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This blog is part of a series introducing the OECD Mission Action Lab (MAL), an initiative supporting countries to turn mission-oriented innovation into action. Find out more about the OECD Mission Action Lab or contact us at [email protected]. The Unevenly Distributed Future Picture two mules and a wooden wagon right next to a space rocket. Now picture a world in which the richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people,...

Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. Three of the world’s tech giants, which have a larger market cap than many developed and developing nations GDP. And while opinion varies widely on the topics such powerful companies naturally bring about, one aspect is absolutely clear: these companies have learned to nurture and embrace innovation and innovative thinking. To whole-heartedly build it into its very foundations and culture. Yes, stability and education are important – I’m not taking…

Individualised cancer care, better screening, translational research and improved treatment: countries across the EU are on a mission to beat cancer. In 2019, Sweden launched Vision Zero Cancer, a national mission to combat cancer. It relies on mission-oriented innovation, a policy approach that engages stakeholders and citizens across disciplines and sectors to define the actions and strategies required to achieve this goal. The mission is financially supported by the Swedish Innovation Agency,…

Insights from OPSI’s new learning network for innovation ecosystem practitioners Join OPSI and international practitioners 13:00 CET on 21 January for a second peer exchange on Orchestrating Innovation Ecosystems.  Last year marked the launch of OPSI’s collaboration with the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) to explore how innovation ecosystems can be steered and enhanced through the application of anticipatory innovation governance approaches. Towards the end of 2021,…

2021 was yet another busy year at OPSI! As the rate and complexity of global challenges increases, so does our work. In cooperation with partners and counterparts, we complete another successful year of leveraging our expertise in global trends, public sector innovation systems, transformative technology and innovation skills, processes and methods. We held over 50 workshops, webinars and events Issued 13 reports Published 46 blogs And held hundreds meetings to drive the point home: that...

Authors: Christina Vogt and Martin Ruebens (INO – Flemish Public Sector Innovation Network), Patricia Idsinga and Frits Bussemaker (RIC – Dutch Government Innovation Community), Laurien Mues (NIDO – Belgian federal government innovation lab), Tom Van Nieuwenhove (City of Ghent) In the course of the 2021 Creative Bureacracy Festival, five community builders from four north-west European public sector innovation networks (PSIN) came together to discuss their experiences, hopes as…

Take our needs assessment survey The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Mission Action Lab, together with the Danish Design Centre, is launching an international survey on implementing missions. The survey deadline is 13.12.21 and can be accessed here. The survey is open to all interested in missions or mission-oriented innovation approach: those who have launched or are involved in a mission, those who are still thinking about it or want to know more....

This OPSI guest blog is written by Professor Leon Fuerth and Dr Sheila Ronis. Both served as co-researchers on The Project on Foresight and Democracy, funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and are currently co-directing the Project on Civic Leadership for the 21st Century at The Ohio State University. In the United States, liberal democracy is profoundly challenged by the accelerating rate of major forms of societal change, reflecting demographic transitions and technological revolutions. These…

Will in-person work be a distant memory 15 years from now? Will ministries’ offices only exist in cyberspace? Or will AI-powered bots become the norm when interviewing potential job candidates? While the answers to many questions like these are impossible to know today, one thing is certain: working in the future will be very different from what it is now. This will not only be determined by new innovative technologies, the disappearance of certain jobs...

As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, our governments are beginning to examine how to fill the gap in public finances this massive crisis has created. We are standing at a cross-road, facing difficult questions: are hard budget cuts inevitable or is it time to promote another way of doing things within government? How can we increase the value of our tax money and, at the same time, deal with government spending challenges? How can...