CCE Labs

Programme architecture

A staged programme model for turning collaboration questions into methods, evidence, and shared practice.

Challenge-led labs

Labs form around concrete collaboration challenges rather than abstract interest alone.

Shared method layer

Each Lab contributes to a shared body of protocols, formats, standards, and evidence.

Foundation governance

The foundation provides public-interest framing, publication discipline, and partnership readiness.

The basic model

CCE Labs is organised around challenge-led Labs. A Lab is a bounded programme space where people work on a collaboration challenge, test methods, document learning, and contribute results back to the wider programme.

A Lab can be local, thematic, or partner-led. What matters is not the label, but the discipline: each Lab needs a clear question, a working group, a method frame, documentation, reflection, and a way to share what it learns.

Core components

The programme has seven core components:

  1. Challenge frame — the practical problem or opportunity the Lab is addressing.
  2. Cohort or working group — the people, organisations, facilitators, and partners involved.
  3. Method stack — the collaboration formats, facilitation patterns, governance practices, and documentation protocols used.
  4. Experiment cycle — a bounded period of action, observation, reflection, and refinement.
  5. Evidence record — outputs, notes, decisions, cases, and learning captured with enough provenance to be useful.
  6. Hub or host context — the physical, digital, local, or thematic environment where the work takes place.
  7. Network transfer — the process by which methods and learning become available to other Labs and partners.

Programme levels

CCE Labs can operate at several levels of maturity:

  • Exploratory Labs test a question and document early learning.
  • Pilot Labs run a defined cycle with partners, participants, and visible outputs.
  • Reference Labs produce methods or evidence mature enough to be shared and reused.
  • Network Labs connect multiple local or thematic contexts around one shared learning question.

Role of the foundation

Cocreate Earth Foundation holds the public-interest frame. It can steward the programme, publish learning, support partnerships, and pursue funding when the work has enough evidence and readiness.

The foundation does not need to control every Lab. Its role is to keep the programme coherent, honest, and accountable.