Transforming Governance,Transforming Governance,Enhancing InnovationEnhancing Innovation

Introduction to the Sunrise ConferenceIntroduction to the Sunrise ConferenceOctober 29-31, 2012October 29-31, 2012

Jacob TorfingJacob Torfing

Roskilde UniversityRoskilde University

Sunrise Conference

Idea is to highlight and boost a new and upcoming research area with a potential societal impact

Obvious choice for Roskilde University, as we aim to take a problem-driven approach to studying and doing research

At this conference we will:– Address the many complex and unsolved problems in our societies and the need for innovative solutions

– Explore how we can transform public governance to enhance public innovation

– Engage students, public decision-makers and researchers in this exploration

Why public innovation?

In Denmark and many other Western countries, there is an increasing focus on public innovation

Three main explanations:– Cross pressure between rising citizen expectations and limited public resources

– Global competition that produces winners and losers depending on their innovative capacity

– Wicked problems that can neither be solved by standard solutions or sending more money

What is innovation

Creativity is to get a new idea, but creativity only becomes innovation when the new idea is realized

Innovation is change, but not all change is innovation

Innovation means breaking with established practices and common wisdom

Can the public sector innovate?

People from the private sector are skeptical, but the public sector is more dynamic and innovative that its reputation

Private firms and public organizations are bureaucracies and, therefore, face similar barriers

The public sector has some specific barriers

But also some unique drives

Transforming governance In order to enhance innovation the public sector need:– A common language about innovation– Concrete strategies, procedures and tools– A culture supporting curiosity, experimentation and learning

– Courage to do so and political will to implement and upscale new bold solutions

– Interaction across organizational and mental silos

– Involvement of private stakeholders In short: we need to transform public governance in order to spur public innovation

Shifting governance paradigms After the Second World War bureaucracy became the preferred way of organizing the rapidly growing welfare states

The bleak diagnosis of the Trilateral Commissions report from 1975 problematized public bureaucracy

From the 1980s onwards the public sector was reorganized around the principles of New Public Management:– Enhanced competition– Strategic management– Increased user orientation

Towards a new governance paradigm?

NPM has led to many good thing, and there is still some unfinished business

Several unfulfilled promises and a number of unintended negative effects

There is a growing frustration and people are asking themselves: what comes after NPM?

Many contenders to the thrown Call for a strengthening of the internal motivation for the public employees, drilling hole in the silos and enhancing collaboration with external actors

Adding a new layer on top of OPA and NPM can be seen as both:– Continuity: Uni-, bi-, multilateralism– Discontinuity: From competition to collaboration

Our bold ambition

Set the agenda for governance reform in order to spur innovation that can help us to tackle the crisis, improve services and break policy deadlocks

Bring students, decision-makers and researchers together in a constructive exchange

Agree on a manifesto that sums up our findings and will be passed on to the government

Three streams We will all benefit from keynote speeches, roundtables and plenary discussions

Tomorrow, we will break out into three parallel streams:– Researchers will discuss the conditions for enhancing innovation and transforming governance

– Decision-makers will explore and seek to remove barriers to public innovation

– Students will compete to craft innovative solutions to wicked problems

Plenty of room for networking and cross-fertilizing dialogue:– Lunch, coffee breaks and receptions– Newsroom tomorrow– Presentations from streams on Wednesday– Endorsement of manifesto

Enjoy the Sunrise Conference

When I am done, please take a minute to reflect on what you hope to get out of the conference, … and make sure you get it!

Help us to have a stimulating discussion that will inspire us to act differently tomorrow

Thanks to the partners