In 2017 the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation of the OECD held an Innovation Conference. Representatives from all over the world gathered to share their insights on public sector innovation. The shared vision: „making innovation in government the ‘new normal’“ (Santos, 2017). To do so they covered 4 pressing issues:

„1. Transforming government: How to rebuild the systems, cultures and technology to empower government to tackle 21st century challenges?
2. Methods and tools: What frameworks, skills, and methods are useful to unlocking creativity and innovation? What needs to happen to embed them in the day-to-day work of public servants?
3. Re-imagining boundaries: In the future, what is the role of government?
4. Innovation for development: How can innovation support sustainable development?“

And what they found were four basic answers:
1. Transforming government: Explore experimentation.
2. Methods and tools: Support change champions.
3. Re-imagining boundaries: Inform decisions with data.
4. Innovation for development: Put the citizen at the centre.

What we can see here are key learnings similar to those of other sectors. One might want to translate for economics:

1. Failing is learning
2. Innovation leadership
3. Data-driven innovation
4. Emphasize

Still, „you can´t fully grasp public sector innovation looking through the same lens as you would the private sector.“ (Guay, 2019)

Undoubtedly stability is important in the private sector. However no one will argue with the statement that stability and reliability are of very high worth. If only one looks at an unpredictability American president called Trump and the uncertainty he has caused so far, the evidence is clear.

Therefore developing systems for sharing knowledge among the staff are particularly important, as the initiative lipse – funded by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union – expressed in 2015. The European researchers found out that most often „the reason for why innovations were dropped was personnel turnover.“ (van Acker, 2015) Consequently public sector institutions have to pay close attention to secure sustainable innovation.

In addition to these learnings by the public sector itself, this contribution shall take a look at the perhaps more independent position of previously mentioned author (and CEO of the Danish Design Center) Christian Bason. Ten years after his book was published the first time, he now evaluated the progress of public sector innovation. Herewith he discovered 8 major developments:

1. From digital as add-on to digital as default
2. From evidence to experimentation
3. From public-private innovation to agile governance
4. From nations to cities
5. From first generation to third generation labs
6. From innovating solutions to innovating governance
7. From courage to future-making
8. From national goals to global goals

Finally we want to ask again: Has the public sector learned anything?

The research documented in this article implicates a clear “Yes”. And the question that derives is: What should the public sector do with these learnings?
My personal answer: Apply them. Apply them immediately. The sooner, the better – because the real value of these learnings comes to light when applied.