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GDC 2026 Co-Creation Labs

Co-Creation Labs

Fourteen projects built on work GDN has supported, each of which has hit something specific that stops it reaching more people. On the afternoon of 15 December, each host gets a table of the people best placed to help design a way past it. Choose the project you want to work on, and the role you would play.

WhenAfternoon of Tuesday 15 December 2026
WhereAsian Development Bank Institute and World Bank Group Tokyo Development Learning Center, seven tables each
At each tableAround eight people, including the host, Solution Partners, a Scaler, Peer Innovators and a facilitator
LanguageThe Labs run in English
What comes outA two-page scale-up concept per table, gathered into the Tokyo Portfolio

Which role is yours

Every host is already confirmed. The other seats are open, and the request form asks you to pick one of these roles.

Solution Partner

Engineers, data and AI specialists, designers, researchers, policy and regulatory experts, from companies, universities, agencies and NGOs.

You don't need to write code. Knowing how a regulation, a data system or a service works in practice counts too.

At the table
You say what could be built, what it would really take, and when something is not feasible.
For example
A payments specialist at the migrant health fund table in Thailand, or a mapping specialist at the shared natural resources table in Benin and Mali.
What you get
An early place in a project with a record behind it, your name on the concept if you wish, and a route into a possible pilot in 2027.
Not expected
No selling, no product presentations, no prices.

Scaler

Development banks, bilateral agencies, foundations and impact investors.

At the table
You read the emerging design against real financing criteria and say what would make it fundable and what would rule it out.
For example
A health programme officer from a development bank at the digital ID and health table in Sierra Leone, or a foundation that funds education at the adaptive classrooms table in Bangladesh.
What you get
A pipeline of projects built on work GDN has supported, shaped against your criteria before they reach you, instead of proposals that arrive cold.
Not expected
You commit no funds. Anything you offer is written down and read back to you, so it is recorded as you meant it.

Peer Innovator

Practitioners and researchers who have run something comparable, in any country or sector.

GDN grantees are welcome, and you don't need to be linked to GDN.

At the table
You bring what you learned, including what failed, so the table does not repeat it.
For example
A team that took a learning platform from a few schools to dozens, at the adaptive classrooms table in Bangladesh, or an NGO that enrolled informal workers into a savings or insurance scheme by mobile phone, at the migrant health fund table.
What you get
Your name on the concept if you wish, ideas for your own work, and contacts with partners and funders in the room.
Not expected
The afternoon is about the host's project, so you don't pitch your own.

Not sure which fits? If you have run something similar and can say how it went, choose Peer Innovator. If you or your organisation could build, supply or open up part of the answer, such as a tool, data, engineering time or a route through regulation, choose Solution Partner. If your work is deciding what gets funded, choose Scaler. Your own work doesn't need to be in the table's sector, since tools and methods often carry across.

How a Lab works

One project, one obstacle, one afternoon. The facilitator runs each step and keeps the record. No slides, no panels.

  1. 1

    Understand the project

    Each project's brief and a short video from its host are online before the conference, so you can arrive knowing the project. On the day, a short pitch on the project, its one obstacle and what has been tried, then questions to understand it.

    The tableAsk questions about what already exists. Your ideas come in step 3.
    The hostPitch, and answer honestly, including what failed.
  2. 2

    Agree the problem

    The table agrees the one problem it will work on for the rest of the afternoon.

    The tableEach person writes one sentence, "The thing stopping this project from scaling is…", then reads it out.
    The hostChoose the closest sentence and adjust it.
  3. 3

    Design a way past it

    Ideas first, in silence. Then open discussion on what gets built, the data it needs and the smallest version that could run next year.

    The tableWrite up to two ideas, then build on the host's choice.
    The hostPick the ideas worth building.
  4. 4

    Make it real

    A partnership behind the design, a test of how it could fail, and one first step with a name and a date.

    The tableSay what your organisation could offer and would need. Name one way it could fail.
    The hostAccept or decline a partner. Agree the first step.
  5. 5

    Check it and share it

    The concept is read aloud, checked and shared with the whole room.

    The tableCorrect anything wrong. Confirm what you said your organisation could do.
    The hostSay yes, yes with a correction, or no. Then 90 seconds to the room.

What a Lab can work on

A technologyA data systemAn AI toolA partnershipA new way of delivering

Outside an afternoon's reach

Political will, or a project that needs only money. The table designs what it can around them, and the concept says what stays outside.

After Tokyo

  1. The typed two-page concept comes back to the table to check
  2. Corrections are made
  3. The Tokyo Portfolio goes to partners and funders
  4. The strongest concepts become candidate pilots in 2027

Nothing is committed in the room. No money is allocated and no contract is signed. Anything you offer is recorded and read back to you, as an offer and not an agreement. The project stays with its host, and anything built later belongs to whoever builds it.

Download "How a Lab works"

The fourteen projects

Filter by what you know. You can start from a theme, a region or your own area of expertise.

Download all fourteen projects

Track A
Scale and Optimise

How a working solution can reach far more people.

Track B
Innovation Pivot

What new layer, digital or institutional, would change how the work is done.

Track C
AI Frontier

Whether machine learning can clear a specific bottleneck.

At a glance

ProjectCountryRegionTrack
Inclusive Digital Transformation and Sustainable Economies Venue · Asian Development Bank Institute
Mechanical water kioskPhilippinesEast Asia and PacificTrack A
Solar cold chain to reduce food lossGhanaSub-Saharan AfricaTrack A
Digital twin for city wasteMalaysiaEast Asia and PacificTrack B
Digital tools for peace and shared natural resourcesBenin and MaliSub-Saharan AfricaTrack B
Radio classrooms with AI feedbackPakistanMiddle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and PakistanTrack B
Machine-readable corporate disclosureBangladeshSouth AsiaTrack C
AI-assisted teaching for adaptive classroomsBangladeshSouth AsiaTrack C
Health Innovation, Governance and Resilient Societies Venue · World Bank Group Tokyo Development Learning Center
Health fund for migrantsThailandEast Asia and PacificTrack A
Child-led pathways to financial resilienceIndiaSouth AsiaTrack A
Compostable banana-fibre padsRwandaSub-Saharan AfricaTrack B
Scaling a family poverty reduction modelBrazilLatin America and the CaribbeanTrack B
Research systems ready for digital transformationEl SalvadorLatin America and the CaribbeanTrack B
Scaling locally owned AI evidence platformsSierra LeoneSub-Saharan AfricaTrack C
Civic Data Commons for care economy dataSri LankaSouth AsiaTrack C

How to join

  1. Send a request to attend the conference.
  2. In the Co-Creation Labs section, choose the project you want to work on, a second choice, and your role.
  3. We review all requests and allocate seats so that every table has the mix it needs. We don't seat two people from the same organisation at the same table.
  4. If your place is confirmed, you complete your registration and we confirm your table before the conference.
Request to attend
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