Hearing on the Draft „Federal Real-World Labs Testing Act"

May 25, 2026 – On May 20, 2026, members of parliament and experts held a hearing of the Committee on Digital Affairs and State Modernization on the draft bill on “Improving the Framework Conditions for Testing Innovations in Real-World Labs and Promoting Regulatory Learning” (formerly the “Real-World Labs Act”). Oliver Parodi from the Karlsruhe Transformation Center for Sustainability and Cultural Change (KAT) was also heard; he was invited to Berlin as an expert.

Among other things, this is intended to make approval processes more innovation-friendly, and a structured knowledge transfer is intended to ensure that practical insights are quickly incorporated into future legislation and that forward-looking solutions find their way to market. To this end, authorities should initially be able to deviate from rigid federal administrative regulations for a limited period through the formulation of experimental clauses.

Parodi: Addressing change beyond “innovation”

In his statement, Oliver Parodi generally welcomes the institution of a Federal Testing Act and calls, among other things, for an expansion of the concept of innovation. He argues that the draft bill has so far been too narrowly focused on market-based and technological-economic innovations. It is therefore important, he says, to specifically address and promote social, political, and systemic innovations as well, because it is precisely in these divisions that fundamentally new approaches are needed to achieve sustainability.

And what’s more: “Real-world labs, experimental clauses, testing grounds, and regulatory learning can meaningfully support not only innovation but also other socially necessary processes of change, such as transformation and exnovation. However, these are not addressed in the current draft bill,” says the transformation researcher. “As a result, the draft bill not only overlooks essential and urgent areas of action — or areas of transformation — but also fails to address important societal actors, such as large segments of civil society” (excerpt from the written statement, O. Parodi; p. 3).

Furthermore, Parodi advocates for adapting and expanding the understanding of “real-world labs” and, consequently, the term “real-world lab” itself in the draft bill. To sharpen the definition, he proposes establishing a stronger connection to the understanding of real-world labs that is established and widely used in academia, as well as expanding it to include aspects of the scientifically transdisciplinary understanding. Only in this way would the many existing highly innovative and transformative real-world labs, which have been contributing to future viability for over ten years, be addressed and included. Alternatively, it would also be conceivable to avoid referring to reality labs in general terms in the law, but rather to use the more precise terms “regulatory real-world labs” or “innovation labs.”

Strengthening sustainability aspects and using them as a guide

Last but not least, Parodi advocates for anchoring the topic of “sustainability” more firmly in the draft bill: “Apart from the obligatory mention of the draft law’s references to the SDGs in Section A.VI.2, the term does not appear in the draft law. And even with regard to the SDG references, the draft remains superficial” (Excerpt from the written statement, O. Parodi; p. 7). Key sustainability elements of the SDGs are not further addressed in the draft, but could provide strong guidance for the law, according to the expert from Karlsruhe.

Overall, Parodi argues: Instead of speaking narrowly of “strengthening innovation and the economy,” one should rather speak of “future viability” — in the sense of an expanded understanding of innovation and sustainable development. Consequently, the title of the law should be changed to: “Law on Strengthening Germany’s Future Viability through Experimental Freedom.” According to Parodi, this would be an appropriate focus for a federal experimental law.

To the statement