Congratulations on producing a working calculator and web tool! But your work is not over. It is now time to let the world see it, improve it and use it. The first step is by releasing it as a prototype version with a call for evidence, so that experts and stakeholders can comment on it. We would recommend that you do this as soon as possible – the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to make changes.
It is worth reiterating that by publishing your full model, you increase the chance of its success. Here are a few reasons why:
- There may be ideas you haven’t thought of yet. By letting your target audience make comments before it is completed, they can make suggestions that can improve the tool and also make it more likely that it will be used in the future.
- Every model, no matter how careful its creators are, will have bugs in it. You are more likely to find them if you open up the model and allow others to look inside. You shouldn’t be scared of this – it is better to find them and correct them rather than to leave them in there. The risk of finding a mistake is much lower if you find it now before you have based any policy on the model’s results.
- People will trust the results of the model more if they understand how it works and know what data it is based on. This is true whether they are policy professionals, politicians, journalists or members of the public.
You may want to consider publishing some example pathways at the same time as the actual model. Although one of the benefits of the calculator is that there is no “right” answer, supplying your users with some options is a good way to get them thinking about the model’s implications. For example, you could have a “maximum supply effort, no demand effort” and the converse “no supply effort, maximum demand effort” pathways, and also some that meet your national targets. You do not have to label them as officially approved pathways if that would be politically difficult, and can instead stress that they are just examples. You could even get some of your key stakeholder groups to design their favourite pathways for the future. By doing this, you will give your stakeholders a concrete way to engage with the calculator project, and you will show that the tool is useful for a variety of audiences,
It can be extremely powerful to publish the key messages you have learned from the calculator. As the team that developed the model, you will have spent a lot of time exploring the impact of various levers and combinations of levers, as well as the possible overall trajectories for supply, demand and emissions. These messages are particularly useful for those policy makers who have limited time to use the calculator themselves, as they can benefit from your experience when developing policy. You could answer questions such as:
- How much could fossil fuels cost the country in 2050?
- How much demand for electricity could there be in 2050?
- Can you decarbonise the electricity grid?
- How much can you achieve with energy efficiency alone?
- What are the limitations of bioenergy?
The tactics you use for launching your calculator’s call for evidence will vary depending on your country or region’s own circumstances. You may want to have a very “soft launch”, publishing the model with little fanfare and inviting particular experts or organisations to comment on it. In this case, you can hold a public launch for the second, improved version of the calculator instead. Or you may want to launch your initial version very publically to get the largest number of people using and commenting on the calculator in the shortest time frame. Think about what is most appropriate for you.
If you want a public launch, you could hold a press conference or more informal launch event that the press is invited to. The presence of senior officials like ministers sends a message that this is an important tool and that it has the support of the government. If you decide to hold a press conference, it is important to think about the implications of the model that you would like them to cover – journalists are more likely to be interested in what you have found out by using the tool than in the fact that the tool exists.
It is important to make it easy for people to give you feedback. For example, you could have a link on the web tool to your call for evidence page or an email address so that any visitors to the page can respond easily.
[Add more tips for launching your initial version based on experience of teams. Add case study, potentially of Taiwan Calculator]
When you receive responses to your call for evidence, it is of course imperative that you read the comments and make changes as appropriate. It is likely that others will have found mistakes or will think of new ideas that will improve the calculator and make it more relevant for your target audience. Set aside time for this process. You may want to use this opportunity to expand the calculator significantly, perhaps by adding new sectors like land use or air quality, which will require further engagement with experts and stakeholders to get right.
You can then re-launch your new, improved version of the calculator. It is up to you to decide how big your re-launch should be - if your first launch was low-key, then you could consider this as the main launch and try to get press coverage. Or perhaps your changes have been relatively minor, in which case you can quietly update the version available online.