Introduced by the United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim at facilitating inclusive sustainable development. Responsiveness to SDGs is considered a key to addressing pressing development problems. The current literature focuses on the responsiveness of varied public organizations to SDGs, whereas SDGs’ responsiveness of policy innovation labs (PILs) is understudied. Aiming to address both persistent and emerging social and environmental problems, PILs are aligned with SDGs. On the other hand, PILs seek innovative ways to generate policy solutions in collaboration with citizens through experimental methods and thus are more committed to the local public rather than international organizations. This paper investigates to what extent and in what way PILs respond to SDGs during policy formulation processes, both implicitly and explicitly. Data draws on a database the authors developed, identifying 211 European PILs. Thematic coding of PILs’ websites reveals that 62.1% of the PILs implicitly promote at least one SDG. Additionally, sustainable cities and communities (SDG11) and good health and well-being (SDG3) are the two SDGs with the highest implicit-response rates, respectively. We apply grounded theory analysis from semi-structured interviews with senior PIL employees of 31 PILs to gauge their explicit views of SDGs. This inductive approach reveals three dimensions to SDGs: levels of responsiveness, different practices, and considerations that guide PILs on whether to comply with SDGs. A better understanding of PILs’ response to SDGs provides a more nuanced portrayal of PILs as organizations aiming to craft innovative policy solutions that align with international frameworks.

中文翻译：

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满足期望吗？政策创新实验室对可持续发展目标的响应


联合国提出的可持续发展目标（SDG）旨在促进包容性可持续发展。对可持续发展目标的响应被认为是解决紧迫发展问题的关键。目前的文献主要关注不同公共组织对可持续发展目标的响应能力，而政策创新实验室（PIL）对可持续发展目标的响应能力还没有得到充分研究。 PIL 旨在解决持续存在和新出现的社会和环境问题，与可持续发展目标保持一致。另一方面，PIL 寻求创新方式，通过实验方法与公民合作制定政策解决方案，因此更致力于当地公众而不是国际组织。本文研究了 PIL 在政策制定过程中以何种程度和方式对可持续发展目标作出隐性和明确的回应。数据来源于作者开发的数据库，识别了 211 个欧洲 PIL。 PIL 网站的主题编码显示，62.1% 的 PIL 隐含地宣传至少一项可持续发展目标。此外，可持续城市和社区（SDG11）以及良好的健康和福祉（SDG3）分别是隐性回应率最高的两个可持续发展目标。我们通过对 31 家 PIL 的高级 PIL 员工进行半结构化访谈，应用扎根理论分析来衡量他们对可持续发展目标的明确看法。这种归纳方法揭示了可持续发展目标的三个维度：响应水平、不同实践以及指导 PIL 是否遵守可持续发展目标的考虑因素。更好地了解 PIL 对可持续发展目标的响应，可以更细致地描述 PIL 作为旨在制定符合国际框架的创新政策解决方案的组织。