We treat Romania through innovation

Civic Labs is the place where we design digital solutions to Romania's problems.

We have no room for failure. Each Code for Romania solution must achieve its goal. For this we need to understand the problems we are trying to solve in depth, to take into account the contexts in which they manifest and to come up with effective solutions to improve or solve them completely.

Civic Labs is the place where we constantly work to build a better Romania, whether we are talking about the education of our children, the healthcare of each and every one of us, support for vulnerable groups, environmental protection or the civic participation without which none of the other areas could ever reach their full potential.

Stakeholder mapping

The first step in identifying the pain points of any area of study is to identify all stakeholders in order to have an overview of the field and to be able to plan in detail the qualitative research stage. In order to properly understand the strategic ways of intervening as to consolidate a sector's digital infrastructure, we must start from the experts, organizations and institutions that play key roles in its development.

Research

Throughout the research process, a dedicated team conducts interviews and focus groups with stakeholders in the fields under scrutiny. We analyze studies, data sets, local, national and international reports, do field research and consult and analyze the literature in each field.

Looking at the broader context

The best lessons are those you can learn from others. Thus, in addition to research, we also have a team that is responsible for tech research, i.e. investigating what web or mobile applications already exist in the areas analyzed, how they work, whether they can be replicated or reused and drawing conclusions about their applicability in the Romanian context. At the same time, we conduct research on the legal framework in the field, in order to see what the constraints or opportunities to developing new concepts and solutions are.

Identifying Solutions

Solution concepts are created in ideation sessions, using verified methods of product and service design such as design thinking, mind-mapping and other practices that aim to stimulate the capacity for innovation. The concepts are then validated with experts, are prototyped by the user experience design team and tested with users to ensure that we are solving the problem in the easiest way possible for the beneficiaries.

Documentation

Each of the solution prototypes is accompanied by the proper documentation for a better understanding of the application. The documentation contains a development specifications sheet, a list of functionalities, user flows and an estimated implementation budget, as well as the delivery conditions for the source code.

Conditions for adoption

In order to ensure proper quality standards for the implementation of solutions that are developed either with our volunteers or by another adopter, we operate according to a series of delivery conditions that consist of several levels of rules and best practices. From technical requirements for the development infrastructure to security or branding practices, these conditions accompany all applications designed through the Civic Labs process. You can consult the conditions document here.

Development

Our Tech for Social Good volunteers bring the solutions designed in Civic Labs to life. But we have a lot to do to achieve our goals and that's why we want to have as many partners as possible, partners that adopt and support the implementation of the apps we design. If you want to invest or if you know of a funding call that matches any of our designed solutions, let us know at contact@code4.ro.

Solution management

The Civic Labs process does not stop at design. Both during the technical development of the solution and after its launch, we stand by the partners who take these solutions over in order to help adopters, and the entire field, get the most out of them. We provide support, advice and coordination during implementation and then monitor the impact of solutions and intervene with improvements where they are needed.