Experimentation & Innovation
Catalyzing new ideas, reworking old ones.
How We Work
We root our work in designing, testing, and refining new models for environmental governance, learning as we go. At EPIC, experimentation includes rapid and adaptive learning cycles, human-centered design, and both small-scale and nation-wide pilots. We advocate for regulatory sandboxes because they help catalyze experimentation with substantial, measurable feedback. We host our own data prizes– and help guide agencies through their own– because such competitions grant anyone and any solution the opportunity to show what results they can deliver.
Why It Matters
Traditional environmental policy, infrastructure financing, and permitting often can’t keep pace with challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and technological change. Rigid regulatory frameworks and risk-averse cultures can stifle the adoption of new ideas, leaving communities and ecosystems vulnerable to emerging threats, and making environmental policy too change-resistant. By prioritizing policy experimentation and innovation, we help create pathways for novel solutions to be tested and implemented more quickly and effectively. Approaches like human-centered design, rapid iteration, and incentives for curiosity help spur innovation in other sectors, like biotech, machine learning, and energy. They should work for clean water and biodiversity, too.
We create a space for our team and our partners to experiment, fail, learn, and try again. We know real and perceived risks are on many people’s minds; sometimes, the most important innovation in a policy is acknowledging risk and finding a way to either reduce or responsibly share it.
