Tools

The Growth Lab translates research and insights into online web applications and interactive storytelling, all made publicly available and used by a global community of policymakers, scholars, investors, and journalists.

Our tools are produced by the Growth Lab's Digital Development & Design Team, an interdisciplinary group that connects economic and policy research with best practices from information design, software development, data science, product management, and digital humanities. These tools allow us to engage with a wider audience and ensure our research efforts can make a difference in people's lives, company productivity, and government policy efforts.

More About Our Tools

Our flagship tool, the Atlas of Economic Complexity, allows users to explore global trade flows across markets, track these dynamics over time and discover new growth opportunities for every country. Since its launch in 2013, the Atlas has reached more than 1.5 million people and has active users in almost every country worldwide. Released in 2021, Metroverse takes our research to the city level, providing insights into economic composition, specialization, position in the industry space, and growth opportunities for 1,000+ cities. In addition, we've developed sub-national Atlases, country dashboards, interactive stories, open-source software packages, and working prototypes, all of which can be found on the Viz Hub

Our digital tools have been featured in various media outlets including the New York TimesWall Street JournalWashington PostBloombergFinancial Times, and the Harvard Gazette. In 2022 Metroverse won the Silver Award in the Business Analytics category of the Information is Beautiful Awards. In 2019 we were the 2nd runner up for the Digital Humanities Best Data Visualization Award. 

Viz Hub

The Viz Hub is a portfolio of visualization tools, interactive stories, and supporting software packages, powered by the Growth Lab's research.

Atlas Projects

Atlas of Economic Complexity

Atlas of Economic Complexity

Build custom data visualizations for any country to reveal 50+ years of global trade flows across 6000+ goods and services, along with new opportunities to drive growth.

Metroverse

Metroverse

Urban economy navigator illustrates the technological capabilities for more than 1,000 cities worldwide and the opportunities for future growth and diversification.  

Country Dashboards

Namibia Industry Targeting Dashboard

Namibia Industry Targeting Dashboard

Custom-made industry targeting tool allows users to explore the viability and benefit of any product or industry in comparison with Namibia’s current productive capabilities and comparative advantages.

Jordan's Complexity Profile

Jordan's Complexity Profile

Displays the results of  the complexity analysis developed to provide a roadmap to identify the economic activities with the highest potential to diversify Jordan’s export basket and drive growth, while supporting higher wages.

Visual Stories

A collage of graphs

Top Visual Insights of 2023

Our multi-disciplinary team extended our pioneering research agenda to five continents in 2023. Our researchers engaged the world in leveraging decarbonization as a pathway for growth, identifying the barriers to migration and mobility of skills, examining inequality in cities and the effects of remoteness on growth, and understanding the role of innovation in economic complexity.

Animated image displaying different visualizations from the supporting story

Harboring Opportunity: The Industrial Ecosystems of Port Cities

While we often think about ports as gateways for transporting goods and materials across cities, countries, and continents, it is also relevant to ask: how do ports play a role in shaping their local economies? In this visual story, we explore how port cities can capitalize on their productive strengths to develop other industries.

Impact: The Growth Lab builds tools that make our insights accessible and actionable

215+

Countries with active users

2.1
million

New users since 2013

10.6
million

Page views in 2023

30

Tools & software packages shared online

Our Tools in the World

  • kosovo data
  • IDB Invest
  • mckinsey global institute
  • ICRC
  • the world bank.
  • parliament
  • city of dallas.
  • economie et innovation de quebec.
  • consider canada
  • wyoming
  • international monetary fund.
  • london school of economics and political science.
  • gapminder

Awards & Press

  • NPR.
  • washington post.
  • kantar
  • financial times.
  • reuters
  • bloomberg business.
  • best DH data visualization.

Data-driven decision-making results in better policy determinations. Metroverse enables users to not only pull important economic development data for their region but see it in the context of other influencing factors, thus deepening one’s understanding of how to ensure and sustain economic growth."

– Barbara Leslie,  President & CEO of Oakland Metro Chamber of Commerce

The Team

Get to know the Growth Lab's Digital Development and Design team. 

Meet our Team

Support Our Mission

Our digital tools are made possible through the support of organizations that align with our mission to advance inclusive growth and prosperity. To learn more about how you can support the Growth Lab, email Andrea Carranza or call (617) 384-5734.