AYNI Social Lab

AYNI Social Lab is the social innovation laboratory of Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, commonly referred to as MIDIS. Created in October 2016 through Ministerial Resolution No. 248-2016-MIDIS, it was established to improve the design and delivery of social policy through practical experimentation, evidence, and innovation. The laboratory is intended to identify and implement solutions that can improve the quality of life of people experiencing poverty or vulnerability while using public resources efficiently. The lab occupies an unusual position within Peru’s public-administration system. Rather than functioning primarily as a research institute or a conventional service provider, it operates as an applied innovation mechanism connected to the country’s social-policy institutions. Its purpose is to generate solutions that are original but also transferable, reproducible, evaluable, cost-effective, and capable of being incorporated into public policy at scale. This emphasis on implementation distinguishes AYNI Social Lab from an innovation program concerned only with prototypes or pilot projects. Its work covers both institutional and technological innovation. Institutional initiatives may draw on behavioral economics and psychology to improve the way social programs communicate with beneficiaries, encourage participation, or structure delivery mechanisms. These interventions are intended to be assessed using experimental methods and impact evaluation, allowing policymakers to compare outcomes rather than relying solely on assumptions or anecdotal evidence. Technological initiatives have been pursued through open calls and social-innovation competitions organized with MIDIS, Peru’s Ministry of Production, and Innóvate Perú. Governance is assigned to a cross-departmental Working Group rather than to a single executive figure. The group is chaired by the Deputy Minister of Social Policy and Evaluation and includes senior officials responsible for social benefits, social-program quality management, articulation or coordination of benefits, monitoring and evaluation, evaluation, and planning and investment. Specialists and a technical team support the laboratory’s day-to-day work, while the Working Group provides institutional direction and coordination. AYNI Social Lab received early national visibility when President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski referred to its creation during a presentation on the government’s progress and achievements during the first 100 days of his administration. The initiative was described as Peru’s first officially created cost-effective innovation laboratory established through a ministerial resolution. Its model reflects a broader public-sector movement toward evidence-based policy, behavioral insights, impact evaluation, and partnerships between government agencies and innovation communities. Available reference material does not establish a separate commercial ownership structure, corporate parent, stock-market listing, or international operating network. AYNI Social Lab is best understood as a Peruvian public-sector institutional program and policy innovation platform rather than a consumer-facing commercial brand. Its significance lies in its method: developing promising interventions, testing them with evidence, and seeking to translate successful approaches into scalable social policy.

AYNI Social Lab was created in October 2016 within Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion. Its legal foundation was Ministerial Resolution No. 248-2016-MIDIS, making it the first officially established cost-effective innovation laboratory in Peru to be created through a ministerial resolution. The initiative emerged in the context of growing interest in evidence-based social policy and in methods that could improve public services without requiring proportionally higher levels of expenditure. The laboratory’s mandate is to promote the creation and implementation of innovations directed at people living in poverty or conditions of vulnerability. Its intended output is not innovation for its own sake, but solutions that can ultimately strengthen social programs and improve beneficiaries’ quality of life. AYNI Social Lab therefore emphasizes several characteristics at once: originality, transferability, reproducibility, cost-effectiveness, evaluability, and scalability. These criteria frame the movement from an initial idea or pilot toward a potential public-policy intervention. The lab addresses two broad areas. The first is institutional innovation. Such work can involve changes to procedures, communications, incentives, or service-delivery arrangements within social programs. Behavioral economics and psychology provide important analytical tools in this area, particularly where small changes in how choices are presented or how information is communicated may affect participation and outcomes. The second area is technological innovation. To support this work, AYNI Social Lab has participated in open calls and social-innovation competitions conducted with MIDIS, Peru’s Ministry of Production, and Innóvate Perú. Evaluation is central to the laboratory’s operating model. Proposed interventions are intended to be assessed through experimental methodologies and impact evaluation, allowing the public sector to determine whether a measure produces meaningful results and whether it can be replicated in other settings. This orientation places AYNI Social Lab within the wider field of social innovation, behavioral public policy, and public-sector experimentation. Institutionally, AYNI Social Lab is supported by specialists and a technical team. Strategic guidance is provided by a Working Group chaired by the Deputy Minister of Social Policy and Evaluation. Its membership also includes the Deputy Minister of Social Benefits, the Director General of Quality Management of Social Programs, the Director General of Articulation or Coordination of Social Benefits, the Director General of Monitoring and Evaluation, the Director of Evaluation, and the Head of the Planning and Investment Office. This composition links innovation activity to policy design, benefits administration, program quality, measurement, and public investment. The laboratory gained political visibility shortly after its establishment. President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski mentioned its creation in a presentation on the achievements and progress of his government during its first 100 days. That reference situated the laboratory within the administration’s modernization and social-policy agenda. The available reference material does not document a commercial product portfolio, private ownership, stock-market status, or a sustained international expansion program. AYNI Social Lab is consequently best characterized as a public institutional platform whose activities are organized around the development, testing, and possible scaling of social-policy innovations in Peru. Detailed information about individual projects, later leadership, outcomes, and current operating status requires further verification.

• 2016

  AYNI Social Lab is established

  [1]AYNI Social Laben.wikipedia.org

  The Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion created AYNI Social Lab in October 2016 through Ministerial Resolution No. 248-2016-MIDIS.

• 2016

  The laboratory receives presidential recognition

  [1]AYNI Social Laben.wikipedia.org

  President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski referred to the laboratory’s creation during a presentation on the progress of his administration’s first 100 days.

A government-led applied social innovation laboratory that connects experimentation, behavioral insights, technology, and impact evaluation with the design and scaling of cost-effective social policy in Peru.

• Public-sector innovation

  Institutional social innovations

  AYNI Social Lab develops and supports changes to the organization, communication, and delivery of social programs. These initiatives may use behavioral economics and psychology to design more effective and economical mechanisms for reaching or assisting people in poverty and vulnerable circumstances. The intended path is from an original intervention to an evaluated and potentially scalable public-policy tool.

• Technology for social policy

  Technological social innovations

  The laboratory promotes technological approaches to social challenges, including ideas sourced through open calls and social-innovation competitions. These activities have been associated with collaboration among the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, Peru’s Ministry of Production, and Innóvate Perú. Specific technologies and project outcomes are not identified in the available reference material.

• Policy research and evaluation

  Impact-evaluation projects

  Impact evaluation is a core component of the lab’s approach. Proposed social innovations are intended to be tested using experimental methodologies so that decision-makers can assess whether an intervention works, whether its effects justify its cost, and whether it can be transferred or reproduced in other contexts.

• Competitions of Social Innovations

  Peru

  AYNI Social Lab has promoted open calls for technological and other social innovations in cooperation with Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, Ministry of Production, and Innóvate Perú.

  Outcome. The available reference does not specify the winning projects, funding amounts, implementation results, or long-term policy outcomes.

  Source

• 2016

  Adoption of an evidence-led social innovation modelStrategy

  Background

  Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion sought a formal mechanism for generating innovations that could improve social-policy outcomes while remaining cost-effective and scalable.

  Action taken

  The ministry created AYNI Social Lab through Ministerial Resolution No. 248-2016-MIDIS and gave it a mandate covering institutional and technological innovation, behavioral insights, experimentation, and impact evaluation.

  Aftermath

  The laboratory became a formal platform for developing and testing social-policy solutions and was publicly cited by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski during his first-100-days government presentation. Detailed subsequent results are not established by the available sources.

  Source

1. 1AYNI Social Laben.wikipedia.org
2. 2AYNI Lab Social — Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion of Peruevidencia.midis.gob.pe