Category Archives: Innovation Barriers
Creativity conjures words like agony, vomit and poison to most
Following on from the theme of our Weekly Bits of Interest, a recent article by Science Daily reveals these findings from a study at theUniversity of Pennsylvania: New ideas trigger feelings of uncertainty that make most people uncomfortable People dismiss creative ideas in favour of ideas that are purely practical […]
Being the “first mover” – Part 2
This post continues from my previous post Are you a “first mover”? Each department in the Australian Public Service (APS) is faced with the problem of the first mover. In the private sector these disadvantages are offset by the positive factors that firms gain in being a first mover (such […]
Innovating by not doing something
A lot of what we discuss on this blog is about the introduction of new things – innovation as the addition of something new. But innovation can also be about stopping something. Or it can be about getting rid of something that exists to make room for a new innovation. The […]
How do we share lessons from ‘failures’?
Recently I helped teach a course on public sector innovation as part of the Australian National Institute for Public Policy (ANIPP) executive short course offering with Dr Mark Matthews (Executive Director of the HC Coombs Policy Forum and fellow public sector innovation network member). There was some great discussion and I found […]
Building a business case – identifying the resources required
In a previous post we had a look at dealing with risk when preparing a business case. In this post I’ll cover another part of the business case that can be problematic for innovations – identifying what resources will be needed. One of the difficulties in implementing a new idea […]
Building a business case – dealing with risk
A common task in putting forward an innovative idea – and helping getting the idea selected – is developing the business case. Requirements for business cases can vary depending on how big an idea is and what the initial steps might be, but a fairly standard component is looking at the issue […]
Can the public sector innovate when it doesn’t have to?
As discussed in my previous post, one of the findings of the recent European Innobarometer survey was that budget decreases may be an important driver for public sector innovation. In this post I’d like to look at some of the other findings and what they might mean for innovation in the […]
If scarcity drives innovation, how do you resource it?
A common refrain in the public sector is that there isn’t enough time, money or resources to innovate in the public sector, and that if we only had the space, the opportunity and the support necessary so much more innovation could happen. Indeed, Empowering Change identifies lack of resources as […]
MindLab concept workshop
Does your agency have a designated space or group to facilitate problem-solving and the design of policy or services? You may be surprised to know that there are a number of examples of this in the Australian Public Service ranging from Betaworks in the ABS to the Concept Lab (Centrelink) […]