Today MindLab powers up the dialogue on innovation in the public sector – and you’re invited to take part in the conversation. We will actively use this blog to share experiences, case examples, research results and methods from our collaboration on innovation projects in the three ministries MindLab is a part of: The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of Employment. In addition we will look far beyond the Danish state administration to gather new perspectives on innovation: From other public sector practitioners, from academia, from the private and third sectors and of course, from Denmark and abroad.
We are launching this English variety of the blog in the hope that MindBlog will prove relevant not only for our colleagues in the three ministries, but for everyone with a passion for transforming the public sector and creating value for society.
No matter where you are, we hope you will let yourself be engaged with us and the themes we address.
In short, it is our ambition that MindBlog will be the most valuable place to harvest inspiration and knowledge when you work with public sector innovation. As far as we can see, that place is missing today, even as innovation has become nearly as much of a buzzword in public organisations as it has been for decades in the private sector. Exactly because the term is pretty much everywhere, and thus in risk of losing both content and meaning, we believe it is essential to stimulate a more nuanced and deeper conversation about how to create better social solutions, and turn them into reality.
Meanwhile, two particular perspectives characterise the prism through which we at MindLab see the world – and those two perspectives will also influence this blog:
The first perspective is user-centered innovation: How can we best involve citizens and businesses directly in the innovation process, and what kind of value can it generate? How can users, civil servants and other stakeholders participate in a fruitful interplay, that can trigger new ways of thinking about public services and public policy?
The second perspective is cross-cutting collaboration and alliances: How to promote a sound process for cooperation across departments, sectors, and across public, private and social domains? It is our experience, that to place citizens and businesses at the center of the innovation process automatically forces us to think beyond the traditional “silo” organisation of the public sector we know. That places the two perspectives in a natural relationship to each other.
All of MindLabs staff contributes to the blog. That means that you can expect a broad palette of angles and approaches to innovation, which also represents our different professional backgrounds – from design to anthropology, and from media to political science. We experience it as a strength in our daily work that we hold different perspectives and interests – we hope that you will experience the same. Enjoy your reading. We look forward to hearing from you!
