Policy, policy recommendation, policy area, and policy development journey – what’s the difference?

iStockphoto

ekip is an Innovation Policy Platform for the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). In our communication, we often use the term “policy” in combination with other concepts. This can sometimes cause confusion, as policy is a complex concept that is used in different ways depending on context. Below, we clarify four key concepts used within ekip: policy, policy recommendation, policy area, and policy development journey.

Policy – a multi-faceted concept

The Cambridge Dictionary defines policy as:

“A set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organization, a government, or a political party.”

In the context of ekip, a policy can address issues such as which types of organisations are eligible for funding (for example SMEs or NGOs), selection criteria for participation in programmes or activities (for example company size), or the tasks allocated to cultural institutions, such as whether museums are encouraged to support innovation.

Policies can also define how public funding is distributed and which activities are eligible for support. In short, a policy is something that:
(a) is decided by a group of people
(b) within a formal organisation, such as a municipality, region, or government.

There are different policy domains, including cultural policy and innovation policy, and a key ambition of ekip is to bridge these two domains.

Policy recommendations – one of many outputs from ekip

Policymakers receive input from many different sources when making decisions. These inputs can come from formal decision-makers as well as informal influencers.

Rooted in open innovation, ekip brings together diverse stakeholder groups to co-create evidence-based policy recommendations. These recommendations focus on key building blocks of open innovation ecosystems, such as:

• infrastructure
• investment and funding
• research and innovation
• regulation and governance
• skills
• sustainable competitiveness
• social inclusion
  

ekip publishes policy recommendations online and shares them through its community. They are sometimes also submitted as part of EU calls for evidence or presented in meetings with ministries, boards, and other decision-making bodies.

All policy recommendations produced by ekip are intended to serve as input to decision-making processes and can be used as a basis for concrete policy decisions within specific organisations.

Policy area – a lens to stay focused

Policy recommendations related to open innovation can easily become too broad. To maintain focus, ekip works with a set of clearly defined policy areas.

Policy areas function as analytical lenses that help explore key trends, opportunities, and challenges facing the European Union. They are selected through a structured process designed to identify the most urgent and relevant topics, while ensuring a balanced mix of areas.

Priority policy areas often relate to:

• green and digital transitions
• access to finance
• internationalisation
• business development
  

Some policy areas address the CCIs broadly, such as “AI and the CCIs”, while others are more specific, for example “Fashion Transition: Eco-Design for Circularity.”

Policy development journey – many steps to reach decisions

Policy decisions are rarely made quickly. They involve multiple stages, including agenda-setting, problem framing, solution development, discussion, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.

This means that policymakers embark on a policy development journey that can last months or even years. During this journey, different types of materials are needed at different stages.

To support this process, ekip produces a range of outputs, including:

• policy scoping documents
• posters
• presentations
• policy recommendations
  

ekip also develops tools and methods that support collaborative policymaking, such as Policy Corners and Policy Labs.

Making the journey together

The ekip Community is a digital space where creatives, experts, and policymakers come together to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and engage in dialogue.

This collaborative approach helps identify subtle barriers that hinder open innovation and enables the co-creation of solutions that strengthen the role of CCIs in addressing major societal challenges, including green and digital transformation and social inclusion.

Join ekip and contribute to policy recommendations that shape policy development journeys and support open innovation ecosystems across Europe.