo Batista Ramos Ana Jakil Yiannis Mastrogeorgiou Michal Narozny Grzegorz Drozd Leanne Dew Anne Kingma .

Thanks also to the wider JRC-OECD-REFORM project team, in particular David Mair , Aga Gadzina, Alexandra Olajos-Szabó , Laura Smillie Claire Salama Athina Manta Kjartan Bj?rnsson Florian Hauser Lorenzo Melchor Alex Rusnak.

Finally, thanks to the participants for the active engagement with and contributions to the two events.

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