Can Policy Keep Up With Time?

On June 12 (09:00–12:00) in Berlin, the EU Policy Lab is hosting a small, focused offsite gathering alongside the festival, bringing together public sector designers and policymakers working at EU, national, regional, and local levels. 

Building on the conversations sparked at the PolyFutures conference, this session explores a central question: Can policy keep up with time and what happens if we treat time not as a constraint, but as a design material? 

Across governments, there is growing momentum around foresight, human-centered design, and experimentation. Yet policymaking often remains tied to short-term pressures, while the challenges we face demand longer-term thinking, iteration, and adaptability. This session creates a space to reflect on that tension, share practices, and connect perspectives across governance levels. 

High-level agenda: 

• Welcome & framing by the EU Policy Lab
• Opening presentation: Can policy keep up with time? insights from recent EU work and PolyFutures
• Perspectives from practice: short inputs from public designers working at EU, national, regional, and local levels
• Collective exchange: How can we better work with time in policymaking? What are some examples of how time has played a role in your policy-related work?
• Closing reflections 

This offsite is designed as an informal exchange bringing together public designers, policymakers and future thinkers who are actively trying to make policymaking more future-oriented, experimental, and grounded in real-world complexity. To keep the conversation relevant and engaging, we are asking participants a couple of questions about their experience with public design, time, and policymaking.  

To sign up to the event, click on the link below. The EU Policy Lab team will confirm your ticket and the location of the event within a week.  

This event is a satellite event taking place alongside the Creative Bureaucracy Festival and is independently organized by the EU Policy Lab. It is not hosted or managed by the Creative Bureaucracy Festival or the Falling Walls Foundation. For any questions regarding the event, please contact the organizing team via the sign-up link below.