Refugee Innovation Labs

Project Summary

Refugee Innovation Labs is a collaborative initiative designed to empower refugees and asylum seekers to co-design innovative, community-centred solutions that improve social and economic integration across the UK. Grounded in participatory design principles, the project brings together refugees, service providers, academics, policymakers and local community organisations through a series of innovation labs, workshops and pilot testing phases.

The programme creates safe, inclusive spaces where lived experience drives innovation, ensuring that solutions are practical, culturally responsive and sustainable.

Vision

To build inclusive, sustainable pathways for refugees to contribute meaningfully to their new communities through creativity, problem-solving and shared leadership.

Objectives

• Co-Design with Community: Facilitate co-creative innovation labs where refugees identify key challenges and design context-driven solutions.
• Skill Building & Capacity: Provide training in design thinking, digital skills, entrepreneurship and leadership to enhance self-efficacy and employment readiness.
• Prototype & Pilot Solutions: Support teams to prototype, test and refine solutions addressing barriers to integration, including access to work, language learning, mental health support and social connection.
• Policy Influence: Translate lived-experience insights into evidence and policy recommendations for local and national stakeholders.

Key Activities (2026–2027)

• Community Innovation Labs: Multi-session co-design workshops delivered in regional hubs including London, Cardiff, Manchester and Aberdeen.
• Capacity Building Series: Training modules on facilitation, agile project development and digital tools tailored for refugee participants.
• Prototype Development: Small grants and mentoring for lab teams to advance high-potential solutions such as community navigation apps, peer learning networks and social enterprises.
• Showcase & Policy Roundtables: Public showcase events where innovators present prototypes to stakeholders, followed by structured policy dialogues.

Expected Outcomes

• A portfolio of community-led prototypes ready for scaling or further development.
• Enhanced skills, confidence and leadership pathways for participating refugees.
• Strengthened cross-sector partnerships linking refugee communities with local authorities, NGOs and businesses.
• Evidence-based recommendations shaping integration policy and practice.

Impact Vision

By the end of 2027, Refugee Innovation Labs will have strengthened refugees’ voices in designing their futures, contributed new models of integration rooted in lived experience, and fostered systemic shifts toward inclusive policy frameworks.