The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has been conducting a cross-government project to investigate how to advance innovation within and by the public sector under the auspices of the Management Advisory Committee - a detailed description of the project is provided below. This website provides information about the project and associated work.
Join the Public Sector Innovation Network
The Department has drawn together an email list of practitioners and those interested at the Commonwealth, State and Territory, and Local Government levels. If you would be interested in being a part of this public sector innovation network, please email the department.
If you would like to know more about the topic some resources on public sector innovation can be found below.
Discussion Paper and Call for Submissions
In August 2009 a discussion paper was released including a call for submissions. 78 submissions were received. The discussion paper is available for download in PDF (103KB) and RTF (232KB) versions.
Background to the Public Sector Innovation Project
The 2008 report on the Review of the National Innovation System Venturous Australia – building strength in innovation made a number of recommendations relating to public sector innovation. In May 2009 Powering Ideas: An Innovation Agenda for the 21st Century was released by the Government and advised that the Australian Public Service Management Advisory Committee (MAC) is examining the recommendations, and the capacity of the public sector to implement them.
The project is being overseen by a Steering Committee comprising representatives of the Department of Innovation, the Australia Public Service Commission, the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, CSIRO, the Department of Finance and Deregulation, the Department of Health and Ageing, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
The project will develop recommendations and a strategy for how the public sector can foster an innovation culture that tackles barriers to innovation and shares and rewards innovative practices. It will look at how the public sector can:
- Encourage 'bottom-up' innovation
- Use new technologies and platforms to increase collaboration and to facilitate, disseminate and promote innovative practices
- Identify and address barriers to public sector innovation
- Use innovative mechanisms such as pilots and trials
- Draw on external expertise and ideas from citizens and stakeholders
- Use the above measures to improve service delivery.
The Terms of Reference for the project are available for download in PDF (26KB) and RTF (42KB) versions.
In Powering Ideas, the Australian Government also committed to greater utilisation of Web 2. 0 technologies. On 22 June 2009 Ministers Tanner and Ludwig announced the establishment of a Government 2. 0 Taskforce to advise on, amongst other things, 'how to build a culture of online innovation within Government to ensure that it is open to the possibilities created by new collaborative technologies, and uses them to advance its ambition to continually improve the way it operates.' The MAC project will be liaising closely with the Taskforce on how such developments can foster public sector innovation more broadly.
Related International Developments
Public Sector innovation is being advocated by a number of governments around the world, and the Australian Public Service will learn from those, as well as Australian examples at the federal, state and local level. Below are some resources on what other Governments are doing around the world.
Resources on Public Sector Innovation
There is a growing body of work that talks about Public Sector innovation. Below are links to a number of resources that may be of interest.
- Innovation in the Public Sector: Enabling Better Performance, Driving New Directions (2009) is the Australian National Audit Office Better Practice Guide to public sector innovation
- The Public Innovator's Playbook: Nurturing bold ideas in Government (2009) is a joint publication between Deloitte Research in the US with the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. It looks at the innovation process, innovation strategies and how to sustain a culture of innovation in a public sector organisation
- Ready or not? Taking innovation in the public sector seriously (2007) is a paper by Geoff Mulgan on the innovation capacity of the public sector
- The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal is an international journal looking at public sector innovation
- PUBLIN was a European research project on innovation in the public sector. The project reported at the end of 2005
- The Government Innovators Network is run out of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and is a marketplace of ideas and examples of government innovation
- The Ash Institute's YouTube Channel includes presentations from innovation award winners
- UNPAN - The United Nations Public Administration Network looks at a range of matters including public sector innovation
- CAPAM - The Commonwealth Association for Public Adminstration and Management, based in Canada, looks to promote the practical requirements of good governance, just and honest government across the Commonwealth countries and beyond. CAPAM provides a forum for the active exchange of innovations, knowledge and practice in citizen-centered service delivery, leadership development and growth, and public service management and renewal. CAPAM also manages the CAPAM International Innovation Awards.
Enquiries
For enquiries regarding this work, please email the Department of Innovation. You can also follow the project through the Twitter account @PSInnovate.