Network member and Nesta CEO Geoff Mulgan provided keynote remarks at a strategy discussion event for the Public Innovation Team (EiP) in the Colombian National Planning Department (DNP) in Bogotá this week. The event, “Experiment to transform: towards the next generation of public innovation,” was organized to allow Nesta to present a new national public innovation strategy for Colombia.
The event hosted representatives from innovation initiatives in several different countries and promoted conversation about innovation in the public sector. Representatives shared stories, challenges and lessons from personal experience working towards enhancing innovation capacity.
In addition to discussing the innovation strategy and round-tabeling ideas for improvement, the event also had time devoted to sharing the progress of the States of Change community of practice and learning programme in Latin America.
From the event debrief:
“Regarding the contents of the Colombian public innovation strategy, one of the main conclusions of the process so far has been recognising the need to understand and promote experimentation in government. By experimentation, we refer not to a collection of isolated activities, but a continuous and cross-cutting approach for generating public value, in which the active involvement of citizens and public servants plays a key role. In this sense, experimentation implies pursuing a fundamental change in the culture of public entities and in the mindset of their collaborators.”
“As a first step in this direction, the EiP and Nesta have developed a first version of a “toolbox for promoting an experimental mindset in government”, which aims to dispel myths about and provide responses on the value of experimentation in the public sector, as well as presenting contrasts between an ‘experimental mindset’ and ‘business as usual.’”
