Innovation rarely happens by accident. Governments can increase innovation in the public sector through deliberate efforts using many different levers, from investments in skills or technology, to applying new policymaking methods or adapting existing processes. Our work helps governments assess their innovative capacity, providing practical and evidence-based steps to embed innovation in policymaking and administration. This means governments are better able to respond to changing environments and develop more impactful policies.
Government innovation
Governments today must be able to adapt to changing environments, work in different ways, and find solutions to complex challenges. OECD work on public sector innovation looks at how governments can use novel tools and approaches to improve practices, achieve efficiencies and produce better policy results.
Key messages
Understanding cognitive biases, behavioural barriers, and social norms is essential for the development of impactful policies and public uptake. Behavioural science is an interdisciplinary approach, providing insights that enable policymakers to design more effective and targeted policies that reflect actual human behaviour and decision-making. Our work encompasses research on context-specific behavioural drivers and barriers to support countries in the use of behavioural science from policy design to implementation and evaluation. Through the OECD Network of Behavioural Science Experts in Government, we further foster the exchange of best behavioural science practices and mutual learning.
The nature of policy issues that governments are confronted by is volatile, uncertain, complex and often ambiguous. Governments need to consider a variety of scenarios and act upon them in real time. This requires a new approach to policymaking, one that is future and action oriented, involves an innovation function and anticipates the changing environment. By governing with anticipation and innovation, governments can prepare for what’s coming next. They can identify, test, and implement innovative solutions to benefit from future opportunities while reducing risk and enhancing resilience.
Innovating and digitalising public services can bring many benefits, including improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of services, enhancing equitable access and reducing administrative burdens. While it holds tremendous benefits for supporting the overall well-being and satisfaction of citizens and public trust in institutions, governments must ensure high standards of transparency and ethics, particularly when employing the use of data and artificial intelligence to improve or deliver public services. Our work is building towards an OECD Recommendation on the design of government services to effectively improve people's experiences including through life events and the development of more effective and equitable services.
Context
The public has a lack of confidence in public agencies adopting innovative ideas.
Governments must do better to respond to citizens’ concerns. Just fewer than one in four (38%, on average across OECD countries), feel that a public agency would be likely to adopt an innovative idea to improve a public service. Enhancing innovation capacity can strengthen resilience, responsiveness and trust in public institutions.
Confidence in governments’ adoption of innovative ideas is directly related to trust in civil servants.
People who say they are confident about innovation in a public office are more likely to trust civil servants. On average across OECD countries, the share of people who trust the civil service is equal to 70% among those who are confident about public sector innovation. This trust value is more than two times larger than among those who say that the public sector would not adopt innovative ideas.
-
In an era characterised by rapid technological advances, environmental shifts, changing demographics, geopolitical tensions, and evolving societal needs, traditional governance models are increasingly under pressure. Governments worldwide are seeking ways to not only respond to present challenges but also to anticipate and shape future possibilities. Anticipatory Innovation Governance is a proactive approach that integrates foresight, innovation, and continuous learning into the heart of public governance.Learn more
-
Governments around the world are increasingly using behavioural science as a lens to better understand how behaviours and social context influence policy outcomes. At the OECD, we research context-specific behavioural drivers and barriers, and support countries in the use of behavioural insights, from policy design to implementation and evaluation.Learn more
-
Digital government explores and supports the development and implementation of digital government strategies that bring governments closer to citizens and businesses. It recognises that today’s technology is a strategic driver not only for improving public sector efficiency, but also for making policies more effective and governments more open, transparent, innovative, participatory and trustworthy.Learn more
-
Governments must develop their capacity to adapt and change the way policies and services are designed and delivered if they want to implement ambitious reform agendas, meet climate targets and respond to global crises. Without intentional efforts, innovation is left to chance, fuelled sporadically by circumstance and crises. Our work helps governments assess and improve their innovative capacity, providing practical and evidence-based steps to embed innovation in policymaking and administration.Learn more
-
Citizens must have a say in the decisions that affect them. Inclusive and impactful participation not only enriches the policymaking process by incorporating diverse views and harnessing collective knowledge, but also strengthens public understanding of outcomes, promotes policy uptake, and reinforces trust in public institutions. It is essential to institutionalise participatory and deliberative processes and better articulate them with representative democracies.Learn more
-
The Strategic Foresight Unit in the Office of the Secretary-General plays a central role in supporting more effective and resilient public policy by spearheading strategic foresight as a tool of modern, evidence-based, and anticipatory policy making and governance.Learn more