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Created by the Public Governance Directorate

This website was created by the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), part of the OECD Public Governance Directorate (GOV).

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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…
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…
We are taking OPSI’s portfolio exploration and assessment support into the virtual realm. We are asking for 20-30 minutes of your time to share initial thoughts and feedback on our first draft of questions for exploring:   The way your organisation’s innovation portfolio is oriented  Your organisation’s overall portfolio management capability   Following the set of questions, there is an example output based on hypothetical inputs. We…
OPSI is researching innovation portfolios as part of our European Commission Horizon 2020 work and we are developing a self-guided portfolio assessment tool for people to analyse and explore their own organisational innovation portfolio. We welcome your feedback.  Hero-innovators are imaginary Does your organisations still believe in hero-innovators? Probably not. Based on our research and observations, in order for innovation to be impactful, organisations need a lot of distributed…
On 26 September 2019, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants organised a conference titled Creating value and driving sustainability, accountability and the digital agenda through Public Sector Innovation at the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. The conference was organised to launch its report on ‘Innovation in Public Finance‘. OPSI’s own Piret Tõnurist spoke at the conference, as part of the impressive line-up of experts who interrogated the …
This post was guest authored by Micco Gronholm, Head of Future, City of Helsingborg The City of Helsingborg, Sweden, has taken a stand. Over three years we will make an investment of a type that Sweden has never seen before. SEK 250 million will be ear-marked to be used for one thing: Anticipatory innovation to find new, smarter and more efficient ways to plan and build cities where both the people and planet can thrive....
This is a guest post from Magnus Karlsson, project manager, innovation management system at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and national expert and chair of TK 532 innovation management at SIS Swedish Institute for Standards. Magnus shares some of the work being done to develop standards around innovation management, and its relevance to the public sector. Towards a common platform for boosting innovation management in public sector organisations The urgency to innovate in the public...
How might we take advantage of the possibilities that emerge in a crisis to build a better innovation portfolio? We took that question to a recent workshop with a delegation from the Government of Montenegro. The Montenegrins showed us what true agility looks like in practice. Montenegro: Fledgling or Agile? For context, Montenegro is currently one of two countries (including Serbia) in negotiation talks to accede to the European Union and this fact is an...
“I want to do something new. It’s going to take time and effort to get right. I don’t know whether it will work, and even if it does, it won’t instantly be better than what we already have. There will probably be unintended consequences and some of our known stakeholders will likely lose out or be displeased. Those who might benefit may not even recognise that we made the difference. If it goes wrong, it’s...
Have new technologies made you reconsider what you hold dear? Has change or innovation ever come into conflict, or sat uncomfortably, with your core values? Why is it that we as individuals can react negatively to things that are supposed to be beneficial? This post explore why different forms of innovation can spur different reactions from people, and what that might mean for practitioners seeking to introduce novel initiatives. We at OPSI think this is...