In many countries, innovation became a buzz word following the emergence of New Public Management approaches, periods of austerity and a focus on cost savings as a way to control government spending. In Latvia – as in many other OECD countries – innovation is often associated with the ability of government to “do more with less”. But innovation can achieve much more than this. Innovation, working in new and novel ways to improve impact, can...
Author: Heather Buisman
Romania’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) boasts of ambitious goals, including digitalisation of the public administration, adding 90,000 jobs to the economy, investing in modern hospital infrastructure, developing zero-emissions railway infrastructure, making public transport safer and greener, strengthening policy co-ordination and improving human resources capacity in the civil service. This comes at a time when Romania is struggling to improve healthcare outcomes, combat some of the…
When working with stakeholders around the world, we often ask them: If you could wave your magic wand, what would you change about your country’s public sector to make it more innovative? While the responses vary, one aspect remains unwavering, regardless of the country of study: that individual public servants are strongly motivated to innovate and push for change, even though the systems they work in are sometimes fighting against this. We need to better...
Virtual Conference – Government Beyond Recovery: Towards a future-fit public sector: 18-19 October 2021 As we hurry to buy plane tickets to the next tropical destination or catch the latest James Bond movie in theatres, the sudden and dramatic restrictions we all experienced in early 2020 can feel like a distant memory. In the early days of COVID-19, many of us reflected critically on the things that mattered most in our lives and work; committing...
Much of what the public sector seeks to do through innovation aims at making life simpler for citizens: adapting to evolving needs while also improving agility in the design and delivery of programs and services. Over the course of the past year in particular, governments have been relying heavily on adaptive innovation and agile approaches to respond to the rapidly changing needs of society. On 8 June 2021, OPSI, with the support of the EU...
On March 11-12, 2021, more than 450 futures, foresight and innovation experts from 72 countries around the world gathered digitally to discuss the latest on anticipatory innovation governance. Over three sessions, the emerging Anticipatory Innovation Governance (AIG) model was explored, together with the future of the public sector, and tools and methods for anticipation. The series of sessions were co-hosted with the Government of Finland and supported by the European Commission’s Horizon…
Over the past four months the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) has worked together with the Government of Denmark to conduct this Public Sector Innovation Scan. Learning from public sector innovation: the role of scans Public sector innovation systems are dynamic and constantly evolving: there is no perfect end point. Regardless of how developed or successful an innovation system is, there is always need for critical reflection on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for...
New Year’s resolutions are so frequently unfulfilled that it has become a cliché to cynically write them off as futile. We create them in the hopes of creating innovation in our lives, but often they fall short of the novel, implemented, impactful action that innovation implies. Why does this happen? Many would argue it’s to do with the resolutions themselves—their scope, ambition, execution, and definition. A quick internet search will find you countless advice articles...
A reflection on a year of crisis and a deliberate start to 2021 While many of us are ready to dive into 2021 and never look back, we can’t race towards “normal”. We are facing a critical juncture where governments must choose to deliberately build on the learnings of this year to be better prepared for the complex future ahead. The Government After Shock event held in November focused on this challenge: reflecting on the...
Convening intentional conversations on crisis implications The crisis of this year has required governments at all levels around the world to respond and adapt. The COVID-19 crisis is unique in the sense that, while many individuals, communities and countries have suffered disproportionate impacts, there has also been a global, collective impact that has spared no one. There has been a terrible shock, one whose aftereffects will continue to be felt for some time. It is...