MANILA, PHILIPPINES — On its fourth anniversary this November 22, Limitless Lab, a homegrown social innovation company is pushing boundaries to innovate the Philippine public sector.
Founded by Joie Cruz, a millennial in government turned innovation coach and social entrepreneur, Limitless Lab has trained thousands of government employees and civil society leaders on innovation methodologies such as design thinking.
“I started Limitless Lab to merge my passion for design, technology, and public service. Limitless Lab envisions to empower and equip changemakers, including public servants and development workers, to amplify their impact by creating human-centered social innovations. Today, we are grateful to see our list of partners and clients growing since our humble beginnings in 2018,” said Limitless Founder & CEO Joie Cruz.
Since 2019, Limitless Lab has co-designed various social innovations with different government agencies and civil society organizations.
Notable projects of Limitless Lab include: First, LGU vs COVID PH, an online platform where local government units can access innovations that they can replicate in their fight against Covid; Second, Bayanivation, a nationwide program on local government innovation piloted in cities like Pasig City; and third, Digital Farmers Program, a training program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Smart which helps farmers sell their produce directly on social media platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
Joie also served as the innovation coach of Butuan City for the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge of Bloomberg Philantrophies, helping them win a total of USD $1 million of seed funding for their project called Agriboost.
The company was also selected this 2022 by ASEAN Foundation and Google.org as a pioneering implementation partner for the ASEAN Digital Literacy Program which aims to combat misinformation and disinformation in the ASEAN region. To date, Limitless Lab has trained more than 5,000 Filipinos from disadvantaged communities on how to spot and fight disinformation online.
“Limitless Lab has worked on various social issues ranging from health, women entrepreneurship, environment, agriculture, but ultimately, our priority advocacy is public sector innovation – helping dedicated and progressive government employees and officials to deliver better public services. This mission and advocacy are not only grounded on my professional experience in government, but also because of how my family personally experienced the repercussions of a slow and inefficient government,” he added.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Cruz’s mother, Ma. Theresa Cruz passed away due to Covid. A public nurse, her mother only received her hazard pay weeks after her death. Instead of the expected PHP 30,000 hazard pay of her mother when she was alive, they only received PHP 7,000. Her story went viral online and pushed some lawmakers to investigate and improve the benefits of frontline workers in the Bayanihan 2 law.
Aligned with their mission of enabling public sector innovation, this upcoming 2023, Limitless Lab is set to launch two new social innovations: GreatGov and the Social Innovation Coach Certification Program.
GreatGov is a no-code digital platform that helps government employees to collect and analyze data, digitize processes, and automate workflows.
To further scale Limitless Lab’s impact, the Social Innovation Coach Certification Program, on the other hand, is set to train youth leaders and young professionals in the countryside to become drivers of change and social innovation in their own communities by connecting them with Limitless Lab’s existing clients and partners outside Metro Manila.
“As we approach 2023, our goal is to scale our impact so that we can help more changemakers in government to do more, do better, and make innovation happen, together,” Joie concluded.
