ACCELERATING INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

By Sana Bagersh

If the governmental entity wanted to accelerate innovation and the adoption of change, the easiest path would be to leverage partnerships that are eager to work with the public sector, and many are willing.

Yet the structure of most governmental institutions is not optimized for change, much less all-out innovation. This is because public institutions are by nature focused on the delivery of core essential public services, using limited resources, that they may not need to seek radical change.

They may also not have the mandate to change anything, and so will continue with business as usual until a need comes up, and when it does this may be for improvement of something that is already in place.

If partnerships are done well, they can help build internal capacity that will internally manage, steer, and sustain innovation. But for radical change to happen public sector institutions also need to set up purpose-led, dedicated initiatives to pursue innovation.

Government’s existing internal staff may not have the expertise or bandwidth to lead change. So the entity, through the support of external consultants or partnerships, may tap into new opportunities that exist outside its traditional realm.

Advancing partnerships creates a climate that supports the evolution of new models of innovation, including in the areas of incubation, acceleration, and economic clusters. Once frameworks are in place, they can attract the right integrators who can grow and amplify social impact.