Some recent developments and articles of interest:

• The Finance Minister of the South Australian Government, Michael O’Brien, has called for greater innovation in the South Australian public service. “That’s our challenge as public servants, to develop a culture where innovation is expected and encouraged.”¹
• The US Government has announced the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, a 6 month initiative that will bring in innovative designers and developers from the US start-up scene to Washington DC. “The Presidential Innovation Fellows will pair top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, or academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on game-changing solutions that aim to deliver significant results in six months. Each team of innovators will work together in-person in Washington, DC on focused sprints while being supported by a broader community of interested citizens throughout the country. What makes this initiative unique is its focus on unleashing the ingenuity and know-how of Americans from all sectors.”²
• Peter Alexander, CIO for the Australian Government Department of Treasury, talks about the value for Government in engaging with citizens through social media.
• The Harvard Business School asks five innovation experts about making an organisation more innovative, including whether people can learn to be more innovative – “I don’t want to overstate the case. I think about 40 percent of people just are not going to be good at innovating regardless of what they do. And 5 percent are born with the instinct.” ³
• The European Community’s Digital Agenda for Europe is using an ideas management system to seek ideas about “how we can deliver public innovation through the Digital Agenda for Europe?”

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