Cutting rules and regulations is often reasonable, but a lighter rulebook is not the same as a lighter experience. An administrative procedure becomes burdensome less because of the rules it holds than because of how people experience it — and real simplification happens in the encounter between citizens and administration, not only in the complexity that has been removed.
SPARC works on this from three sides. As researchers, we study how public policy is experienced; as advisors, we help administrations act on what that research shows; and as facilitators, we bring the two together through collaboration.
We fundamentally believe that simplification rarely needs a sweeping overhaul. More often it needs a spark — the small, well-placed change that lets a heavy system move.That is the idea behind SPARC: Simplifying Public Administration through Research and Collaboration.
Operating internationally, SPARC provides targeted policy analysis, evaluation and recommendations for the improvement of public policies and services.
Our academic work strives towards the highest standards at the intersection of policy design and implementation, fostering dialogue between institutions, academia and civil society.
We promote administrative simplification, organisational improvement and the reform of public policies and services through evidence-based approaches.
SPARC is built on four core principles:
We rely on scientific methods and academic standards, so that reform rests on what the evidence shows rather than on what seems obvious.
We create structured spaces for dialogue between academia, public authorities and professionals.
We judge a procedure by how it is actually encountered — its clarity, fairness and purpose — not only by how many rules it contains.
Our conclusions answer to the evidence alone. An Academic Council and our Scientific and Ethics Charters keep that independence enforceable, not just stated.
SPARC exists to turn research into simpler, fairer public services — and that work happens with partners.
Public administrations, research institutions, foundations and organisations come to us to take on a question together: to run a project, evaluate a service, build a partnership, or convene the right people around a problem.
If you have a project in mind — or a problem you suspect we’d find interesting — we’d like to hear from you.
Membership is open to individuals, public bodies, academic institutions and organisations sharing our objectives and values.
SPARC is financed through membership fees, project funding, partnerships and donations.
Donors and institutional partners support:
We are committed to transparency, accountability and independence in all our funding arrangements.
