The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our public service organizations as never before. Governments across the world have shown that they are ready to do whatever it takes – at unprecedented speed to support and keep their citizens safe through the pandemic.The urgency of the moment has brought a greater awareness and ambition of what governments can do and the ways that public sector service delivery can be executed.We are at the beginning of an exciting new era in public service where both leaders and citizens will continue to demand bold collaboration, flexibility and relentless innovation.Why open innovation is bestA key outcome has been the upsurge in what is called- open innovation, the agile collaboration undertaken between governments, academic and private sectors.There's a growing body of evidence that companies who collaborate more innovate more – and more successfully. Research quoted in the recent World Economic Forum report on Collaborative Innovation found that 71% of digital companies surveyed in Europe expected more than a quarter of revenues to be generated through collaborative innovation by 2030. More generally, the old idea that competitiveness is driven by companies closely held “trade secrets” is being disproven.Collaboration allows companies to extract value from underutilised assets, resources, and capabilities by exploring shared value with other partners. Exploring informal partnerships is a great way to reduce the risk inherent in building in-house capabilities or in acquisitions.In addition to collaboration, the most dynamic and ground-breaking innovation comes from openness and transparency – and being ready to fail and learn in public.Learnings for both sides…Open innovation is taking off in both the private and public sectors – not least in Canada. Accenture's recent thought leadership on Canadian public service innovation – “Lessons in driving innovation” – finds that a group of star public service innovators are driving collaboration with other public and private sector organizations and tapping into successful new models and ideas.Among other attributes, innovation drivers are more likely than their peers to prioritize research and development with partners (+14%); innovation centres (+22%); and promoting ideas on external platforms (+20%).What is more, both public and private sector innovators stand to benefit from sharing their lessons learned. This applies especially in the wake of COVID-19, when we're all navigating uncharted territory, facing a series of firsts that requires us to adapt fast.Experience in the private sector has shown that “componentised” organizations – those that work and innovate through small, agile, collaborative teams, rather than as a large unit – have a greater ability to adapt. And that using open source systems enables much faster scaling, while allowing organizations – in this case public service agencies – to tap into ecosystems that make them more resilient.Innovating and being prepared to fail out in the open with partners and the public can also build trust with citizens and residents and enable public organizations to own the conversation about future products and services. This can also help attract the next wave of ambitious innovators who may have overlooked the public services as a career.…to get the best of both worldsThere are many examples of collaboration's benefits in the private sector – with companies getting innovations to market faster and scaling them more rapidly. But this fast pace can come at a heavy price. And it's here that the private sector can learn from the public sector.Scaling innovation too fast risks failing to consider the full and unintended consequences of an innovation for society. Public service organizations are duty bound to take wider societal impacts into account, meaning optimizing exclusively for growth is not an option.Public services can overcome these issues by creating a new definition of open innovation. One that harnesses the speed and focus of the private sector, and blends it with awareness and accountability for wider, longer-term consequences. A hybrid approach that still generates innovation but balances it with other public benefits like stability.There's an analogy here to VC funded companies. Those that grow at a headlong pace and reach a valuation of US$1 billion while still privately-owned are termed “unicorns”. They're the product of a system whose mantra is “grow, grow, grow.” By contrast, “zebras” are slower-growing and more circumspect. They operate via collaboration not competition and focus on building sustainable prosperity. That's why public sector organizations should resemble zebras.How are public service organizations doing it today?At the recent FWD 50 Digital Conference, Minister of Digital Services, the Honourable Joyce Murray described with pride how the Government of Canada was able in record time to roll out government programs during COVID-19. The Minister affirmed her goal to harness this momentum and to make sure these exceptions to how we work become the norm.There are many instances of open collaboration within Government that we can look to for inspiration. These include:
- Policy – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) is creating mechanisms for inter-provincial sharing of best practices in open innovation policy, and providing funding for open innovation conferences organised by the private sector.
- Communities and participatory design – Citizens and residents are engaging in open dialogues with government and participating in innovation, including through citizen and resident “lived experience panels” and hack-a-thons in some countries.
- Open source ecosystem libraries – Public service organizations are making growing use of the open development platform GitHub (see for example the BC DevExchange) . During the COVID-19 response, digital tool catalogues such as Open Call were designed as open source, enabling municipalities nationwide to access them quickly and easily.
- Publishing – Writing blogs and papers to share learnings with organizations of all kinds.