OUR SERVICES

Government Innovation

Designing institutions that can learn, adapt and deliver better outcomes.

IBDÅ works with government entities and public-sector organisations to support the development of new services, systems, programmes and capabilities.

We bring together innovation management, institutional innovation, systems thinking, research, strategic and service design, data, AI, technology, prototyping and applied R&D to help teams explore opportunities, test new approaches and translate promising ideas into practical, evidence-based outcomes.

Our role is collaborative: working alongside government teams, subject-matter experts and partners to strengthen existing capabilities and support the delivery of strategic priorities.

Start a Government Innovation Project →

INNOVATION ACROSS GOVERNMENT

Services, institutions and the systems behind them

Eight areas of work, shaped around your team’s priorities.

  • Set priorities for the innovation portfolio, define how decisions are made and establish clear criteria for testing and progression.

    We support:

    • innovation strategies

    • innovation portfolios

    • innovation governance

    • opportunity pipelines

    • innovation operating models

    • innovation performance and KPIs

    • stage-gate processes

    • innovation roadmaps

    • partnership strategies

    • innovation functions and offices

  • Clarify how teams work together, who makes decisions and how services are delivered.

    We explore new:

    • operating models

    • governance structures

    • ways of working

    • organisational processes

    • decision models

    • collaboration structures

    • workflows

    • roles and capabilities

    This can range from improving an existing process to designing an entirely new institutional model.

  • Understand what citizens, businesses and employees need at each step, then design services around that evidence.

    We combine user research, service design and behavioural insight to rethink:

    • citizen experiences

    • business experiences

    • employee experiences

    • customer journeys

    • service models

    • life-event services

    • proactive services

    • digital and physical touchpoints

    • processes and procedures

    The objective is to explore how each service can work fundamentally better for the people who use and deliver it.

  • Use AI, data and automation to improve a specific service, workflow or decision.

    We help government teams identify, design and test opportunities across:

    • artificial intelligence

    • agentic AI

    • automation

    • data and analytics

    • decision intelligence

    • digital products

    • digital platforms

    • IoT and connected systems

    • interactive technologies

    • new interfaces and experiences

    We work from opportunity discovery and use-case definition through design, prototyping and implementation.

    Technology is introduced where it creates meaningful value.

    Explore our Agentic AI capabilities →

  • Turn shifts in policy, technology and public expectations into questions your team can act on.

    We help organisations explore emerging shifts and translate them into opportunities for action through:

    • future foresight

    • trend and horizon scanning

    • scenario development

    • emerging technology research

    • policy innovation

    • speculative and strategic design

    • regulatory experimentation

    • future service concepts

    The objective is to use foresight to inform present-day decisions, experiments and investments.

  • Make it tangible. Test it early.

    Put a prototype in front of users and turn assumptions into evidence.

    Depending on the challenge, we can develop:

    • concept prototypes

    • service prototypes

    • digital prototypes

    • AI proofs of concept

    • interactive experiences

    • physical prototypes

    • simulations

    • dashboards

    • interfaces

    • connected products

    • pilot programmes

    We define what needs to be tested, what evidence is required and what should happen next.

    Prototype to learn.
    Pilot to validate.
    Scale when the evidence supports it.

  • Build the in-house skills to plan experiments, run tests and carry successful ideas into practice.

    We work with leaders and teams to build the structures, skills and behaviours required for continuous innovation.

    This can include:

    • innovation capability assessments

    • leadership programmes

    • innovation training

    • design thinking and systems thinking

    • AI innovation programmes

    • innovation playbooks

    • innovation challenges

    • innovation labs

    • team coaching

    • tools and methods

    • innovation communities

    Capability building can be delivered independently or embedded within a live innovation programme so that teams learn by doing.

  • Define who a programme is for, how it will work and what needs to be tested first.

    IBDÅ can support the definition and development of:

    • new government initiatives

    • strategic programmes

    • innovation platforms

    • accelerators

    • challenge programmes

    • new public services

    • innovation ecosystems

    • technology-enabled initiatives

    • cross-sector collaborations

    We help frame the opportunity, research the context, define the model, bring together the required expertise, prototype critical components and establish a pathway toward implementation.

OUR EXPERTISE

Different challenges. Different forms of innovation.

  • Simpler, more proactive and more effective services across digital and physical channels.

    Examples: service redesign, citizen journeys, business services, life-event services, proactive services and new service models.

  • Better ways for teams, information and processes to work together.

    Examples: workflow redesign, decision support, automation, internal services, knowledge systems and new operating models.

  • Exploring where emerging technologies can create meaningful institutional or public value.

    Examples: AI-enabled workflows, agentic systems, connected environments, decision intelligence, intelligent services and experimental technology applications.

  • Testing new ways to respond to emerging social, economic and technological conditions.

    Examples: policy prototyping, regulatory experimentation, sandboxes, stakeholder co-design and evidence generation.

  • Building more adaptive ways of organising, collaborating and making decisions.

    Examples: institutional models, governance, innovation functions, organisational systems and new capabilities.

  • Addressing challenges that require coordinated innovation across multiple interventions or stakeholders.

    Examples: mission-oriented programmes, strategic initiatives, cross-sector innovation, innovation portfolios and experimental programmes.

  • Designing experiences and systems that move between digital interfaces and the physical world.

