Over the last two decades, the design practice has been expanding to the public sphere to generate solutions for public challenges. In particular, the reflections on the design practice of public sector innovation (PSI) units, working in or with governments, are increasingly contributing to a growing body of literature attempting to characterise the practice in policy making. Although scholars conclude that design’s significant contribution in policy refers to the implementation of public services and programs, there is also an urgent advocacy for a deeper study of the nature of design practices within earlier stages of policy processes addressing more specifically policy proposals and reforms. As part of a broader investigation, this paper seeks to shed light to this matter by identifying design-led activities and methods of PSI units in the policy making process and positioning them in the stages of the policy cycle. This research examines academic, grey literature and web content to uncover and position design activities of 46 PSI units from different continents in a policy cycle model based on Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009). Our work confirms that most design activities develop in the implementation stage rather than in early stages of the policy process. While design interventions are growing within policy formulation and agenda-setting stages, few of them were identified in the stage of policy evaluation. Decision-making stage remains purely political. This research may serve to a further understanding of the design practice and its potential contribution to policy making in the future.

在过去的二十年里，设计实践已经扩展到公共领域，为公共挑战提供解决方案。特别是，对与政府合作或与政府合作的公共部门创新 (PSI) 单位的设计实践的思考正越来越多地促成越来越多的试图描述政策制定实践的文献。尽管学者们得出结论，设计对政策的重大贡献是指公共服务和项目的实施，但也迫切需要在政策过程的早期阶段对设计实践的性质进行更深入的研究，以解决更具体的政策建议和改革。作为更广泛调查的一部分，本文旨在通过确定 PSI 单位在政策制定过程中以设计为主导的活动和方法并将它们定位在政策周期的各个阶段来阐明这一问题。本研究检查学术、灰色文献和网络内容，以在基于 Howlett、Ramesh 和 Perl (2009) 的政策周期模型中发现和定位来自不同大陆的 46 个 PSI 单位的设计活动。我们的工作证实，大多数设计活动是在实施阶段而不是在政策过程的早期阶段发展的。虽然设计干预措施在政策制定和议程设置阶段不断增加，但在政策评估阶段确定的干预措施很少。决策阶段仍然纯粹是政治性的。