The Policy Lab is an international policy design institute. The Policy Lab specializes in the research and design of policy and practice to improve strategic engagement with local communities. The Policy Lab is committed to reducing barriers, creating conditions, and designing solutions for cooperative and effective local action. The Policy Lab was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2011 as the successor to the Security Needs Assessment Protocol (SNAP) project of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva (2006 - 2010). The SNAP project was an innovation initiative to explore the potential for "best process approaches" to the design of local action on security matters by UN operational agencies. SNAP's efforts led to agenda-setting work in the areas of cooperative ethics, applied cultural research on peace and security, situated theory for local action, best process approaches to program design, strategic design, and new approaches to cultural research in conflict zones. The Policy Lab maintains a formal Framework Agreement with UNIDIR and shares a research and development agenda with The Center for Local Strategies Research at the University of Washington. The Policy Lab advances the Agenda for Strategic Design and Public Policy established at the Glen Cove Conference, 2010 with a global consortium of academic, design, and policy partners.
