Designing for belonging.

Surfacing the real barriers — and the real opportunities— for change.

Economic Immigration Lab

Context
New Brunswick faces significant demographic and economic challenges, with immigration playing a critical role in the province’s future prosperity. To attract and retain newcomers more effectively, the province needed fresh approaches that reflected the lived experiences of immigrants and the realities of employers, service providers, and communities. In this context, NouLAB launched the Economic Immigration Lab, a cross-sector initiative designed to explore new pathways for immigrant attraction and retention.

Our Role
Colab partnered with NouLAB to design, facilitate, and evaluate the Lab during its first year. Bringing together over 50 participants from government, settlement agencies, employers, academia, and newcomer communities, we supported the co-creation of solutions grounded in diverse perspectives. Our dual role included developmental evaluation—helping the lab team rapidly learn, adapt, and improve the process in real time—and coaching to strengthen lab leadership capacity. We also contributed to the design and facilitation of sessions that enabled systems mapping, creative problem-solving, and cross-sector collaboration.

Outcome
The Economic Immigration Lab laid the groundwork for innovative, community-informed approaches to immigrant attraction and retention in New Brunswick. By centring lived experience and fostering cross-sector partnerships, the lab generated insights and prototypes that continue to inform policy and practice. The process not only strengthened collaboration across the immigration system but also demonstrated the power of innovation labs to catalyze long-term systems change.