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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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The City of Ilion has developed a mini forest park within its urban complex. The goal of this pocket park, measuring 600 square meters, was to become, within a short period of time, a dynamic ecosystem that provides critical benefits to people and to urban wildlife. Its primary goal was to be an open nature-based school for the children of the Municipal Kindergarten – which is located next to the mini forest, as well as their caregivers and the neighbourhood inhabitants.
In this project, São Paulo City Hall tested and evaluated the reformulation of collection instruments taking into account behavioral aspects. Currently the relationship between the City Hall and taxpayers is based on repressive inspections, difficult to understand communications and complex flows of payments.  With the reformulation of how the IPTU is collected, this increased the municipal tax collection by R $ 60 million/ year. Further experiments have allowed for the estimation that an…
In Estonia, there are a number of people who do not know how to speak the official language well enough. This prevents people from finding a better job, participating in Estonian cultural life, communicating with Estonians, and finding personal fulfilment. The goal of the project was to understand the needs of an adult language learner to then know how to organize language education for them so that it helps them better acquire the Estonian language. As a result, a common agreement that improves…
The innovation is a platform where all government sectors and private sectors can acquire the UAEPASS (Federal Digital Identity) log-in Application Programming Interface (API) and other services from a single platform. Similarly, in this platform the end-user can install the API without interference with the UAEPASS Operation team.
Survey figures spoke an alarming truth about a lack of awareness in the public of the risks of the flu and Covid-19, especially when they were circulating at the same time, alongside the essential protection that the vaccines provide. This meant that there was a need for a tool that provided instant access to a trusted voice (the NHS) to cut through misinformation and confusion caused online and to encourage vaccination. The 'NHS Winter Vaccines Virtual Helper' was developed to become that tool.
LA-BORA! gov arose from the need to improve the well-being and engagement of public servants. Created in December 2019, by public servants themselves, it is the first government innovation laboratory focused on improving public servant experience. It is a learning and innovation space with the purpose of supporting the creation of innovative solutions in people management, bringing civil servants closer to citizens and supporting leaders to work with an empathetic view of reality and a focus on…
Adolescents are often victim of traffic accidents when in traffic between home and school. Cities need feedback from this group to optimize bicycle traffic safety and infrastructure, but it can be difficult to reach and influence youngsters individually. Together with more than 70 Flemish high schools, Ghent University (UGent) has developed the Bicycle Barometer, a citizen science ICT platform to collect information about bicycle behaviour and perceived road safety. The web platform enables…
Governments must judge hundreds of new programmatic budget proposals each fiscal year with little objective information about whether they will achieve the results claimed. Evidence of program effectiveness is a critical data point that is used when making budget and policy decisions, as programs with greater evidentiary support are generally more likely to deliver a high return on investment of public funds. The The Policy Lab at Brown University leveraged existing public clearinghouses of peer…
INDECOPI has implemented a new project called “Voluntary Removal of Regulatory Barriers to Competition” based on the use of social norms in official documents and data dashboards to monitor the removal of bureaucratic barriers across the country. Through this, civil servants compare their performance in eliminating barriers with their peers and adapt their behavior towards high-quality regulation.
INDECOPI, the agency of competition in Peru, has created a specialized unit called “Effective Compliance Team”, which incorporates behavioral insights (framing effect) in their communication with other government institutions. Through this innovation, the government has a cost-effective tool to incentivize compliance, ensure the understanding of other institutions about bureaucratic barriers to competition, and benefit economic agents in the market and overall, the citizens of Peru.