Today we’re releasing an innovation scan of the Latvian national public sector, undertaken in conjunction with the Latvian State Chancellery and with the support of the European Union’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support. We are releasing both a report and a highlights document. We’re very excited to share this work, both because it is about recognising and celebrating the efforts that have already occurred in Latvia, and because it is a demonstration of the...
Last week, the OPSI hosted a Rules as Code meet-up for government and inter-governmental organisation (IGO) officials. The meet-up was the first of several that the OPSI intends to host in support of a growing movement in public administration inspired by the promise of Rules as Code (RaC). We at OPSI believe in the promise of RaC as an emergent approach, something we explored in our RaC primer. We think that this is something which...
On 15 October 1987, renowned British meteorologist Michael Fish presented his usual television weather forecast, jovially remarking: “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t!” He proceeded to give his analysis, which acknowledged the possibility of high winds but gave no major cause for alarm. That night, an extratropical cyclone with gusts exceeding…
Editor’s note: This guest blog was written by Katju Holkeri, Head of Unit for Governance Policy in The Public Governance Department in the Finnish Ministry of Finance. This post was written following a February 2021 collaboration session between three OECD teams to join up intersecting work on trust, civic space, and anticipatory innovation governance in Finland. Anticipating the trust of citizens is not easy. What is possible for us in Finland however is to strengthen...
Are you interested in meeting with others from around the world interested in the issues of public sector innovation and government transformation? We’re looking to test a virtual meet-up event format with interested practitioners from the community interested in our work at OPSI on 25 February. Engaging in new ways Crises are big opportunities to experiment and give different things a try, safe in the knowledge that the standard options are not good enough. And 2020…
Christian Bason, Ph.D., is the CEO of the Danish Design Centre Editor’s note: The OPSI has partnered with the Danish Design Centre to further explore the application of tools and methods to public sector challenges. This article explores the varied spectrum of design disciplines and practices and provides guidance on how to choose the best design method, drawing from the diversity of design toolkits in the OPSI Toolkit Navigator. It also signals what is next...
Missions offer a formalised path to creating public value but urgently need more experimental and iterative approaches to make missions a reality in the messy world of public policy. Mission-oriented innovation needs not only an ambitious clarity of purpose but also the alignment of system-level operational and governance mechanisms. OPSI is remixing some of its systems tools to help with that and have redesigned a…
Asking people to do things or think differently is not always welcome. In the public sector, new things are often (or can seem to be) in competition with existing work or priorities. This is one reason why we at OPSI strongly support public sector innovation networks (and communities or practice / forums / etc.). They can be valuable means to connect with like-minded others who you can learn from, share with and sometimes just vent to...
After Government After Shock we invited event hosts to share with us recordings of their events, any write-ups of their event or some after-the-event reflections on their event and what they learnt. This blog post provides an easy reference point to help interested people navigate between these. You can also find these materials on the relevant event listing on the Government After Shock site. Event recordings We have created a YouTube playlist where you can find a...
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...