Blog

In a year marked by sudden and massive change, there is a duty amidst all the turmoil to take stock of what public governance gaps are revealed, and where we can learn lessons. At the core, this leads to three questions: What do we need to leave behind? What do we want to keep? What should we do differently? As the States of Change Learning Festival wrapped up, we wanted to try to capture the...

If there’s one thing that I can promise about the year 2020 – and given the past few months of unpredictability, it will probably be only one thing – it is that there is going to be a LOT said about this year. We’ve all experienced a big shock that has upturned our lives and there’s certainly a lot to talk about.  A big part of these conversations will be to do with governments, their role, what they did well, what they might have…

This is our ninth update about innovative responses (including public sector innovation, digital government or open government) being undertaken around the world. Thank you again to all who have contributed in answer to our call and to our partners (including the Centre for Public Impact and GovInsider) for helping us to collect innovative practices. We hope that teams around the world can learn from each other and take inspiration from the…

Global Trends 2020: Innovative Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

The world is facing major societal challenges such as climate change, health and digital transformation. Rapid advances in technology are unleashing innovation in many sectors that could help resolve these challenges. This calls for more proactive and cross-sectorial public policy development. The Swedish Government has appointed the Committee for Technological Innovation and Ethics (Komet) to address…

Future-oriented change in an environment of radical democracy Over the past few months, we have been reminded that despite scenario planning and strategic foresight, it’s easy to be caught off guard off guard and unprepared in the face of crises and changing circumstances. Today’s policy context is one of complexity and uncertainty: an environment that requires more adaptive, anticipatory and systemic policy and governance approaches. This is…

Editor’s note: This guest blog, authored by James Fisk of the New Zealand Government’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, is a case study in the creation of Rules as Code. James is part of the GovTech Talent Digital Graduate Programme, which is a 24-month programme where graduates rotate across three different government agencies. Rules as Code is a topic that OPSI is currently exploring through its draft Innovation Primer. Cracking the Code: Rulemaking for...

The Observatory of Public Sector Innovation team has been focused on a set of questions emerging from the Covid-19 crisis this year: how are governments around the world responding? What can we learn from responses and ideas? We would now like to turn attention to another question: what ideas are emerging? The government and civic communities quickly realized that this current shock to our systems would create a moment to rethink assumptions and – possibly...

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…

This is our eighth update about innovative responses (including public sector innovation, digital government or open government) being undertaken around the world. Thank you again to all who have contributed in answer to our call and to our partners (including the Centre for Public Impact and GovInsider) for helping us to collect innovative practices. We hope that teams around the world can learn from each other and take inspiration from the…