Policy Studies

Policies are becoming increasingly difficult to design as the world is getting more connected, more complex, and require more considerations than ever. Public institutions are under more fiscal pressure and more public scrutiny than ever before. The challenges of climate change, an aging population, globalization, and a rapidly changing technological landscape require more sophistication in policy design and implementation. Our world is a complex system, and policies need to be designed with modern best practices within this context, so that the desired outcomes can be achieved in a resource efficient way and avoid unintended consequences. There are more stakeholders than ever, and they all have different interests and perspectives, and they need to be a part of the conversation and consultations, to achieve the desired policy outcome.

Our policy studies focus on critical large scale infrastructure – energy, transportation, and resources – which are all complex systems-of-systems. 

• We bring deep technical engineering expertise, strong technology assessment, and a holistic systems approach to our policy studies.  As many policies have to consider the application of new technology to become economic and useful in the current and future situation, our clients have found that we can provide them with solid, innovative, and outcome-based policy recommendations. 
• We are an independent third party consultancy focused on the desired outcomes of our clients.  We are not a policy think-tank, subscribed to preconceived ideas, theories or positions.  We work the other way around, where we identify the desired outcomes, gather and determine evidence, and then synthesize the best way to achieve those outcomes.  This means taking an unbiased approach and going to where the evidence leads.
• Our studies include technology, engineering, economics, sociology, politics, environmental, cultural, and organizational considerations.
• We specialize in linking and understanding the entire supply chain and value chain throughout the entire life-cycle, and cradle-to-grave.
• We consider the wide range of policy instruments and techniques available - supply side, demand side, supportive - and how they interact together.
• We consider consumer and organizational buying behaviours, such as unstated preferences, emotional criteria, push of the situation, magnetism of the new, habit of the present, and anxiety of the new.  
• We are always asking the questions – would this policy really make a change in behaviour or outcomes?
• When appropriate, we model the leverage a given policy input has on the desired outcome, so that quantitative estimates can be provided.

We provide policy consulting including:

• Policy analysis
• Program evaluation
• Techno-economic analysis
• Policy studies
• Policy and framework design
• Regulatory analysis
• Implementation process for policy design translation to reality
• Stakeholder analysis and engagement, including expert facilitation of workshops, interviews, analysis, and other techniques

Our clients include all levels of Government, Government organizations, regulated organizations, regional agencies, associations, and large private sector companies.  In many cases, our clients have chosen to release our consulting reports to other Government agencies or to the public domain to help inform the discussion and debate on policy.