Some recent developments and articles of interest:

• The US Government has developed an ‘Open Innovator’s Toolkit’, a roster of 20 leading practices that an “open innovator” should consider when confronting any policy challenge. Like our own innovation toolkit the aim is for it to grow over time.
• The new Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design received some coverage with a piece in the Canberra Times Public Sector Informant and a blog post at Design Managers Australia.
• David Walker warns the (UK) public sector about being too focussed on the new, including innovation and reform. “Public managers need to say clearly that the public sector can improve: there’s too much evidence of inefficiency and wasted expenditure to blunt the force of that contention. But that does not necessitate topsy-turvy reorganisation and marketisation. It could instead imply powering ahead calmly and conscientiously, making incremental improvements.” ¹
• The winner of the Innovations in American Government Award was announced by the Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
• Michael Schrage looks at the ‘Craziness Conundrum’- how organisations access out-there ideas. “Consequently, top management teams tend to be the Goldilocks of crazy: They don’t want insane, and they don’t need conventional; they want their craziness to be ‘just right.’ Defining those crazy zones is one of the most difficult but more important cultural decisions innovation leadership teams can make. Crazy ideas, of course, can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage.” ²

As always, please feel free to identify any other developments or articles of interest in the comments below.