{"id":29119,"date":"2020-01-09T12:09:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T12:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=29119"},"modified":"2020-01-09T16:12:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T16:12:21","slug":"four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Four reflections on public service innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"page-heading__introduction\">\n<div class=\"introduction\">\n<div class=\"introduction__container\">\n<p class=\"introduction__text\">How can we better support innovation in public systems?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page-heading__meta\">\n<div class=\"page-heading__meta-container meta \">\n<div class=\"page-heading__meta-item meta-item\">\n<p>Many principles inform our work here at Nesta, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get the question right by challenging assumptions;<\/li>\n<li>A mindset of grounded optimism helps by being clear about the here and now, yet ambitious about what\u2019s possible;<\/li>\n<li>Incorporate new perspectives, particularly from citizens and frontline staff;<\/li>\n<li>Use experimental methods to get a rigorous understanding of what works in real world conditions; and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reflecting on my time here at Nesta, here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Innovation is a social process<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Yes, it\u2019s also technical, but it\u2019s easy to underestimate the influence of fear, status and risk and indeed belonging, connection and recognition on whether a person tries something new or not. So focusing on processes and policies will only get us so far. We need as much focus on the quality of relationships and mindset as on the quality of data and infrastructure. Both are vital engines of change. What more can we do to incorporate psychological, behavioural and social understandings into innovation?<\/p>\n<h3><b>Context matters &#8211; but how much?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Mainstream innovation often assumes that a solution that works in one place should spread as far as possible. So a model developed in Birmingham is taken to Brighton, the Borders and Barnstaple. But what if &#8211; for this particular innovation &#8211; context accounts for, say, 80% of the initial success rather than 8%? That would put local factors &#8211; like culture, history and leadership &#8211; in pole position. It could also boost alternative models of scaling such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nesta.org.uk\/blog\/mass-localism-20\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mass localism<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; large numbers of locally developed, owned and accountable solutions which add up to large scale change. How can we better understand when context matters, how much and what that means for innovation?<\/p>\n<h3><b>Public systems need intermediaries<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Private markets don\u2019t assume new products and services will reach customers by themselves. Instead much is invested in intermediary infrastructure like brand and marketing, distribution channels and knowledge and relationship brokerage. There have been recent additions to the equivalent infrastructure in public systems, such as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nesta.org.uk\/blog\/experimental-government\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What Works network<\/a>\u00a0and cross-sector collaborations like the Academic Health Science Networks. But is there enough? What more can public systems do to provide incentives and mechanisms for spread and adaptation? And how can these incorporate social and behavioural factors and the role of local context?<\/p>\n<h3><b>De-risking the future<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Some innovation experts call for more failure. But in public systems responsible for issues like housing and care, failure is often unacceptable. So it\u2019s more helpful to focus on how\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/media.nesta.org.uk\/documents\/Compendium-of-Innovation-Methods-March-2019.pdf?_ga=2.186873963.279799365.1576490462-1813443820.1569944133\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">innovation methods<\/a>, like early stage testing,\u00a0<i>reduce<\/i>\u00a0failure by tackling current problems and establishing what works at a small scale with safeguards. Innovation isn\u2019t a blank cheque to failure. In fact, it&#8217;s a way to de-risk the present and the future. This shifts focus away from increasing failure and towards reducing risk (both current and future) through action and learning.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Originally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nesta.org.uk\/blog\/four-reflections-public-service-innovation\/https:\/\/www.nesta.org.uk\/blog\/four-reflections-public-service-innovation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">posted here<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"btn-container\"><a class=\"btn btn-md btn-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/events\/public-sector-innovation-conference-2020\/\">Public Sector Innovation Conference 2020 <i class=\"far fa-caret-right\"><\/i><wbr \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can we better support innovation in public systems? Many principles inform our work here at Nesta, for example: Get the question right by challenging assumptions; A mindset of grounded optimism helps by being clear about the here and now, yet ambitious about what\u2019s possible; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":29121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-govtech","topic-innovation","topic-government"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Four reflections on public service innovation | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Four reflections on public service innovation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash-1-e1578571743898.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lucy.wakeford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Four reflections on public service innovation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lucy.wakeford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"lucy.wakeford\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d637bf9c0ac7d10b993a8fa75773898a\"},\"headline\":\"Four reflections on public service innovation\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\"},\"wordCount\":523,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"Four reflections on public service innovation | Digital Leaders\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":5472,\"height\":3648,\"caption\":\"woman standing by train\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Four reflections on public service innovation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Leaders\",\"description\":\"We Lead Transformation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Digital Leaders\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":2992,\"caption\":\"Digital Leaders\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DigiLeaders\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/6527637\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK1pUziPGg9J8R1S0FhBgiQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d637bf9c0ac7d10b993a8fa75773898a\",\"name\":\"lucy.wakeford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1049675abde807367963905278154ac3e8817edd0a0777a6d057c6bb587e5af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1049675abde807367963905278154ac3e8817edd0a0777a6d057c6bb587e5af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"lucy.wakeford\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Four reflections on public service innovation | Digital Leaders","description":"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Four reflections on public service innovation","og_description":"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.","og_url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/","og_site_name":"Digital Leaders","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme","article_published_time":"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash-1-e1578571743898.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"lucy.wakeford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Four reflections on public service innovation","twitter_description":"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.","twitter_creator":"@DigiLeaders","twitter_site":"@DigiLeaders","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"lucy.wakeford","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/"},"author":{"name":"lucy.wakeford","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d637bf9c0ac7d10b993a8fa75773898a"},"headline":"Four reflections on public service innovation","datePublished":"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/"},"wordCount":523,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/","name":"Four reflections on public service innovation | Digital Leaders","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-09T12:09:33+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-09T16:12:21+00:00","description":"How can we better support innovation in public systems? Here are four questions which may help to further improve how innovation happens in public systems.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eutah-mizushima-2TlAsvhqiL0-unsplash.jpg","width":5472,"height":3648,"caption":"woman standing by train"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/four-reflections-on-public-service-innovation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Four reflections on public service innovation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/","name":"Digital Leaders","description":"We Lead Transformation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization","name":"Digital Leaders","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg","width":3000,"height":2992,"caption":"Digital Leaders"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme","https:\/\/x.com\/DigiLeaders","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/6527637\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK1pUziPGg9J8R1S0FhBgiQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d637bf9c0ac7d10b993a8fa75773898a","name":"lucy.wakeford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1049675abde807367963905278154ac3e8817edd0a0777a6d057c6bb587e5af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1049675abde807367963905278154ac3e8817edd0a0777a6d057c6bb587e5af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"lucy.wakeford"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}