Good For: Build a team

The guide offers practical guidance to local government officials on how to build a culture and practice of innovation and give local leaders an action-oriented framework for breakthrough innovation. It lays out nine “Imperatives” towards this end, with concrete action steps for each to help cities get started, along with illustrative case studies.

Features: Guiding framework

The MaRS Library contains articles, templates, reports, workbooks, reference guides and videos covering a range of topics, including accounting, funding, governance, intellectual property, leadership, legal issues, marketing, product management, selling, social innovation, strategy and talent. It is intended for an entrepreneurial context, but it can be adapted for a public sector organisational context.

Features: Examples or Cases, Peer-reviewed literature repository

The toolkit provides step-by-step guidance for development practitioners to leverage new sources of data. It is a result of a collaboration of UNDP and UN Global Pulse with support from UN Volunteers, led by UNDP innovation teams in Europe and Central Asia and Arab States. The guide is structured into three sections - (I) Explore the Problem & System, (II) Assemble the Team and (III) Create the Workplan. Each of the sections comprises of a series of tools for completing the steps needed to…

Features: Techniques

A guide intended for the Australian government for designing public services in user-centered and iterative ways. This resource is intended to help teams start small and learn fast, and to create services that can be delivered quickly and to save money by reducing service failure. It is organised into 4 design and delivery stages, each with an associated guide: Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live.

Features: Glossary, Techniques

This Field Guide is designed to support new-to-foresight practitioners in incorporating future thinking and foresight into everyday projects. In addition to describing methods (including purpose, pros, cons and considerations for each), it also provides guidance on how to advocate for a foresight related project or approach in your organistion, cultivate a futures/foresight mindset, and build a team. The ""zombies" referenced represent an unexpected and unlikely event for humanity. Stories about…

Features: Guiding framework

This resource contains a framework and guidance regarding the use of user-centred design. The publisher defines the UCD process in six phases - two planning and four delivery phases. The two planning phases focus on typical project planning aspects such as problem space, resources, agency readiness, team logistics, governance, etc. The four delivery phases are about action, talking to users to understand their real needs, prototyping potential solutions, and building the minimum viable product…

Features: Checklist, Guiding framework, Techniques

The toolkit's goal is to help actors conceptualize and operationalize their ambitions in terms of supporting social innovation. It contains not only “procedures” but also knowledge concerning social innovation. The guide was designed to support European Social Fund (or other) funding organisations that want to focus mainly on service innovation (as opposed to systems innovation or internally oriented process innovation). But it also recognizes the idea of broader societal transitions and the…

Features: Guiding framework, Techniques

The DesignGov experiment was an 18 month initiative of the Australian Public Service to apply design-led innovation to cross-agency problems. This resource is based on the experience of DesignGov and is intended to be a resource for others that might be looking to establish and operate a public sector innovation lab. This resource is offered as a personal contemplation about what should be considered when establishing, running and, possibly, closing a public innovation lab.

Features: Checklist

This is a collection of methods and activities, based on Hyper Island’s core methodology, for creative collaboration and realising potential in teams or organisations. It’s a collection of methods and activities, based on Hyper Island’s core methodology and is focused on Learning-by-doing (or Experiential Learning), Reflection (or Reflective Practice), and workshop or group facilitation. It includes Hyper Island tools as well as tools from others.

Features: Facilitators guide, Interactive diagnostic

This playbook describes 10 "plays" organised around designing the job, finding the right people, and guiding applicants. Each play includes guiding steps and examples.

Features: Checklist, Guiding framework, Tactics