What is Innovation Day?

Workforce outcomes don't come from employment and training programs alone. They're shaped by a wider ecosystem — education, childcare, transportation, housing, economic development, employer engagement, and public policy. But these areas are usually studied, funded, and implemented in isolation from one another.

Innovation Day 2026 is built around shaping the future of work, with a specific structure:

1. Before the event, policymakers and practitioners apply with a real, pressing workforce development problem from their district, agency, or organization- an implementation barrier they're currently stuck on, a policy question they can't answer with existing data, or a challenge that current single-domain approaches haven't solved.
2. Applications are reviewed, and the questions/issues provided by policymakers and practitioners selected for participation in the Innovation Day are posted for researchers to apply to, with the specific questions/issues in mind. Then, policymakers and practitioners will be matched with researchers whose work specializes in the relevant domains and who are also working on the questions/issues raised by the policymakers/practitioners. These researchers could be labor economists, but could just as easily be someone working in housing policy, family and child policy, or public finance, depending on what the problem/issue actually requires.
3. Once the matches are made, we will convene 1-2 pre-Innovation Day virtual meetings to help matched groups get to know each other's work, discuss solutions, network, and learn about other matched groups to identify synergies within the larger group of attendees.
4. On the day itself, matched groups work together in person to turn the problem into a proposed policy solution that is both evidence-informed and realistic to implement- not a research agenda for its own sake, but something a practitioner could plausibly act on. Participants will then receive feedback from funders and other Innovation Day attendees.

By intentionally bringing together experts from across these interconnected fields, participants collaborate to develop policy solutions that are both evidence-based and practical in the real world.

 

Why it Matters

Innovation Day is designed to:

• Foster interdisciplinary collaboration among workforce development researchers, practitioners, and policymakers;
• Generate innovative policy and research proposals that address workforce development challenges holistically;
• Create meaningful relationships across sectors that continue beyond Innovation Day, fostering collaboration for future research and policymaking efforts;
• Encourage researchers to broaden their perspectives and incorporate adjacent policy areas into future research and policy development.

 

What Happens at Innovation Day?

For policymakers and practitioners, Innovation Day is a chance to expand your network of researchers who understand the on-the-ground realities of workforce development. People you can turn to as new questions and challenges arise, well beyond the day itself. We'll talk about practical ways to make connections, build collaborative teams, and seek out internal and external support for your ideas.

Through a combination of table activities, panels, and collaborative work, practitioners and policymakers will learn from researchers and each other, using the policy questions/issues that were initially presented as a basis for innovative solutions and unique approaches.

 

Who Should Apply?

Capacity is limited to 24 participants.

We're looking for:

Category	Examples
Practitioners	Federal, state, and local labor or human services agencies; economic development organizations; workforce boards; nonprofits; chambers of commerce; employer partnerships
Policymakers	Congressional staff; state legislative staff; gubernatorial staff; mayoral offices; county and municipal officials; agency leadership
Researchers	Workforce development, education policy, family and child policy, housing policy, transportation policy, economic development, public finance, labor economics

 

Policymakers and practitioners apply first with a real problem in hand. Researchers are matched to those problems afterward, based on fit.

What you receive if selected

• Travel funding to Boston
• Two nights of hotel accommodation
• Meals during the event

Note: This does not cover registration or lodging for the APPAM Fall Research Conference itself. Selection for participation in the Innovation Day is NOT a guarantee that any projects or research ideas will be funded.   

 

Deadline to apply as Policymakers and Practitioners: August 7, 2026

 

Researchers' Application opens mid-August

 

Selection decisions will be delivered early fall.