    Examples: smart environments, connected products, public installations, sensing systems, interactive spaces and IoT-enabled services.

INNOVATION THAT PROGRESSES

Decide what to test, fund and scale

We connect workshops, challenges and idea-generation programmes to clear testing, investment and implementation decisions.

Each stage establishes the question to answer, the evidence required and the next decision.

  1. OPPORTUNITY

    What should we explore?

  2. INSIGHT

    What do we need to understand?

  3. IDEA

    What could work differently?

  4. PROTOTYPE

    Can we make it tangible?

  5. EXPERIMENT

    Does it work?

  6. EVIDENCE

    What have we learned?

  7. IMPLEMENTATION

    How can it become real?

  8. IMPACT

    Did it create meaningful value?

A service to improve. A programme to launch. A capability to build.

Our work starts with the change your team needs to make:

  • RETHINK A SERVICE

    Create simpler, more proactive and human-centred experiences.

  • SIMPLIFY HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS

    Redesign processes, workflows and operating models to reduce complexity and improve efficiency.

  • EXPLORE AI OR AN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

    Identify valuable use cases and rapidly move from opportunity to prototype.

  • BUILD AN INNOVATION FUNCTION

    Develop the strategy, governance, portfolio, processes and capabilities required for institutional innovation.

  • LAUNCH AN INNOVATION LAB OR PROGRAMME

    Create the model, methodology, challenges and programme required to move ideas toward implementation.

  • DESIGN A NEW STRATEGIC INITIATIVE

    Turn an emerging priority or ambition into a coherent and testable proposition.

  • TEST A NEW IDEA BEFORE INVESTING AT SCALE

    Build prototypes, proofs of concept and pilots to generate evidence early.

  • PREPARE FOR WHAT IS NEXT

    Use foresight, research and experimentation to explore emerging opportunities before they become established practice.

  • BUILD INNOVATION CAPABILITY

    Equip leaders and teams with the skills, methods and structures required to innovate continuously.

COLLABORATION MODELS

Ways to work with us

  • A focused engagement to investigate a defined challenge or opportunity and rapidly develop potential directions.

    Possible outcomes: research insights, system maps, opportunity areas, concepts, prototypes and recommended next steps.

  • A deeper engagement to establish how an organisation should manage and govern innovation.

    Possible outcomes: innovation strategy, operating model, portfolio structure, governance, processes, KPIs and implementation roadmap.

  • A focused programme to turn an emerging idea into something tangible and generate evidence around its potential.

    Possible outcomes: prototype, proof of concept, pilot design, testing, evaluation and implementation recommendations.

  • An end-to-end engagement addressing a specific service, organisational or institutional challenge.

    Possible outcomes: research, redesigned systems or services, operating models, digital solutions, prototypes, pilots and implementation pathways.

  • Tailored learning and applied innovation programmes for leadership, specialist teams and innovation functions.

    Possible outcomes: trained teams, applied methods, internal projects, innovation champions, playbooks and stronger institutional capability.

  • An ongoing collaboration in which IBDÅ works alongside internal teams to investigate emerging opportunities, develop experiments and build new capabilities over time.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY BY DESIGN

The team changes with the challenge

A service redesign can involve policy decisions, frontline operations, user behaviour, data and software at the same time.

IBDÅ brings these perspectives together within one team. Our teams can combine expertise across:

  • STRATEGY & INNOVATION

    Innovation strategy · Innovation management · Strategic design · Foresight · Programme design

  • RESEARCH & DESIGN

    Human-centred research · Systems thinking · Service design · Experience design · Behavioural insight

  • DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY

    Digital products · Software · AI and automation · Data · IoT and connected systems

  • PROTOTYPING & MAKING

    Digital prototyping · Physical prototyping · Interaction design · Fabrication · Proofs of concept

  • ORGANISATION & DELIVERY

    Institutional design · Operating models · Programme development · Capability building · Implementation planning

The disciplines are selected around the needs of each challenge.

  • We connect opportunity discovery and design with the governance, evidence and decisions that move ideas forward.

  • We turn research and strategic questions into prototypes that teams and users can try.

  • Our work spans software, AI, data, products, interfaces, connected systems and environments.

  • We investigate before prescribing and use evidence throughout the innovation process.

  • Emerging technologies are assessed against real institutional and human needs.

  • We make assumptions testable before significant commitments are made.

  • Where appropriate, we work alongside government teams so that methods and knowledge remain within the organisation.

    • We combine an understanding of the UAE's ambition, institutional environment and pace of innovation with global research, technology and design practice.

WHY IBDÅ?

One cross-disciplinary team from opportunity to implementation.

Working with the wider innovation ecosystem

The right solution does not always sit within one organisation.

Where required, we bring together government teams with:

•

technology partners

•

researchers

•

universities

•

startups

•

subject-matter experts

•

industry partners

•

specialist designers and engineers

• technology partners • researchers • universities • startups • subject-matter experts • industry partners • specialist designers and engineers

GOVERNMENT INNOVATION INTEREST FORM

Bring us a service to improve or an idea to test.

A new challenge.
An emerging technology.
A service that needs rethinking.
An organisation looking to innovate differently.
An idea that needs to become real.

Bring us the question.

We’ll help define the opportunity.