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Capacity Labs

Researching how we live.Building what helps us move forward.

Capacity Labs is an independent research and development studio in Madrid. We investigate meaningful problems, study what causes them, and develop practical ways to improve everyday life.

Current missions

How we work

Research and development, each informing the other.

Every project starts by understanding the problem. Not every project ends in software.

  1. 01

    Research

    Understand meaningful problems, examine the evidence and investigate what causes them.

    → A clear account of the problem

  2. 02

    Interventions

    Identify and evaluate practical changes that could improve outcomes: policies, institutional reforms, services and technology.

    → Guidelines and recommendations

  3. 03

    Development

    Build useful tools and services where direct implementation can help.

    → Software and services

  4. 04

    Learning

    Evaluate outcomes, refine our understanding and improve future interventions.

    → Evidence of what works

Not every project uses every stage

Research and development have distinct purposes. Research works out what is worth doing. Development builds it, where building helps. Learning connects the two and starts the next round.

Our perspective

What people can do depends on more than effort.

It depends on the resources available, the people around them, institutions, technology and the systems connecting them. Better coordination can expand what is possible. Sometimes progress also needs more resources, policy change or structural reform.

Six principles we work by
  1. 01Outcomes depend on more than effort.Resources, other people, institutions and technology all shape what is possible.
  2. 02Understand before solving.Knowing why a problem exists matters as much as the solution we propose.
  3. 03Research should lead somewhere.We study problems to inform decisions and action, not only to describe them.
  4. 04Software is one option, not the default.Sometimes the right intervention is a policy, a service or a better way to coordinate.
  5. 05Guidance should be practical, and revisable.Grounded in evidence, honest about trade-offs, open to being wrong.
  6. 06Progress over activity.We would rather show what improved than how busy we were.