Global: European Commission Collaboration

Governments are constantly searching for enablers to help them to keep up with changing times, move beyond the constraints of traditional approaches, and leverage innovation to improve public policies and services. Public innovation labs belong to this stream of change. They aim to boost the ability of governments to navigate emergent threats and opportunities and provide sustained, inclusive and proactive responses to people’s needs and expectations. The last 20 years have seen a surge on...

This blog post was authored by experts from the OECD Mission Action Lab, a joint initiative of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, the OECD Directorate of Public Governance and the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate. It has been 10 years since Professor Mariana Mazzucato’s influential book “Entrepreneurial State” came out. It has inspired the European Union, states, agencies, regions, and cities around the globe to launch missions and mission-oriented…

This blog post was authored by experts from the OECD Mission Action Lab, a joint initiative of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, the OECD Directorate of Public Governance and the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate. Despite the concept’s widespread popularity, the terminology surrounding missions can come across as convoluted. This is understandable, given that the term – which denotes ambitious, time bound, cross-sectoral and measurable policy objectives to…

Years of experience of working with governments on harnessing innovation in the public sector have shown that innovation challenges are often common across governments. By the same coin, many governments have experiences of successfully overcoming a comparative challenge. They can act as beacons, shedding light and expediting innovation learnings and solutions. To bring a collaborative and transformative leap in overcoming innovation obstacles, the OECD is launching a Government-to-Government…

The Machinery Price Catalogue is an electronic tool designed by the Rural Support Service of Latvia (RSS) to make purchases of machinery and equipment for farmers more simple and convenient. The Catalogue facilitates the beneficiaries' procurement process for the purchase of machinery and equipment. For beneficiaries, there is no procurement procedure required and it is now easy to choose the appropriate machinery for the farm, evaluating its capacity and pricing. The approach also reduces time…

This is Part 1 of a bolg series on Government Communities of Practice for Innovation, in which we will explore the existing research and international examples and identify the factors and start-up practices that are likely to catalyse new ideas and embed innovation in organisations and institutions. Read Part 2: “Engage, test, refine – and repeat: Designing and piloting a community of practice in Ireland“. Government communities of practice are not new. There are countless...

We are on the lookout for game-changing, freely available toolkits that can ignite innovative thinking and drive progress in governments worldwide. As the hosts of OECD Toolkit Navigator, one of the world’s largest compendia of public sector innovation toolkits, we’re excited to collaborate with you to identify fresh, forward-thinking resources to support governments and public servants in the design and delivery of better policies and services.   Five minutes – that’s all it…

In a world where change is the only constant, the ability to anticipate and adapt to the future has become a vital survival skill for governments and public sector organisations. A reactive approach to policymaking is no longer enough. It is increasingly important to anticipate policy challenges and take action to proactively steer towards preferred futures. We are seeking peers and experts to join us on this ambitious journey.   Building on experiences strengthening anticipatory…

This report discusses how steering innovation investment in public sector organisations through a portfolio approach can help governments respond to the multi-faceted challenges they face. Portfolio management is a well-known device in the financial sector, allowing for dynamic decision-making processes involving regular reviews of activity and ensuring a coherent distribution of resources among strategic options. The report illustrates how this approach can be applied by public sector…