Catalyzing System Innovations for Asia

Mission

To cultivate a generation of 1 million public leaders and institutions that co-create, scale, and sustain adaptive solutions for inclusive, just, and regenerative futures across Asia.

Catalytic Role of the Asian School of Governance

The Asian School of Governance is not just a learning institution—it is an co-creator of distributed public problem-solving capacity. Over the next decade, ASG will:

• 1. 1. Co-create solutions with government agencies, universities, communities, and businesses.

     2. Activate thousands of distributed, university-hosted Social Labs across Asia focused on local and national system transitions.

     3. Strengthen public innovation ecosystems that accelerate learning, experimentation, and systems change.

     4. Build institutional capacities for governing under uncertainty, complexity, and long-term adaptive change.

Pedagogical Shift

Individuals and institutions do not need teachers to learn. Creating platforms for impact-based learning and communities of practice is more scalable and equips learners for the VUCA world. 

Core Design Principles

1. Collaborative Solutioning

   • Co-design and co-implement programs with local actors embedded in place-based contexts.

2. Distributed Innovation Infrastructure

   • Social Labs embedded in universities act as local nodes of prototyping, innovation, think tank, and co-creation with LGUs and stakeholders.

3. Adaptive and Systems-Based Pedagogy

   • Integrate systems thinking, complexity science, adaptive leadership, and iterative learning into all courses.

4. Inclusive Knowledge Production

   • Honor indigenous, Asian culture-based, scientific, and practitioner knowledge; foster South-South learning. Recognize need for dewesternized and decolonized streams of work.

5. Catalytic Partnerships

   • Build bridges among cities, universities, civil society, and finance institutions to drive scalable innovations.

Curricular Pillars

1. Public Leadership for Systemic Change

• Goal: Equip leaders to drive adaptive change in multi-stakeholder, high-uncertainty environments.

• Topics:

  • Adaptive Leadership & Systems Thinking

  • Leading Through Crisis and Transition

  • Political Economy of Change

  • Trust-Building & Distributed Authority

2. Social Labs and System Innovation

• Goal: Equip faculty, students, and civil servants to launch and run innovation labs addressing real-world public challenges.

• Topics:

  • Lab Design, Governance, and Stewardship

  • Experimentation, Iteration, and Prototyping

  • Community-Centered Innovation

  • Narrative and Sensemaking for Change

3. Transition Design and Deep Adaptation

• Goal: Address core areas of societal transformation by embedding innovation within domain-specific transitions.

• Focus Domains:

  • Climate Adaptation and Regenerative Cities

  • Just Energy and Mobility Transitions

  • Planetary Public Health

  • Transforming Education Systems

  • Resilient Food, Water, and Land Systems

4. Innovation Ecosystems

• Goal: Strengthen Innovation Ecosystems and nexus leadership

• Topics:

  • University-Government-Industry Collaboration

  • AI enabled Leadership

  • Enabling Policies for Distributed Innovation

  • Innovation Ecosystem Mapping

  • Transition Finance (Social Finance, Climate Finance, Philanthropy)

Flagship Programs

Social Lab Builders Program 

Adaptive Transitions Fellowship

Accelerators for Innovation Ecosystems

Executive Courses on System Leadership

Open Learning Modules

ASG-Enabled Social Lab Network

By 2035, ASG aims to activate and support 1,000+ university-hosted Social Labs across Asia that:

• Tackle context-specific transition challenges

• Facilitate community-driven innovation

• Serve as local capacity-building and civic innovation hubs

• Connect into a regional learning and knowledge network

Expected Outcomes by 2035

• 1,000+ active Social Labs across Asia

• 100,000+ learners engaged in adaptive leadership programs

• 300+ institutional partnerships activated across cities, universities, and government ministries

• 150+ systemic innovation prototypes scaled across policy and service delivery

• Networked governance models are institutionalized in at least 15 countries

Cross-Cutting Competencies

• Ethics of Innovation and Governance

• Equity and Inclusion in Transitions

• Participatory and Data-Driven Policymaking

• Resilience and Foresight Thinking

• Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Implementation Timeline

Phase Milestones

2025–2026 Launch first wave of Social Labs in 10 cities; pilot core programs

2027–2029 Scale regional clusters of Labs; deepen partnerships with universities and ministries

2030–2032 Regional innovation ecosystem mapping; deploy cross-lab learning platform

2033–2035 Consolidate as regional hub for transition governance and lab-based transformation