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Toward a new approach to innovation skills and applied capabilities

Written by and | 25 February 2025

This blog post is part of a series on public sector innovation skills and applied capabilities, focusing on the conceptualisation of public sector innovation skills and applied capabilities, the practical pathways for development within the constraints of public administrations, and the connection between innovation skills and meaningful public sector transformation and impact on strategic goals and policy priorities.

Public sector innovation is evolving rapidly, demanding a renewed approach to building skills and capabilities. The OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) and an international working group are updating the OECD innovation competency framework. Our research reveals a major gap in overall innovation skills. Only a few public servants have innovation skills, yet those who do drive change in government. Meaningful change requires not just training but system-wide capabilities and leadership support. Our incoming OECD work will explore key competencies, practical development pathways, and alignment with strategic goals. We invite public sector professionals to share insights, ensuring this effort drives practical impact.

A renewed focus in a rapidly changing public sector landscape

The landscape of public sector innovation is evolving rapidly, driven by the acceleration of digital transformation and the emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence. Building on past work, including the OECD’s Core Skills for Public Sector Innovation (2017), OPSI and an international Working Group on Skills and Applied Capabilities for Public Sector Innovation are aiming to update and broaden the framework of innovation competencies within government administrations. This updated perspective goes beyond practitioner-level skills like data literacy to address the critical role of middle management and leadership in fostering an environment where innovation can thrive. Importantly, we are not only focusing on competencies and skills but how these are built, developed, and sustained. Finally, we will start to analyse the links between these skills and the ability of the public administration to transform in order to achieve their missions and goals.

OECD evidence from countries underscores an innovation competence gap

Our recent work examining the innovative capacity of the governments of Latvia, Bulgaria and Armenia, revealed a generalised lack of innovation skills across administrations. Within these governments, only small groups report having applied innovation skills. Yet, those who do are significantly more likely to engage in innovative projects than their counterparts. This finding highlights that innovation capabilities are not just beneficial but essential for public sector transformation. 

Insights from Bulgaria econometric analysis. Source: OECD, 2024.

For example, Bulgarian public servants report low levels of adoption of applied innovation skills. Only 20% have proficiency with prototyping, innovative procurement, and technology design, while around 28% report having skills in piloting and social research, and 33% have competencies in systems analysis and user-centred design. An econometric analysis found that public servants with applied innovation skills are 32% more likely to carry out an innovation project in government.

Perceived and applied innovation skills and competencies in Bulgaria. Note: N= 2,479 to 3,633. Respondents: Public Servants (L3). Figure presents the share of respondents who asses their skills to be “High” or “Very high”. The respondents are asked to answer the question: Overall, how would you assess your own skills in the follow areas? Skills related to applying innovation: Please rank statements from 1 “Very low” to 5 “Very high”. [Rating]. Source: OECD, 2024

Beyond innovation practitioner skills

Recent years have highlighted that innovation in the public sector cannot be reduced to only practitioner skills, such as service design and prototyping, although these are important. As governments adopt new ways of working and new technologies—including in the age of generative AI—the entire skills model must evolve. A growing number of OECD countries are also integrating innovation competencies within leadership and policymakers. This reflects a shift away from rigid, rule-based bureaucracies, and toward more adaptive governance approaches.

Specifically for policymakers, the European Commission’s Policymakers Competency Framework outlines an innovation cluster which includes skills such as creative thinking, system thinking, and critical thinking. These competencies aim to equip policymakers with the ability to generate new ideas, analyse complex systems, and make informed decisions by evaluating evidence objectively.

Countries have also implemented various initiatives to build innovation skills and capabilities at both civil servants and leadership level. For instance, the UK Government organises One Big Thing, an annual capacity-building initiative for civil servants to drive action on a cross-government change priority. Engaging approximately 40% of all UK civil servants, the 2024 edition centred on innovation. In France, the Public Transformation Campus builds deep practical innovation skills in a cross-government network. In Chile, the Government Lab’s Public Innovators School have empowered 30,000 public officials and leaders with the knowledge and tools to drive innovation within their institutions through online courses.

Prior OECD work on leadership for a high performing civil service brought to the foreground the important role of public administration managers and leaders in supporting the effectiveness of government functions. We, agree. Undoubtedly, managers play a key role in supporting a culture of innovation in their organisations and enabling their teams to break from the status quo, but this too requires distinct skills for managers as well as different incentives. Anecdotally, we know of too many examples of individual civil servants attending intensive innovation training, only to return to a team in which they are unable to practice their new skills. This has led us to look beyond individual skills and more toward applied capabilities at the organisational level.

For example, Estonia’s Competency Framework for Top Civil Service highlights the role of public sector executives in encouraging innovation, particularly under the Leading the Organisation competency, which includes developing strategy, leveraging technology, and organising work in ways that encourage innovative behaviours.

Our OECD colleagues have been focusing on the specific innovation skills needed for digital government transformation. This field has advanced rapidly over the last few years and requires us to rethink how digital skills fit into the overall innovation skill model, particularly in the age of AI.

Which skills are important and how to build them?

Our research focuses on a central question: Which are the key competencies required to foster innovation in the public sector, and how do governments practically build these capabilities? In addressing this question, we explore several sub-questions:

  • How is innovation characterised as a public sector competency?
  • Which frameworks and models currently exist for categorising these competencies, and how do they compare?
  • Which competencies empower public managers and innovation practitioners to create an authorising environment for change?
  • What are different strategies and pathways governments use to build and sustain these skills?
  • What roles do formal training programmes, on-the-job learning, and schools of government play in developing innovation skills and organisational innovation capabilities? What alternatives exist?
  • What (dis)incentivises the development and application of innovation skills?
  • How are these competencies aligned with broader goals, such as sustainability and resilience?

These questions not only guide our investigation into the evolving needs of public administrations but also help clarify the logical links between individual skills, organisational capacity, and system-level outcomes.

What has changed since 2017? Tell us.

We invite you to join this important conversation. Please take a moment to indicate which competencies are relevant and which you believe need to be adapted, substituted, or removed. What do you think?

Are you making efforts in your public administration to build innovation skills? We’re keen to learn more about your case materials from national governments, including skill or competency models, evaluation of training programmes, innovation training curriculum, or policy papers on innovation skills. Email us: [email protected] or [email protected]

Your insights and feedback are crucial to ensuring that our work reflects the practical challenges and opportunities faced by public sector organisations today.

This blog is funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.