Jitinder Kohli on How to Spur Innovation in Government

Why is it difficult to innovate in the public sector?

So, it's hard to innovate in the public sector because the culture often rewards people who do things in the way they used to. Doing things in new and innovative ways isn't always the kind of thing that people in government like. Another reason it's really difficult to innovate in government is because when you get money for new projects in government, it tends to be harder to get. Getting money for things that are old is much easier to get.

What can the government do to start generating and implementing new ideas?

All too often what government does is it says, "we need to be innovative," and it seems to somehow believe that saying we need to become innovative is enough to become innovative. It just doesn't work that way. In the private sector, there's a whole system to promote innovation, from the way business investments work, to business mentors, to business incubators, etc, etc, etc. And this complex system is what makes innovation work in the private sector.

In government, you need a system a bit like that, too. So, you need actions both at the governmental level and at the level of the agencies. At the government level, you need to really tackle culture first of all. You need a culture where people promote innovation and they reward people for having good ideas. And each agency needs to take action, too. In each agency, leaders of agencies need to make sure they unleash the creativity of their staff. They need to make sure there are teams responsible for innovation. They need to make sure there's enough money for innovation. And they need to make sure that they work with people outside in order to come up with innovative ideas.

Are there ways that governments are already working to spur innovation?

There are lots of ways. Indeed, the reports sets out 24 examples where government departments and agencies around the world are working to spur innovation in their departments. So let's take the Transportation Security Administration. They have set up a website which seeks ideas from their staff on how to improve the operations of the agency. They've got 11,000 ideas, and many of these ideas have already been put into practice. Another example, in Denmark three government departments have got together and set up a unit called MindLab. The unit is unusual in that it seeks to come up with better ways of doing the work of the three agencies. It works with outsiders in order to come up with ideas, and it has a specific space which is dedicated to being more innovative.