Good For: Build consensus

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

This website and blog containing a toolkit based on the book GameStorming (not free) and intends to bring a playful or game-like atmosphere to group problem solving activities for the purpose of creating an mindset conducive to innovation and change-making. The site contains games for different purposes, including vision and strategy, planning, problem-solving, and decision-making. The online resources describe each method and technique in terms of: Object of Play, Number of Players, Duration of…

Features: Facilitators guide, Tactics, Techniques, Tips&Tricks

The Government Innovators Network is a collection of ideas and examples of government innovation for policymakers, policy advisors, and practitioners. It contains news, articles, reports, descriptions of award-winning innovative programs, and events as well as online communities of practice. The publisher's goal is to stimulate new ideas and bring people and ideas together around innovations in government for the purpose of stimulating discourse on the principles and practices of innovation and…

Features: Examples or Cases

This resource distills the United Nations Development Programme's experience and lessons with running Social Innovation Camps into a "how-to" manual for others. The publisher intends it to broaden a project's results, attract donors, find new partners, source new perspectives on an issue, and/or place beneficiaries at the centre of project design. The resource was created within an international development and social innovation context but can be adapted for public sector use. It is available…

Features: Facilitators guide, Tactics, Techniques, Tips&Tricks

An collection of communication tools used in service design processes that deal with complex systems, organised by design activities, representations, recipients, and contents. The website is the result of the research activity done by Roberta Tassi during her graduation thesis investigating the relation between communication design and service design, starting from the observation of the existing practices in the field of service design. Each tool contains a description, how-to instructions,…

Features: Examples or Cases, Glossary, Guiding framework, Tactics, Techniques

A collection of code, tools, and case studies to help United States federal agencies adopt the Open Data Policy and unlock the potential of government data. This project is meant to be a living document, so that collaboration in the open data ecosystem is fostered, and the continual update of technology pieces that affect update can happen at a more rapid pace. Edits to the content may be made by anyone. It could provide other governments with examples and starter content for its own open data…

Features: Glossary, Techniques

The United Kingdom government's design principles and examples of how they have been used. Each principle includes links to articles with additional explanation and reflections. 1. Start with user needs 2. Do less 3. Design with data 4. Do the hard work to make it simple 5. Iterate. Then iterate again 6. This is for everyone 7. Understand context 8. Build digital services, not websites 9. Be consistent, not uniform 10. Make things open: it makes things better

Features: Techniques

The publishers describe the PD concept as: based on the observation that in every community or organization, there are a few individuals or groups whose uncommon but successful behaviors and strategies have enabled them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbors who face the same challenges and barriers and have access to same resources. This resource orients newcomers to the Positive Deviance (PD) approach and provide the essential tools to get started. It includes a brief…

Features: Facilitators guide, Glossary, Tactics, Techniques

The Collective Action Toolkit (2nd edition) is a set of activities and methods that enables groups of people anywhere to organize, collaborate, and create solutions for problems affecting their community. It guides users through methods according to six action areas, with suggested pathways from one method to the next. For each method, step-by-step instructions are given, in addition to the time, roles, and materials needed. Some methods include canvasses to guide activity. The toolkit is…

Features: Facilitators guide, Guiding framework, Techniques

This resource includes a variety of tools and techniques, enabling government entities to develop initiatives and come up with innovative solutions to enhance the efficiency of the government sector, and improve the services provided by the government to individuals and entities.

Features: Guiding framework, Video guidance