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OPSI seeks cases and examples of innovation management

Written by , and | 11 June 2020

Do you know about real-world cases and examples of innovation management? OPSI would like to hear from you.

We are starting work with Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency to explore what good innovation management looks like in practice. We will take a systematic approach to understanding the role, nature, barriers, and enablers of innovation in an organisation. This means considering innovation activities within a wider context of (e.g., leadership, culture, processes, capabilities) rather than as one-off events or products and services. Drawing from OPSI’s innovation facets model as well as ongoing programmatic pilot work in innovation management support by Vinnova, we will look for programmatic and governance structures that enable a coherent, strategic, flexible, and holistic approach to innovation in the public sector.

Innovation management reflects an increasing maturity of the understanding of innovation in organisational contexts as well as a recognition of the limits of ad hoc approaches. In fact, there is even an ISO standard for innovation management. While there is growing body of literature on innovation management as a field and practice of its own, this research will consider fields that both complement and serve as theoretical foundations for innovation management:

  • Innovation management
  • Enterprise design
  • Management theory
  • Systems theory
  • Innovation evaluation and impact assessment
  • Skills and competencies for innovation
  • Transformation and change management
  • Barriers to innovation
  • Collaborative governance
  • Others to be identified throughout literature review

To complement our theoretical foundations based on our literature review, we are also seeking cases and examples, from the public sector or elsewhere, of innovation management in practice. This work will continue throughout 2020 and we will keep you informed about what we learn. As we begin this work, which bodies of knowledge and examples should we be sure to include? If you know of potentially relevant examples to contribute to our research, please reach out: opsi@oecd.org