Welcome to the Public Sector Innovation blog or ‘Innovation Blog’ for short. I am Patricia Kelly, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and Chair of the Steering Committee that oversaw the development of the Management Advisory Committee project on public sector innovation. That project resulted in a report, Empowering Change: Fostering Innovation in the Australian Public Service, which was released by the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Mr Terry Moran AO, on 21 May this year. This blog is an outcome of that report – hopefully one of many to come.
Before going further, I should be upfront in saying that I, and my staff who have worked on establishing this blog, are far from expert when it comes to blogging. This will be a learning experience for us, and I suspect that will also be the case for many of our readers in the wider public service.
We will look to learn from those who have been there before us, including our colleagues at the Australian Government Information Management Office within the Department of Finance and Deregulation and their experiences with the AGIMO blog. But we also welcome feedback about things you like and things we might improve.
As was noted in Empowering Change and a number of other recent reports, openness is an important enabler of innovation and better policy and services. New tools and platforms allow us in the APS to be more open in the development of policy and in the testing and refinement of ideas. The Innovation Blog will be about:
- providing updates on developments in the public sector innovation field;
- sharing what we learn about the process of innovation in the public sector;
- highlighting examples of public sector innovation;
- discussing issues relating to public sector innovation – particular tools or barriers; and
- asking for input – about our findings and ideas, and about the experiences of others when innovating in the public sector.
I will admit that I will very likely not have the opportunity to be a regular contributor, and that I will ask my fellow officers in the Government Innovation Policy team to respond on my behalf, but I do look forward to seeing the discussion this blog might facilitate.
Encouraging further innovation in the Australian Public Service will not just be the job of those of us at the Department of Innovation - it will involve officers from across the APS and people outside it. I hope that you will join us in working towards a public sector where innovation can flourish and that you find this blog a useful resource for that purpose.
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What a great idea! Well done for doing something which will really make a difference.
Will you be posting testimonials or case studies by agencies that use these resources to implement innovative ideas?
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Thanks for the kind words. We certainly hope to over time. Case studies from agencies also appear on the Public Sector Innovation Showcase. Alex
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Well done Alex on getting this up – I look forward to visiting regularly for updates, and maybe even provide some myself!
Cheers,
Pete
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I am very glad the the government is now putting resources into this area of innovation. I think it is essential that in order to remain relevant and up to date in contemporary society, the government engages in Web 2.0 and develops this technology to a high degree. The internet will only continue to become more ubiquitous and more essential to any organisation’s media strategy in the future and the government, like all other organisations needs to remain abreast of these developments. So I am also vey happy to see this development.
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Thanks for the comments and the interest. We’re looking forward to working with you to help foster innovation in the public sector.
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Congratulations of the site.
I look forward to contributing.
I’m kinda interested in that whole “creativity and innovation” concepts stuff….. and I like to read the case study’s and article lists that Alex has been putting together…. but I’m most hungry to start making changes… I’m most hungry to contribute my 20 cents in terms of real… On the ground…. Make a difference… Doable…. Maybe wild maybe not….. Solution thinking!!!!
Bring on the topics.
Thanks
Con
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It is good to see a champion for this type of work to kick it off on the right foot. Yes, we learn as we go along, but it is early days and being involved we as an APS can work and collaborate to engage with the public on a platform which meets the community need. We are now in a technologically savvy world and need to be involved early so we make mistakes and learn with everyone else rather than hold back, enter late when established guidelines and expectations are hard wired. Enter then and making the learning mistakes, would mean we loose credibility with the community.
Great work on the effort to move forward in the innovation and engagement. Happy to be part of the revolution.
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