Lab Notes - March edition

From UNICEF's new venture fund for open-source technologies, to greener, smarter greenhouses, check out the March edition of Lab Notes...

This month’s key lab picks:

1. UNICEF is launching a non-equity venture fund for open-source civic technologies. Check out this FastCoExist article to learn more about how the fund aims to nurture projects with potential to benefit children globally.

2. Through a partnership with the Government of Mexico, social impact firm Reboot has packaged key lessons from its work on the Open Government programme into a number of useful resources for frontline public sector innovators everywhere. More here.

3. In this Medium article, Andrew R. Schrock reflects on the rise of the ‘city as laboratory’ and its implications for urban life.

4. The GovLab and Omidyar Network have launched Open Data’s Impact - a custom-built repository offering a range of in-depth case studies on global open data projects. Discover the new public and social innovation opportunities being created by open data here.

5. In Latin America, health innovations are being used to improve the lives of waste pickers and other informal economy workers. Find out how in this NextCity article.

6. Can innovation help tackle Europe’s migration crisis? Creative approaches such as connecting research results to policymaking and encouraging citizen-led solutions to foster the integration of refugees and migrants show promise that it can.

7. Find out about China’s efforts to transition into a low-carbon economy in the Gizmodo article ‘China's wind and solar energy capacity is soaring’.

8. In this Centre for Public Impact article, ‘Lab lessons: better by design’, Dr Andrea Siodmok speaks about the UK Policy Lab’s early successes and ongoing work.

9. San Joaquin County, California was selected for the Google Government Innovation Lab in 2015. Read about the 5 resulting projects in this Government Technology feature.

10. Devex article ‘Is UNDP the 'SDG accelerator'?’ reflects on the agency's historical mission, and looks at to how newer priorities – such as knowledge sharing and strengthening regional collaboration - look set to shape the agency’s future.

11. An award-winning greenhouse designed by two Kenyan students allows farmers to control temperature, humidity and soil moisture on their mobile phones. Read more here.