Dubai next February? Your public sector innovation on the world stage

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It’s unlikely that most departments can stretch to send a few staff members off on a trip to Dubai for the World Government Summit next February, but the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has opened a window of opportunity.

In partnership with the OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, the organisers of the swish yearly conference in the United Arab Emirates are willing to fully fund the attendance of genuine public sector innovators from around the world.

The OPSI explains they are looking for “examples of government innovations that are at the ‘edge’ of current practice [and] point to new ways of designing and implementing policies or running the machinery of government” but have not received world-wide publicity.

Entries can be submitted online up until July 29, so there’s still time, especially for teams who have already prepared presentations of their innovative projects for other local events:

“In particular, we’ll be looking for innovations that are novel, have been implemented in some way, are from different parts of the world (including OECD members and non-members), have made an impact, and have not been globally showcased before. The World Government Summit will fully sponsor the makers and leaders of these innovations to attend the 2017 Summit and inspire creativity in working toward our common goals.”

They’re looking for “truly transformational” exemplar projects that have “made significant improvements to people’s lives” to inform the conference agenda, and be turned into case studies for publication in its Edge of Government report.

The 2016 edition of Edge of Government is one of a range of forward-looking publications produced in the name of the WGS, on topics ranging from global economic trends to advanced science and the future of government, artificial intelligence, the future of work, smart cities, gamification, and digital transformation.

The OECD’s government innovation centre does not describe the deal as a competition, nor does it call the junket — sorry, business trip — to Dubai next February a prize. The exemplar projects, according to the OPSI, could demonstrate:

• leveraging creative digital tools to better engage and co-create policies and services with residents;
• innovative/alternative financing and procurement tools that allow governments to tap into new sources of funding and deliver better results;
• implementing approaches which empower and engage the workforce, promote learning and ultimately foster innovation-oriented cultures and capabilities in public sector organisations;
• new mechanisms to help governments effectively tackle transnational issues (from international transportation networks, to transnational banking for migration remittances, to climate change and environmental hazards);
• experimental approaches to policymaking that allow for better risk management and learning by doing;
• applying design thinking and ethnographic approaches to develop solutions that produce systemic change;
• using behavioural approaches for innovative problem solving or forging new partnerships to break down barriers within and across government, civil society, and industry; and
• harnessing data—such as data from citizen science, satellites, and the internet of things—and combining it with citizens’ context-rich insights to deliver new perspectives on policy issues, promote anticipatory governance approaches, and enable real-time sensemaking; and opening data to fuel innovation inside and outside government.

Apparently the OPSI is working together with the WGS — the same conference where Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt was bestowed the bizarre title of “best minister in the world” — because they both aim to “promote better policies for better lives and shape the future of government worldwide”.

There are many challenges to be faced by governments, but what should they focus on more?

— World Gov Summit (@WorldGovSummit) July 13, 2016