The Auckland Co-design Lab: Update
It’s been a powerful season of learning, sharing and international connection for The Lab, as we continue to build momentum around indigenous-led innovation, place-based practice, and bottom-up approaches to policy and systems change.
Sharing Aotearoa’s Indigenous-Led Innovation with Finland!
In March, Angie Tangaere ( Manukura Tangata Whenua) was invited to speak as part of a learning series hosted by Julkis-Muotoilijat — a Finnish community of designers and civil servants dedicated to strengthening the role of design in government.
Angie’s kōrero shared the unique approach of The Lab and offered insights into how indigenous perspectives are not just relevant — but essential — to reimagining government. You can listen to the full podcast here:
Angie Tangaere on Indigenous Innovation
Global Stage: Creative Bureaucracy Festival
The Creative Bureaucracy Festival is a Global event bringing together more than 2300 public servants from across the world. In March, The Lab participated in the Digital Kick Off event, running a 90-minute workshop, Flip the Script on Policy Making, introduced key dimensions of Niho Taniwha — The Lab’s learning and systems impact framework.
Watch the webinar + download slides
Penny then followed this up by attending the in-person event in June, participating on two different panels, the first on Ecosystem Leadership, and the second on Public Sector Innovation and Leadership in Uncertain times.
Evidence, Place and Outcomes Masterclass
On 3 April, The Lab co-hosted a What Works Masterclass with partners from The Policy Project, ANZSOG, the Social Investment Agency, and The Good Shift. Together, we welcomed 60 public servants from 18 agencies to explore how policy can be grounded in place, values, and lived experience.
Key themes included:
How worldviews and values shape what we define as evidence
The need for place-based, practice-informed data to address complex social issues
How ecosystems thinking and early feedback loops support meaningful public investment
The day laid the groundwork for ongoing conversations about moving past community “voice” to driving new evidence through place-based collaboration.
Slides and resources available here
Reciprocity in Practice
On 6 June, the Lab team visited Vimutti Monastery, where we offered dāna (gift of food) to the resident monks and learned more about Buddhist practices. In return, we shared whakaaro from te ao Māori, deepening our own understanding of cross-cultural spiritual practice and reciprocal generosity.
Practice Foundations: Deepening Values-Led Practice Across the Sector
Practice Foundations is our monthly online community of practice supporting public sector kaimahi to build capability, connection, and courage for systems change.
April: Sacha McMeeking (Ngāi Tahu) shared how mātauranga Māori enables smarter, more enduring social investment.
May: Dr Ingrid Burkett (The Good Shift, Australia) and Rachel Smith (Ngāpuhi, Healthy Families Far North) explored how an ecosystems approach to place can help shift beyond service integration.
May (Niho Taniwha): The Auckland Co-design Lab hosted a two-day wānanga with CSI, Te Waka Kerewai, Healthy Families, AEM, and Manatū Hauora. Kaimahi explored key concepts like Te Whāriki and Wāhi Ako, and gained deeper understanding of the whakapapa, mauri and tikanga that underpin Niho Taniwha — a values-led systems-learning framework grounded in mātauranga Māori. Feedback showed participants left more confident to apply the framework in daily mahi.
June: Angie and Eruini shared how mātauranga o te Taiao is deepening our understanding of complex systems and providing powerful practices for navigating them. A lunchtime learning session will be held soon — invite coming!