Our vision

The use of scientific models to support policymaking has increased substantially over the past decades. Their impact is already significant in domains such as healthcare, nature and climate. In recent years, this has also led to growing public debate about the role that models should play in policymaking.

We founded our company based on a clear conviction about how models can effectively support this process. Our starting point is that models, when used properly, can be valuable tools for supporting policy decisions, but should not take over the role of policymakers.

To use models effectively, certain conditions need to be met.

Accountable modelling

We see accountability as the overarching principle for effective policy modelling. Transparency is an essential part of this: models should make it possible to understand, assess and, where necessary, challenge how results are produced.

To make this concrete, we have defined six closely connected capabilities that we consider essential for accountable modelling, the six C's:

• Clarity: making the structure, assumptions, data and results of a model understandable and transparent
• Confidence: providing the evidence, validation and insight into uncertainty needed to assess how much trust can be placed in its results
• Control: enabling users and modellers to inspect, test and change the model, explore assumptions and scenarios, and understand their consequences
• Compute: providing the performance needed to develop and run complex models at the scale and resolution required by the policy question
• Collaboration: enabling modellers, domain experts, data specialists and policymakers to work together on a shared model and build on each other's knowledge
• Communication: making it possible to communicate not only model results, but also the logic, assumptions, uncertainties and limitations behind them, in a way that supports informed policy judgement

GeoDMS and web mapping

Because these capabilities apply across models and policy domains, we have embodied them in GeoDMS, our open-source modelling environment for building effective, transparent and accountable policy models, and in our web mapping tools.

Together, they provide a coherent technical foundation for developing, exploring and communicating models in a way that keeps their assumptions, results and limitations visible. We apply our vision in developing our framework components, and in the way we develop, apply and communicate about our specific models.

Recently, PBL has also explicitly set out its position on the use of models in policymaking, which is broadly aligned with our own vision.