What are innovations in the public sector?
Innovations are a hot topic in the public sector as well but, to be honest, unlike the private sector their essence on this arena is not very clear and sound like something between opaque academic discourse and vague consultants’ jargon.
That is why it would be a good start to approach the topic with a definition of innovations in the public sector. Although we cannot provide an official definition since it is missing, we can say how the term is used and why it deserves our attention.
The essence of any innovation is to do something in a new and different way. The novelty can be in a wide range from small, gradual improvements to large-scale daring and transformative changes. One of the most widespread drivers of innovations, or at least recently, are technologies that provide new and more effective ways of overcoming existing challenges.
Innovations look for new approaches that can produce better results and would add new value without however giving any certainty of success. When the need for a change is obvious and the solution is clear, it is applied routinely. Innovations are always accompanied by some level of uncertainty and uncertainty is something that the public sector avoids because of the implied risk for the provision of services that people should be able to rely on.
If we go back to the definition, innovation in the public sector is exactly what “the label reads”: the institutions and organisations in the public sector explore new ways of action with a pre-defined desired effect that leads to better services and/or better government.
How do we know whether an innovation has been successful or not?
An innovation is successful when it stops being innovative and the new way of doing things becomes the way of doing things. If the citizens see the service as more accessible or if the institution achieves better results, then this is a successful innovation, such as electronic services for example.
Innovations in the public sector are a tough task, and it could take months or even (more often) years to achieve meaningful results. During that time plenty of promising ideas lose their momentum and their potential falls apart. It is also possible that the innovation does not produce the desired results.
Innovations in the public sector are often considered in two categories:
- Innovations inside the administration
This is the case when the officers in a public administration start working in a new way implementing new (technological) methods or tools. This category is similar to the innovative work methods applied in the real sector.
- Innovations outside the administration
This is the case when a favourable environment is being created for innovations that align with the governance objectives. It could be in the form of programmes supporting enterprises or research centres to create innovations or when ways are sought such innovations to be introduced in the government process in pursuit of its priorities. Or sometimes both.
The above classification is not scientific and overlapping between the two categories are possible. And yet it helps avoid the trap of using the word “innovation” for everything and nothing in the public sector at the same time. It also helps us imagine how to innovatively approach the functioning mode in the administrations.
In the public sector where the organisations are faced with problems of general character such as ineffective processes, pressure for user-centred services and the need to demonstrate actual value for the invested public money the most widely applicable are innovative approaches to problem solving, data collection and use, programme and project management and interaction with other stakeholders.