Innovation in Public Services

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The current state of public services innovation is both fascinating and sometimes infuriating.  It’s hard to turn good intentions into practical results, and even harder to give innovation the kinds of financial and institutional backing it receives in other fields, such as business and science. 

There are some exceptions around the world – where public services have started to put in place significant capacities and machineries for innovation. The innovation fund of the US education department amounts to a pretty substantial $650m and in Europe Denmark’s Mindlab cuts across three departments and serves as an in-house thinktank that is being copied in other countries. 

Here in Britain, we are trying to be an exception, and a hot topic is the role of ‘social venture intermediaries’ in spotting, growing and spreading the best new models in fields like crime prevention and healthcare.  

There are certainly some interesting models gaining ground.   One is the idea of ‘social entrepreneurs in residence’ in the health service, whose job is to find, invest in and grow, the most promising new innovations either from social entrepreneurs or from NHS staff. Another is the financing device of Social Impact Bonds, the first of which was signed this spring by the Ministry of Justice, with a range of different variants in the pipeline.   A third is the model of ‘Whole System Demonstrators’ being used in the health service, while a fourth is the model of Social Innovation Camps that bring together web designers, front line staff and others to design new websites in ultra-quick time.  

 All of these are manifestations of what should be a very fertile landscape,  made up not just of thousands of creative public servants but also some 62,000 social enterprises, a burgeoning field of service design, and a high concentration of technology innovators in many cities in Britain.

It’s easy to understand why backing innovation in times of austerity requires great political courage.  But it’s in periods like this that it becomes even more important that public services can invest not just in incremental improvement but also in some of the radically higher productivity models that may be feasible in fields like welfare, health and education. 

Nearly 80 years ago, in the wake of another profound financial crisis, Franklin D. Roosevelt said ‘It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”   

On some of the trickier issues facing governments – like how to cope with ageing, inequality or climate change with few resources – some of that spirit is what we may now most need.

I’m interested where others think that spirit is most visible now. Who are the ministers, council leaders and lead officials who are signalling from the top that tough times require more urgent innovation rather than less?  And how are they turning rhetorical enthusiasm for innovation into powerful structures and processes?

The views expressed in this blog article are those of the individual blogger and not a statement of government policy.

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