INNOVATION LAB • CAPACITY BUILDING
Rotterdam Klik Lab
Municipality of Rotterdam • 2020–2022
The Problem
- — The Municipality of Rotterdam (15,000 employees) wanted to fundamentally change how civil servants approached service innovation: from system-centered to human-centered.
- — While the ambition was clear, the organization lacked the internal capability to execute. Civil servants relied on protocols and had few tools to work from citizen emotions and needs.
- — Innovation was happening in silos, often dependent on external consultants, leaving no lasting knowledge within the organization.
My Approach
- — Rotterdam selected Emotion Studio as exclusive partner to co-found "Klik Lab"—an Experience Innovation Lab.
- — Our role was not that of traditional agency provider, but as a strategic partner to build internal infrastructure. I led the partnership over two years.
- — I designed a "learning-by-doing" model: rather than doing the research for them or organizing general learning modules, I developed a curriculum to train civil servants in their own pilot projects.
What I Delivered
- — Built the Klik Lab infrastructure: a framework defining how projects start, how citizens stay central, how methods are selected, and how insights are shared organization-wide.
- — Developed complete methodology toolkit—Klik Playbook, method cards, and training modules—enabling teams to work independently after our involvement ended.
- — Coached teams across diverse domains from empathy research to prototyping.
The Impact
10+ projects
on topics spanning public spaces, entrepreneur services, smart city technology, and youth care
50+ civil servants
trained in positive design methodology across diverse municipal departments
